Nifty knitter Christine Majerus, pictured, used her downtime between races to knit 100 hats for charity Christine Majerus

Nifty knitter Christine Majerus, pictured, used her downtime between races to knit 100 hats for charity Christine Majerus

The 31-year-old spent the last few months feverishly hand-knitting 100 different woollen hats, which she sold to raise €3,500 charity.

“My tradition is to buy a new hat every year but last year I couldn’t find the right colours,” Majerus told Delano last week. She decided to knit her own, learning how through YouTube tutorials.

The result prompted the admiration and some requests from her teammates at Boels-Dolmans. “I did everyone a hat for Christmas, each had their own colours. That’s how it started. I kept going and after winter, I had the idea to sell them for charity.”

The spring and summer cycling season took up much of Majerus’ time. But, each time she had a break in her schedule, she would return to her wool and needles and set to work knitting 100 hats. After losing her own pet dog in the autumn, she chose to donate the proceeds to ASA, a not-for-profit training assistance dogs for people suffering from things like epilepsy.

“I wanted to give the chance to someone else to profit from a dog to make their lives better,” she explained.

Late in the autumn, Majerus posted pictures of each hat on her social media accounts, which people could reserve by leaving a comment.

Photo: Christine Majerus. A social media post shows some of Majerus' crafty creations which she sold for charity

“There were a lot of people who were disappointed they didn’t get a hat,” she said. But, she has no plans to start the process again any time soon. “In the end it became a bit mechanical […] I am still knitting because I’ve some requests for Christmas, which is more personal.”

While she said her crafty hobby provides a welcome break from the pressures of constant competition, Majerus will next year put all of her energy into getting back into full fitness and qualifying for the Olympic Games in Tokyo. “I’m putting on the pressure to get to Tokyo. It doesn’t have to be in one race. It’s over a year where I have to get UCI points,” Majerus said, adding: “I think that’s how I will get my qualification this year, especially as I’m riding for the strongest team in the world.”

Among other titles, Majerus won the national women’s road race, time trial and cyclo-cross championship titles from 2010 to 2017. In 2018, she retained the national cyclo-cross championship title. She finished 21 st in the women’s road race at I the 2012 Summer Olympics and was awarded the best sportswoman in Luxembourg five times, most recently in 2018.