At the Dutch Headwind Cycling Championships, hundreds of cyclists compete every year on a short time trial course - in extremely strong headwinds. The race was due to take place on 2 November this year, but had to be cancelled at short notice due to strong winds. The reason for this is storm Ciarán, which is currently raging across northern Europe.
Headwind Championships 2023 cancelled
Due to the dependent weather conditions (the wind force must be 7 or higher on the Beaufort scale, which corresponds to a wind speed of at least 50 km/h), the Headwind Championships are organised at short notice. When the storm Ciarán was declared, the anticipation was correspondingly high. However, shortly before the start, it was decided that the storm was too dangerous for the headwind championships.
The planned route was 8.5 kilometres along the Oosterscheldekering storm surge barrier, which faces the North Sea. The expected 300 participants would have had to brave the strong wind on their traditional Dutch bikes. Normally, the wind speed is between 50 and 60 km/h, sometimes even more. However, gusts of up to 100 km/h were expected due to the storm, which would pose a significantly increased risk for the headwind championships.
"We have been closely monitoring the development of Storm Ciarán and unfortunately it became so strong on the day that we are unable to go ahead. Everyone's safety is our top priority," the organisers explained in an Instagram post, adding: "We were really looking forward to this, but we had to make this decision in collaboration with various parties and with pain in our hearts."
The event has been held annually since 2013, but was cancelled in 2017 and 2019 due to a lack of storm conditions and in 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic. It remains to be seen whether the organisers will still try to find a catch-up date for the headwind championships this year.
Lukas Niebuhr
Working student
