The Atlas Mountain Race is an unsupported ultra-endurance cycling race that starts in Marrakesh, crosses the Moroccan Atlas Mountains before taking riders on to Essaouira.

Over 250 people took part in this year's edition of the race, and through 1300 kilometers with 21,140m of climbing, HUNT’s Cynthia Carson came out 1st for the Women and 15th overall, while fellow Beyond rider Justinas Leveika finally conquered his Atlas Mountain Race demons by taking the overall win on his third attempt. Catching up with Cynthia post-race, she shared some insights to have the multi-day race went for her.

“The start was chaotic and last-minute feeling, but we headed up into the mountains. The first night was about pacing and keeping my own race going and not getting too excited about being with others.

I was in the top 10. I felt terrible on day one but kept pushing. It took me about 300K to warm up and then day two through five. After that point, I gained significant amount of time and distance on Nathalie [the second-place woman] and refocused my goals for a top 10 overall and to finish with 24 hours of the men’s winner.

I spent the rest of the race feeling pretty good taking advantage of the sites I stopped, and had tea with a shopkeeper on the last morning, and I fed a donkey from an apple, all in all, the race was a wonderful experience. The views were beautiful, and the people were amazing. Never had I had such nice hospitality than the people from Morocco. Winning the race was a cherry on top of a beautiful race.”