Day 3 // A Name In Lost Dot History
May 15, 2026
Words by Athlyn Cathcart-Keays
Photos by Liz Seabrook and Sam Dugon
There is a new name written into Lost Dot history. At 21:30CEST last night, Anna Richter (071) rolled into Córdoba to win the inaugural Lost Dot 101 in a total race time of 3 days, 3 hours and 30 minutes.
From the starting kilometres in Santiago de Compostela, Anna has looked almost untouchable. While others stopped, Anna kept moving south with astonishing consistency, and only 6 h 20 m of stop time showing on the tracker. Efficient fuelling was definitely part of their strategy. Starting the race carrying 4KG of food – half of it sugar, mixing it directly into water for quick calories – minimising time spent resupplying was key. Combined with short sleep stops and steady pacing through the mountains, it proved a winning formula.
Sun, Is That You?
In Control Car 1, we started our morning at 05:00 scraping ice off the windscreen before heading up to catch the sunrise behind Torre, Portugal’s highest point, and the end of Parcours B. Unsurprisingly, no-one wanted to stop at the top for a chat, and all layers for the cold descent were already on for the way up.
But after days of rain, the sun rose over a sea of clouds sitting low in the valley, and riders began shedding their layers on the roads of the Serra da Estrela. On the route up to the beginning of the parcours, we saw the unlikely sight of a cargo bike winding up the switchbacks.
“The beautiful views keep me going”, Em Wilson (072) tells me as I run alongside. “And I love going uphill, especially long hills like this”. Em has been keeping a steady pace since day one – their titanium cargobike weighs around 14KG without luggage, but they looked calm and composed on the hills. For reference, the weight of a carbon road bike ridden by other 101 racers could be closer to the 7-8KG mark.
Along the parcours again, and still in the sunshine, we catch up with Emily bei Cheng (045). She has been navigating with a phone this whole race, and when her powerbank failed and her phone was rapidly running out of juice, she had to get resourceful: “In my 2% left panic, I got a pen and paper and tried to make a map. Shittiest map I’ve ever made”, she tells me. “Then I had this other idea. I had a digital camera with me. I was like, I’m gonna take photos of the route on my phone before it dies, which I thought was a brilliant idea”.
Others were problem-solving where possible too. Megan Young (022) was seen descending with her thermal mat wrapped around her torso for extra warmth, Igu Schwab Hoyer (024) had trimmed the tongue of their left shoe off after it had been causing pain, and we spotted Paula Soler (080) getting creative and using a chopped up emergency blanket in her shoes as foot warmers.
Linhares da Beira – Control Point 2 Closes
CP2 closed at 16:00CEST beneath bright skies and warm sunshine – a sharp contrast to the cold conditions overshadowing this control point the previous day. Throughout the afternoon, Linhares da Beira filled gradually with exhausted riders lying on the warm grass, draping damp kit to dry on stone walls, and soaking up the warmth wherever they could find it.
Sarah Steels (031) arrived with just four minutes to spare, digging deep on the steep final climb into the village. When volunteers confirmed that she had made the cut-off in time, she burst into tears of relief.
Others who reached CP2 within the time limit decided to end their races there. “That’s me scratched”, said Ailsa Beck (027). “I feel mixed emotions, but honestly just at my limit. I’m glad I did a big effort today”.
Despite the fatigue and disappointment hanging over the Control Point, the atmosphere remained social – described as a “garden party” by our Videographer Roxanna. Riders arrived in waves and lingered long after their brevet cards had been stamped, swapping stories from the mountains and comparing tactics from the previous rain-soaked nights.
The Race To The Top
With Anna Richter (071) now safely in Córdoba, attention has shifted firmly to the race for the remaining podium positions.
By the time Anna arrived, Amrei Kuhne (034) was approximately 10-hours from the finish line, while also managing to distance herself from the chasing group. Further back, the race for third remained much tighter, with riders arriving into Extremadura visibly fatigued after days of difficult weather and relentless climbing.
In Plasencia, Race Reporter Sophie found Jeanne LePoix (086), Elise Sauvinet (128) and Megan Young (022) gathered in two familiar ultra-racing sanctuaries: Aldi and Lidl. The trio moved through the aisles collecting armfuls of snacks and supplies after nearly 900KM of riding, with very little rest.
Though visibly exhausted, the mood remained surprisingly upbeat, and by nightfall, they were all on the approach to CP3 in Guadalupe. But the tactical decisions were now becoming increasingly significant, with riders weighing up sleep against momentum, and recovery against lost time. At this stage in the race, those calculations could prove decisive in determining who eventually reaches Córdoba in the remaining podium spots.
We are yet to see any of our pairs reach Parcours C, but it looks like Jonne Van Bommel and Johanna Drolshagen (146) will be first to reach the hairpin switchbacks, with a solid lead over Geraldine Nassieu-Maupas and Martha Parkinson (148). The rest are spread out throughout the course, and echoing what we said yesterday, the consistency from the pairs riders has been impressive – steady morale, and the clear advantage of having someone there to share both the decisions and the suffering.
Let’s see what tomorrow — day 4 — brings.
Scratch Report
047 Vanessa Kopp – Scratched at 07:11CEST due to illness
014 Carolyn Clapham – Scratched at 07:37CEST, no reason given
043 Lizzy Stocker – Scratched at 09:20CEST due to mechanical
100 Heli Salmela – Scratched at 09:27CEST due to fatigue
114 Jan Schopohl – Scratched at 09:38CEST due to injury
084 Ayesha McGowan – Scratched at 09:56CEST due to fatigue
099 Jenny Price – Scratched at 10:00CEST due to health reasons
049 Laure Willemetz – Scratched at 11:24CEST due to fatigue
097 Kati Kriiva – Scratched at 14:05CEST due to injury
027 Ailsa Beck – Scratched at 17:34CEST due to fatigue
085 Karen Winfield – Scratched at 18:31CEST due to fatigue
129 Ev Berghofer – Scratched at 18:51CEST due to injury
091 Sinja Buri – Scratched at 23:17CEST due to injury