Rajd Beskidy

Thunderstorms and Dark Zones on Day 3

Rob Howard / 21.06.2023

The heat on the third day of racing at Rajd Beskidy triggered an intense thunderstorm just as team Nonstop Adventure were preparing to leave Transition 3.  It has been another hot day, but with more cloud, more humidity, and the occasional thunderstorm.

The transition is set up in the ‘agrotourism’ farm called Gazdovsky Dvor and the race has a building with beds, a shower and a kitchen, where the teams can eat some hot Goulash, breads and cakes, and take a variety of drinks. (All the transitions have had bottles of Heineken beer – non alcoholic of course!)

Nonstop Adventure took full advantage and gratefully showered, climbed into bed for a couple of hours and ate before leaving, by which time the rain had stopped. They have been taking care to rest and eat well throughout the race and were not concerned that the Snowdog Trail team left ahead of them.  Andrzej Brandt said their 8 hour trek across the Mala Fatra National Park had been enjoyable, saying, “The weather was good really and when we had some rain it cooled us down.”

It was probably a good move to sleep in the beds. Snowdog said they would sleep after the upcoming via ferrata stage but that may not to such a good sleeping spot and the weather may still be wet.

For a while at TA3 it looked like Snowdog Trailteam would be out of the race as when they came to build their bikes they found the spindle for Maciej Mierzwa’s wheel was missing! It was found at TA2 and brought to them, at the cost of a 2 hour penalty, which they took and were grateful to stay in the race. While it was being fetched they packed and prepared, but didn’t rest.

Maigorzata Czeczott said, “We have reached the stage where we are really slow to do everything in transition now and it takes a long time.”  She then said, “We left a bike part and have a penalty, so we will just have to go faster and faster to make it up!”

They were not the only team with bike issues.  The OMM Nordisk team could not find the key to their bike lock and had to force it off with a knife and a few tools!  They are racing at the back of the field and along with Team “We love the smell of flags in the mornings” are spending the night high in the mountains. Both teams were caught in the dark zone in the National Park and must stop in one of the mountain huts, before restarting at dawn.  They are in good spirits and making good progress ahead of the race cut-offs.

Team On-sight Navigatoria are in 3rd place and were able to make it down to TA3 to avoid the dark zone, though they did spend some time on the trail after the deadline. Unfortunately, they got caught by the storm on their way down and were soaked and cold. They said there was lightning and big hailstones were hitting them, so they were glad to reach the TA where they can warm up. They were eating goulash within 5 minutes of arrival.