Yeti Adventure Challenge Silkeborg
A Friday Night Out in Aarhus
Rob Howard / 01.09.2017
The Yeti Adventure Challenge began in the coastal town of Aarhus at 21.00, just after nightfall. The 9 competing teams gathered in the Ceres Sport Stadium for the first of several short stages in the city and were given a map to 20 CP’s around the stadium, marked by glow sticks on the banks of seating. Ten of these had numbers attached and the challenge was to find and add up all the numbers.
Only when the correct answer was given to marshal at the exit could teams leave to begin the race proper. It took some teams quite a few attempts to come up with the right answer – maths wasn’t their strong point, especially when hyped on adrenalin for the start of the race.
Once all the teams were out of the stadium and on their way they ran to the nearby canal to pick up two SUP’s per team and begin a paddle to the coast. This took them through the town centre where the towns bars and night clubs line both sides of the canal, and on a fine Friday night every waterside table was full.
This gave the paddlers an audience of thousands who cheered them on through the town! On one bend there was a stage set out over the water with a large audience on the opposite bank who were particularly encouraging. Cristina Rico Arechaederra from the Basque Expedition Race team (the only pair on the Masters course) said, “Suddenly we were under the stage with everyone cheering us. I wanted to stop and dance but we had to keep paddling!”
There were a few low bridges too, requiring the paddlers to lay flat on the boards and a final tunnel before the transition to drop off the SUP’s. After this came another short run (carrying their paddles) and a transition to a coastal canoeing stage. This was completed in metal canoes and luckily the weather was ideal. The night was clear and the Baltic sea calm as the teams paddled along the shoreline to reach the next transition, marked by a small open fire on the beach.
Arechaederra had enjoyed the paddle saying, “It was a wonderful paddle in the moonlight – perfect for my first paddle in a canoe!” She is racing with Urtzi Igesias of Columbia Vidaraid, so has an experienced partner to guide her.
The defending title holders, Team Yeti, were the first ashore and the first to read the unwelcome news on the instruction sign by the firelight. The instruction was to portage the heavy canoes up to a car park where the bikes were waiting, and the unwelcome bit was the 90 steps on the steep incline to get there!
It was a tough haul with those heavy metal canoes and the team who managed best used all 4 members for the carry, then they all returned for the second canoe. There were a few Danish oaths muttered ... and some Anglo Saxon ones too!
The teams were all still relatively close together and their next challenge, a rope traverse with the bikes, was unfortunately cancelled due to setup difficulties. One team made an unfortunate start on the ride with their navigator setting off in one direction ... and the three other team members in the other! After a bit of shouting they got back together again to set off!
After this frantic start to the race the ride was the first long stage, expected to take teams 6 hours and taking in 26 checkpoints to ensure tough navigation through the night. This will be followed by a 4 hour run/trek and swim stage across the lakes and finally a kayak stage to the finish back in Silkeborg.
You can follow the live race tracking at www.raceplay.se
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