Rajd Beskidy
Exploring the Beskidy Hills – Every Which Way
Press Release / 19.06.2023
Day one at the Rajd Beskidy has been enthralling for the avid dotwatcher, but a tough one for the teams. It’s been very hot and the teams have been on foot all day, concentrating hard on the map, and all coming to different conclusions about the best way to go.
The day began in the city of Beilsko Biala with the start line set up in a picturesque town square and racers relaxed under the restaurant umbrellas out of the sun. They were there well ahead of the start and there was plenty of time for team photos before Jerzy Lekki called them all to the fountain where the race would start. He wished them well and stepped aside so they could pick up their map for stage one from the fountain step. (The other maps had been marked and packed during lockdown before setting off for town.)
Stage one was a street O around the town and teams were soon scattered, each on their own route to find the varied checkpoint flags. One was held by a robot in a shopping centre and others were hung from statues of cartoon characters dotted around the town. This is because there is a movie studio here which is famous for their animated fairy tales and cartoons, which are very well known to everyone in Poland.
The checkpoint at the south entrance to the castle was hard to find and teams were running past it, probably because it looks nothing like a castle! It’s now a museum and looks like many surrounding buildings. The instruction to record which animal was on a signboard was tricky too – a new board had been put – with no animal on it!
Teams headed out of town via an orienteering stage in a long piece of parkland beside a small river, running among the bandstands, playgrounds and cafes, and into some dense woods too.
In the city and on the paved roads the heat was intensified and it didn’t cool down much as teams headed into Beskidy hills for a free route choice of 12 checkpoints spread on the steep forested slopes and among the many small paths and tracks. It’s worth checking the tracking to see where they all went – as they all went very different ways! (There are only 5 teams.) The layout and positioning was cunning, crafty and calculated – hats off to Jerzy Lekki!
There were a mix of marked trails, one on the ridge top for the Beskidy Sky Run, all of different sizes, and experience of the maps will have helped the Polish teams to pick out the major from the minor trails. (The German OMM Nordisk team may struggle more than the others.) All along the trails there are small shrines and crosses, some with lanterns and flowers, and in the ridge top viewpoints are set up, but the views were fleeting and much of the time teams were in the open and mature forest. They had just the birdsong for company as there was almost no one else around.
Coming off the Beskidy hills it looked like NonStop Adventure team was leading and had taken the best route, but it appears they may have missed CP34. Until they arrive at TA1 we won’t know for sure. They detoured into the village of Wielka Puszcza before the last 3 checkpoints of the stage, perhaps for water as there was much available through the day, or maybe for food.
The last 3 CP’s are 40, 41 and 42 and plotted are on LIDAR map which will require detailed attention to navigate successfully and is best done in daylight. The two lead teams, Snowdog and NonStop Aventure, should just about completed it before dusk, but the 3 following teams will have the challenge of completing it in the dark. That will be a difficult end to one of the most testing navigational days seen at a race for a long time.
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