Explore Sweden Expedition Adventure Race 2009 - The 1000k Monster
On the Way Back
Mia Renz / 06.07.2009
In the early morning hours the teams cleared their mandatory sleep cards of 8 hours at TA11 at Söderån. The cluster following the two leading teams, Lundhags and FJS, contains Multitude Salomon, Sole Herkules, Speleo Salomon Gore-Tex, Team Statkraft and Adventure Team Finland, with only 2 hours from first to last.
Lundhags and FJS have stayed ahead of the rest of the field but behind them a lot has happened.
Sollefteå team Statkraft set out as eighth team in Åre and have made good progress advancing to fourth and now just have the Polish team Speleo Salomon between them and the podium. Maybe it is the fact that Team Statkraft is on their way home. Both Arvid Björkroth and Henrik Enberg live in Sollefteå and race towards familiar territory. They will be welcomed with a huge party that´s going on in the park in central Sollefteå.
Just behind Statkraft are a trio of strong teams, Sole Hercules, Multitude Salomon and Adventure Team Finland.
Further back the field is a little more spread out and six teams continued quite alone, like thinly scattered pearls. Most teams were out on the second mammoth bike section of 270 kilometers ending in Sollefteå.
At the end of the field there is another trio, Swedish team Blåkläder/Ballograf, the French of Issy Aventure and American racers Yoga Slackers. In front of them, they have Solvarbo SSF, who have spent a little more time (9h 35m) on the mountain in Åre then they would have liked. They missed a checkpoint in the orienteering and went up and down a few times, but they didn´t give up.
“We gave ourselves credit points for persistence�, said team captain Lars Gustavsson just down from the mountain again. However, they were a little concerned that they would now have to complete the full course.
Solvarbo Speedway Skytteförening ducked just under the rope before the darkzone at GZ3 at Vålån. After the great rapids they will finish their time on the sleep card with 3h 28 min more sleep. We are looking foward to seeing how the three last teams with more used sleeping time on their cards will use their chance to catch up with Solvarbo.
Tonight the top teams reach Sollefteå. Team Sole Herkules left on the raft at Westin Adventure just after midnight. They were in a rather good mood, but not because of the bike ride, which they didn´t like so much. “That stage has been tough. One gigantic bike ride one can handle, but two is one too many,\" said the team just before they left on the raft to cross the river.
Sollefteå have arranged a monster festival in town and the teams will yet again meet cheering crowds, which will feel good after 270 km in the saddle.
SleepMonsters
