Expedition Africa Namaqua West Coast 2018
Swedish Team Naturkompaniet Poineers - Ready for Expedition Africa
Press Release / 17.05.2018
Expedition Africa Namaqua 2018 Adventure Race is due to start in a couple of days in the magnificent Namaqualand Region, South Africa
Craig Griese of the race media team caught up with Swedish based adventurer Johan Llija from Naturkompaniet Pioneers, who shares some insights on their preparation and thoughts for EA2018.
Team Number : 25
Team Name : Naturkompaniet Pioneers
Team Members : Sue Thunström, Tommy Ivarsson, Tobbe Palm, Kristina Carling
CG - How did your Team get started form and please share with us how your preparations for EA2018 have been?
JI - EA has been on our bucket list for years and this year it suits perfect in the calendar! We have had some last minutes changes to the team setup but now we are sending a strong, experienced and 100% mixed team! Tobbe that lives up north in Sweden has been training on snow and the others have enjoyed the spring in Sweden including Tommy who lives in Canada. We have a solid AR calendar this year culminating with AR world champs in November. Before that we look into doing both Ecuador and Sweden!
CG - Was there any particular focus in your training and what is your approach EA2018 going to be?
JI - All members in Naturkompaniet Pioneers train basically for adventure racing year around with longer sessions combined with strength and technique. The weather is pretty similar to Swedish summer... so that's good. We want to do a solid race with few mistakes and enjoy the scenery! We like tough navigation and long treks!
CG - With Sweden being a bit cooler at the moment than South Africa how do you think the team will adapt to the warmer weather conditions?
JI - Actually the weather seems not too far from swedish summer (only if we have a limited number of days…). We have done a couple of really hot races and tend to cope OK with heat.
CG - Were there any interesting or funny moments during your training?
JI - Well - sleepmonster stories are always funny during racing! When we train we try to copy racelike conditions but thats hard since we do not have either crocodiles or dangerous snakes in sweden:) CG (*laughs out loud)
CG - What do you expect to be the biggest challenges on the route for EA2018?
JI - Like always to keep the navigation under control and to minimize mistakes. Also to keep our own pace and trust our experience. For me (Johan), the hardest thing will be not to neglect work during the event since dotwatching can be as challenging as actual racing!
CG - Naturkompaniet is a Swedish Outdoor and Gear Company. How has their sponsorship assisted the Team with competing in an Adventure Racing World Series Event.
JI - Naturkompaniet (www.naturkompaniet.se) offers everything you might need for your adventure, travel, activity or expedition. For us this is the perfect partner since they also are experts in the outdoor knowhow. We help them with gear testing, destination experiences and travel inspiring projects.
CG - Your prediction of a winning time on this course?
JI - We will go hard, controlled and hopefully straight to the checkpoints:) We usually end up top 10 in ARWS and we will fight.
CG - Please share an interesting fact about your Team.
JI - We tailored this team to fit ARWS event in Belize. So we are a jungle team that kept on racing:) In Belize we ended up in 4th place and since then we have been racing together!
We wish Naturekompaniet Pioneers all the best for EA2018 and looking forward to all the action out on the exciting and challenging course.
Expedition Africa Namaqua 2018 Adventure Race is part of the Adventure Racing World Seriesand takes place from the 20th - 26th May 2018.
Follow all the action LIVE at race start at 09H00 (SAST) http://live.arworldseries.com/africa18/
Craig Giese is an Adventure Photographer and Media Content developer from the Eastern Cape, South Africa.
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