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The Monster is Defeated

Mia Renz / 10.07.2009

The rain is pouring down all over Sweden and if you ask us the biggest downpour is in the Sundsvall region. As we woke up to the last day of racing we had three more teams on the course, all of them on the most hated leg – the sailing. Headwind, sidewind, no wind, but never a tailwind ...

One racer arrived at TA14 Kävsta, got out of the boat, walked up to his assitants, stopped, turned around and went back just to give the boat a kick and said “I never want to see you again�.

But we think they will forget those lovely sailboats since they all defeated the monster. Chasing Daylight-Nike ACG-arena finished the race with fast transitions, anxious to reach the finish line. And so they did as the twelfth team to finish.

In the morning Herkules crossed the finish line at 09:58 in a total race time of 5 days 21 hours and 28 minutes, in thirteenth position. And with that they were the last team to complete the whole monster course. As a bonus the team won the ADTA challenge; a free entry and flight tickets to Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge.

The ADTA challenge goes to the best placed Scandinavian team that have never raced outside the Nordic countries (Swe, Den, Nor, Fin).
As last team doing the full monster course Solvarbo were fighting in their sailboat to get to TA14, they had 12 minutes and 1 km left and the cut off is at 14.30.

Arriving at 14:29 and stamping out at 14:30 Solvarbo were going to complete the whole course. They went out on the inline section with life jackets and everything on! Since they checked in and out at the same time they only had time to drop the paddles to their assitance.
Solvarbo were chasing the cut-offs through the whole day and they made it! They reached their goal at 17:32 tonight after 149 hours and 2 minutes racing. The true heroes!

The Monster challenge was soon to be ended. In the last moment of the contest there were three teams racing in “Second Chance� and in one last effort try to defeat the Monster.

Because Team Issy Aventure and Team Yoga Slakers were stopped at the same TA on the course, they faced off against each other in a \"winner takes all\" race for 16th place. The sprint finish started at five a clock in the afternoon and Blåkläder/Ballograf, Team Yoga Slackers and Issy Aventure were on the start line.

The race was a thrilling battle up the final hill to the finish line at Hotel Södra Berget.
In a driving wind and sideways rain, Issy Aventure and Yoga Slackers chased each other up and up along the 5km serpentine road.

Starting 5 minutes after Issy Aventure and Yoga Slackers on the Second Chance course was Team Blåkläder/Ballograf who were stopped at an earlier TA along the course. They did not have any direct competition up to the finish but were pushing hard to try to catch the other teams.

Even with the fastest overall time up the hill, Blåkläder/Ballograf simply couldn\'t overcome the weather and the steep gradient and would settle for 18th place.

As for the battle for 16th ... Issy Aventure eventually pulled away on the last few steep uphill switchbacks and finished less than a minute in front of Yoga Slackers.

We congratulate Team Issy Aventure, Yoga Slackers, and Blåkläder/Ballograf for their hard efforts and fantastic sportsmanship throughout the competition.

So we have come to an end of 6 days of great racing. It would never have come togheter without race directors Mikael and Helena Lindnord. And it would never have come to life without our tremendous volunteers. They have all pushed their limits, put their hearts into it and gone out in monster ways for all and everyone.

Thanks to all the assistants and contestants who joined us at Explore Sweden Monster.

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