As South African mountain bikers, we’re still high on emotions from celebrating Candice Lill’s silver-medal performance at the UCI Marathon World Championships in Scotland on Sunday. The World Champs organisers didn’t cover the race with TV cameras, so we got in touch with her to find out more about how she won the medal, what her preparation was like and how she found the confidence to dictate the race from the start.
Words: Sean Badenhorst | Images: Armin M. Küstenbrück
Candice Lill is now the most successful South African at the UCI Marathon World Champs. While all three medals are incredibly precious to a marathon-mad country like ours, Lill’s silver tops the bronze medals won by Robyn de Groot (2019) and Burry Stander (2010).
Other than rugby, golf and maybe Chad le Clos, South African sportsmen and women tend to carry an underdog attitude into competition. Years of sporting isolation gave us an inferiority complex and when we were able to reintegrate into international sport from 1992, the underdog attitude helped us cope with disappointments, of which there were many…
But confidence is a wonderful thing. And Lill confirmed that with her impressive race in atrocious conditions on the Scottish hills on Sunday. She dictated the pace from early on and, had she known she was closing in on eventual winner, Mona Mitterwallner in the final 20km, she could well have challenged for the gold medal. May her confidence remain and may it be contagious…
We asked Lill some questions about her superb performance and, in her thoughtful and purposeful way, this is what she had to say:
When did you decide to give the World’s Marathon race a go?
When I found out that all the mountain bike disciplines World Champs are in the same place this year, I had the thought of doing it in the back of my mind. Most years, marathon world champs is in a completely different place, we’re out of budget and it’s really difficult to get to. And then I only really made the decision about six weeks ago. I also wanted to see how my season was going. I needed a good few weeks to build up to a marathon after just racing cross-country the whole year. That seemed to work out well with the timing.
Were you confident you could win a medal from when you made the decision?
Yes, I was. I wasn’t going to do the marathon world champs if I wasn’t at least confident that I could win a medal. It’s a really cool place to be in because that mindset was actually a big part of my success. I just really believed it. I know my strengths and that I’m a really good marathon racer. The Cape Epic this year gave me a lot of confidence in that space. I really back myself in the longer stuff. I just need to do more specific training for it and need to eat and drink enough. Once I started training for it, my goal was to win a medal.
What did you add to your XCO training to prepare for the marathon?
There was a gap in the cross-country calendar. June was just crazy and I also came back to South Africa to do the African Champs. By the end of June I was feeling really over it and raced out and mentally a bit out of it. I took a few days break to reset, knowing that I was going to do a month of cross-country and marathon prep. But luckily I have so much speed, intensity and skill from the cross-country that it was more about hitting reset and activating my marathon engine. I would have had to do some longer endurance rides and longer intervals for cross-country anyway. The timing worked out well. Even in a marathon you need speed and intensity. My main thing was to make sure that I ate and drank enough.
Did you know the race route well? Did it suit you?
I really wanted to prepare well for it. My husband, Darren, and I arrived a week before the race and started checking out the route. I wanted to do the whole route at least once before the race. I believe that you can win a race like this by racing tactically and smart. From the first day that I rode it I knew this course was really awesome for me! I had such a good feeling. It actually feels a lot like a South African race course. In Europe you have the massive Alpine mountains, whereas here, in Scotland it’s more rolling hills. And quite similar to Cape Epic terrain – rocky and rough. There was obviously more forest singletrack; it rained the whole week before and it was a muddy mess. Conditions were absolutely wild! But luckily I have experience in those conditions. I felt that all in all, it was a course that suited me. I don’t enjoy super steep, long climbs. They were power climbs and I’m a power rider. Because of my cross-country experience, having raced in wet World Cups, being so scared, all helped prepare me for the singletrack and technical sections in the marathon race here.
Did the race go as planned?
