My First Race in Germany

Yesterday I rode my first race in about 12 weeks, the last one being the Australian National Round in Echuca, VIC.
Germans seem to like the Le Mans start, where you line your bikes up and have to run to them. I don't think it works very well though because if you are right at the wrong end like I was, then it is very hard to get good position into the first part of the track, I was last in a field of about 40 U/17's.

I am second from the end furthest away.

It was so muddy that there were not many overtaking options and it was on the second lap of three that I finally passed the slow group I was stuck behind, but by then there was a fair gap to the next riders.
I would start to catch the boys in front of me on the uphill but then I would start to lose them again on the incredibly slippery downhills and the fire trails which felt so slow.
On some of the downhill sections the mud was at lest 20cm deep, others it wasn't so deep but even harder to keep a line in. Many times I ended up in the ditch beside the track which was almost easier to ride in! On the uphill of my third a final lap, my back wheel stopped moving altogether and I had to get off and clean the mud off the chainstays.
I passed a of the boys in front of me eventually, but I did't have the strength or stamina to keep the pace going.
The biggest problem was that the laps were short, around 15 minutes, and I didn't have the chance to get into a rhythm over the 45 minute race.
Overall I had a pretty good time considering I have only been back on the bike for a week and a half, and I am looking forward to next the race where I can gauge my improvement...