Explore Sweden

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A Snowy Start to Explore Sweden

Susan McKenzie / 14.05.2005

Spring has come late to northern Sweden. Well, it will come late, when it arrives – one month later than expected. Mother Nature has transformed this AR World Series qualifier from a Nordic to a winter race.

It was snowing this morning as the thirteen (superstitious?) teams made last minute preparations for the noon start to the race at the bottom of Kittelfjall. No midnight start this year – and no early morning start, either.

“I hate races that begin at 6am,� race director Mikael Nordstrom explains. “Everyone is so tired, you have not slept. This way we can all eat breakfast, it’s very relaxed, and everyone feels good at the start.�

“Anything is better than a six a.m. start,� says SOLE Custom Footbeds’ Paul Romero. “There is nothing worse than getting up at three in the morning for a race.�

Dan Weiland of Nike ACG Balance Bar agrees. “I’m really glad at this race that we’re starting at noon. We would have been really stuck if we’d had to start early this morning.�

“The gear was quite a tricky thing at this race,� confirms his teammate Mike Kloser. “We just pulled out all of our gear and then sorted it into different piles then put it all in the gearboxes,� continues Weiland.

Nike ACG Balance Bar, considered one of the favourites at this race, is probably one of the few teams here happy to see the snow falling and the temperatures dropping.See All Event Posts