People rest at the Park of the Fiftieth Anniversary in Brussels, Belgium, June 17, 2022. Belgium witnesses a heat wave with temperature expected to reach 34 degrees centigrade in Brussels in the following days. Photo:Xinhua

As if cycling competitions weren't hard enough, Belgium has launched its first competition of water biking: pitting competitors pedaling furiously afloat.

The first Belgian Water biking Championships, held Saturday in the central city of Namur, saw a couple of hundred competitors puffing on the river Meuse in a combination of fun and flat-out contest. 

The race was against the clock, rather than a grouped dash, with participants pumping legs to push catamaran-fixed bike frames 500 meters along the water. It took the fastest just over three minutes to cover the distance. "It's the first world water biking championship that we know of," one of the organizers, Sebastien Legat, said.