84km MTB Marathon in the Heart of Quebec. Victory!

Quebec has a MTB Marathon series called the Raid. There are 4 races in the series this year,
1)Raid Velo Mag (the one we did at MSA in June)
2)Raid Massif du Sud(missed it but will go next year)
3)Raid Jean D'Avignon(East Hereford )
4) Raid Bras du Nord( near Quebec city)
To be a "Marathon" it needs to be between 80- 120km, compared to the usual regular mtb race which is around 50km or less depending on the terrain.

This past Sunday I did the 3rd one, in East Hereford. The town is about 45min south east of Sherbrooke. Right on the border to Vermont.
It was my second year doing this race and last year I finished second overall to a local Elite strong man named Jean-Philipe Thibault Roberge(JPTR). We blew punches all day at each other and after 4hrs he won by about 20 sec!. Anyways, that was last year.......

This year he was away out west doing a string of Canada cups and Nationals. I looked around at the start line, some familiar strong faces but nobody I was really worried about, except maybe Pierre Harvey, (yes that Pierre Harvey). I was confident in my fitness and was ready to go. The gun went and all 110 of us were off. I surprised myself and easily took the lead down the road, with everyone sitting behind me waiting to see.
We turned right on the first gravel climb, I had a gap, so I said lets see what I can do here!

I went for it. 1km in with 83km to go --I went alone! I was just bombing and felt great all day, I ate, I drank, my bike was excellent. There was tonnes of Kingdom Trail style downhill singletrack. It was 4hrs of just me, my bike and the trails. I almost forgot I was racing, almost....On the long stretches on rolling straight gravel, I could see a group of 4 in what looked like an organized chase, so I had to buckle down, and for the final 35km I really dropped the hammer.

It worked, I came through the finish at 3hrs 51 min. 8 minutes ahead of second place.

Feels good to get a victory once in a while. Seems like it's been a long time!