Yeti Adventure Challenge Silkeborg
A First Look At The Masters Course
Rob Howard / 15.08.2018
The teams preparing for the Yeti Adventure Challenge Silkeborg had their first look at the outline of the course when they checked in and collected their route books this evening.
They also picked up their shiny black race numbers, their smart grey race bibs, and some less stylish bright orange reflective bibs to wear when inline skating at night. (That’s going to ruin any flash photos thinks the author!) There were SI dibbers to collect and forms to sign as usual, but their attention was on the route book of course and particularly the course overview schematic.
This shows 7 transition areas, 3 ropes stages in the first half of the course, long kayak and canoe stages and two stages including inline skating, plus some swimming and wading. (There are lots of lakes, rivers and bogs here.) The teams know there will be a total of 23 1:25,000 maps, but they won’t get those until 3pm tomorrow.
French team ASL Raid were looking professional in their own green team bibs and also a little worried by the inline skating ahead. “We don’t do that,” said Cyril Margaritis, adding “we will just have to try our best”. The first stage is ‘inlines, trek and swimming’ so he was wondering about swimming carrying skates!
The team said they’d driven direct to Denmark (a 13 hour drive) and chose this race because they wanted to explore somewhere new. Margaritis, who is one of the most experienced expedition racers in France, also said, “Two of us are going to Reunion Island for the World Championships so the race timing was good preparation for us as well.”
Of the 12 teams starting the course the other international visitors are KMTI Adventure of Sweden, so they had a rather shorter drive. (Most of the team are based in Karlstad.) Kalle Alexandersson told me, “I have been to Denmark to race the Kong Vinter before and like the races here, and this one was the right length for us. (It was a lot cheaper than the Nordic Islands race too.)”
There is another Swedish racer here as Sue Paz Thunstrom is racing with Team ‘Sue and the Powerpuff Girls’. The ‘powerpuff girls’ are an experienced trio as it turns out, including Erling Madsen, Simon Grimstrup, who was the founder and early RD of this race (so his local knowledge will be second to none), and Lars Bukkehave, who is a regular competitor at big expedition races around the world.
He may have travelled to the far corners of the globe to race, but Bukkehave was delighted to have the chance to race in his home country. “It’s cool to have a big race in Denmark,” he said, “and we are a team who love to get out into nature and enjoy it.”
I think all the Danish teams now getting ready for the Masters course will agree with that!
(The race starts at 18.00 tomorrow in Viborg and you can follow the live race page, including team tracking, at www.yacs.dk.)
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