Island Explorer
Island Explorers - Racing on Bornholm in the Baltic Sea
Rob Howard / 06.10.2017
We have covered a few Danish Adventure Races on SleepMonsters recently, and another is taking place this coming weekend, the Island Explorer race on Bornholm.
It’s a very unique location as the island of Bornholm is in the Baltic Sea, nearer to Sweden than the Danish mainland, and accessed by ferry from the Swedish port of Ystad. (Or you can get there by plane.)
The organisers say, “Bornholm has, in our opinion, the most interesting adventure racing terrain in all of Denmark. It has white, sandy beaches, heather-covered dunes and knurled pine-forests to the south, deep forests in the middle and steep coastal cliffs with great rock climbing to the north. All along the coast are old, cosy fishing villages between the cliffs, with sand and gravel beaches along the way.
“With the island being approximately 140 km around the coast, you're never far from the other side and can always find waves or shelter, depending on what you want. Because of the varied coastline, Island Explorer has a history of having some of the most spectacular kayaking stages in Denmark.”
The race has been organised since 2008, and for its tenth anniversary next year will host the Danish Championships. It has had various organisers in that time and is now run by a team from the island lead by Magnus Woxholtt-Jensen.
The format is for teams of two or three on a course with a winning time of around 8 hours and a course closure after 14 hours. As it starts at 10.00 the winners will be racing to finish before darkness falls and the course closes at midnight. The course will include kayaking, orienteering and Mtb-O stages with lots of navigational choices and a mix of optional and mandatory checkpoints.
This year there are 20 teams taking part, including Bjørn Axelsen from the Salomon Adventure Team, who the organisers think has won every edition he’s raced in.
The course and roadbooks are not given out until 3 hours before the start, so we’ll tell you more about you course and bring you news of the race over the weekend.
You can find out more about the race at http://islandexplorer.dk and https://www.facebook.com/IEXBornholm
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