Yes, 100 percent, the race went as planned! I don’t think I could have executed a better race. If I could do it again, there’s not much I would change. In such a long race like this – 96 kilometres with 3000 metres of climbing, you have to have a race plan. Because of the course and the mud and the chaos with singletrack after three kilometres, I really planned to race form the front. I took the bull by the horns and took the lead. It’s amazing what that does for you. When you are setting the pace, you feel like you are in control. You can slow and speed up as much as you want. It gives you confidence. I managed to stay out of trouble. I knew that once the singletrack sections came in the first half, they were super muddy and sloshy. Either Mona or I was at the front in all of those and we were a lot faster than the rest. I had a general plan on my pacing. I have a good sense of my limits in marathon racing. I think I did this really well because I actually finished super strong.
What was the hardest part of the race for you?
Yoh. The beginning was pretty hard. I made it hard for myself and hopefully everyone else – that was the plan. It’s always a gamble though. I wanted to go hard and split the field and be at the front and stay out of trouble and dictate the pace, because that is the best place to be. But you have to ride hard to make that happen and you have to fight to get in front. That was hard for me. But my hope was that it was harder for everyone else and I think it was, especially when gaps start forming and riders make mistakes. And then the last hour, the last 20 kays or so. When you reach that point in a marathon after four hours, there’s a lot of pain and you just hope your legs have it to carry on and maintain the power you need. It’s like a slow death compared to cross-country. Luckily I have experience in this regard. I know how it feels and I know what my body is going to do and I was able to ride through it.
Did you know that you were closing on Mona after the last time split?
To be honest, no. The last timing split I got was at the last water point and it was around two minutes. I thought that because Mona had ridden away from me and looked very strong. I was sure she would carry on making time on me to the finish. But I thought either way, I’m going to stick to my race plan. I knew I still had something in me, even though my legs were sore at that point, but I just stuck to my plan. To finish 54 seconds behind her, I couldn’t believe it. When I came into the last singletrack I heard the commentator say her name and I knew was less than a minute away. I thought ‘no ways!’ I think if there were another five kays I think I would have caught her. To make more than a minute in 20 kays is quite cool.
Did you have any worrying moments in those conditions?
A little bit. But when the conditions are like this, it’s best to just surrender and not worry. When you start fighting the conditions that’s when things go wrong. You have to accept it and flow with it. Don’t stress. Yes, there were some sketchy moments sliding all over the show because there were some slippery roots I didn’t anticipate, because all of the men’s field had come through ahead of us and exposed some of the roots. I pushed a little bit on the descents, but I always rode within myself. I think I knew how to balance that. There’s the increased risk of mechanicals in such bad weather, but my equipment held. Darren did a lot of work on my bike beforehand, making sure that everything was 100 percent. I had tyres on with more grip. I trusted my equipment and my own skills.
You are now the most successful South African at the Marathon World Champs. How does that make you feel?
I don’t know how it makes me feel compared to other people and what they have done. But I think for myself, even if I wasn’t making history, I think it’s a massive moment in my career. It’s definitely the best result I have ever achieved. It’s reflective of so many years of just putting in honest hard work and going through times when I thought ‘what am I doing?’ Or ‘this isn’t for me’. You know, all the doubts and the sacrifices. But in a moment like this, it makes everything so worth it. Honestly, that is the magic of it for me. For so many years I have been coming to Europe, being out of my comfort zone, stretched and challenged week after week. If I had just stayed home in South Africa I would never have gotten this result. So, it’s massively rewarding for both Darren and I.
How do you feel ahead of the XCO World Champs this weekend?
I’m feeling pretty relaxed right now, to be honest. After earning a World Champs medal, I’m like, you know, we’ve got one of those in the bag already, so whatever happens this weekend, I came here and it was successful already. But at the same time I know that I have good legs. That time in June staying and training in Italy at altitude was really, really good for me preparing for the marathon and the cross-country World Champs. I know that I’m going better than the last World Cup in Val di Sole, which was the beginning of July. I was very, very tired there and I still got a 20th and a 22nd there. So I feel that at the XCO World Champs this week I can realistically I can shoot for a top 15. And who knows, if I really surprise myself I can go for a top 10. I also just want to make use of the opportunity – it’s not always that you come to World Champs towards the end of the season in such a good space. I’m feeling good. I know from the marathon that I’m going well. In the cross-country I must just go out there – it’s just me and my bike and the course and I must just make magic happen.
