I think it may be my fault that there were no fans in Loenhout this year. Two years ago, for the return of Wout, the crowd was so large and so inebriated and so in the way that I wished they would all disappear. I feel bad. But it was nice to get to experience something that I had actually once wished for.
In all seriousness, I was pretty worried that Loenhout would not happen at all this year. It is the type of race that relies heavily on its party tents and these events obviously suffer the most when the fans are barred. But even without the color provided by the fans, the washboard, the fly-over, the steps, and the ditches make for a strangely photogenic course on what is essentially two small fields in a housing development.
