Adventure Racing World Championship 2006
A New World of Racing
Alli Northcott (Team Barclays/The North Face) / 30.08.2006
Team Barclays/The North Face from the UK were one of the least experienced teams at ARWC 2006. They'd qualified with a strong performance at Wilderness ARC in Scotland earlier this year but had litle experience of overseas racing. They travelled to Sweden for the experience of racing with the Worlds best and this is the story of their race.The reality hit home hard as we gathered in the departure lounge waiting to fly North from Stockholm towards the Arctic Circle for an 800 km race against the world’s finest in Scandinavian grandeur. The other teams looked intimidating in their sponsor’s kit. They looked lean and much fitter than we felt, and it seemed everyone I spoke to had tales to tell of racing the world over.
To date my experience was pretty much limited to the UK and I felt slightly green! This was my first 800km event and I tried to comfort myself with the thought that they had all started somewhere, but these were the world’s best AR teams and we were about to compete against them!
A major security alert at airports all over the country launched the adventure early. Combined with our own last minute preparations, equipment gathering and the need to test airline load tolerance to the limit; the stress began to build before we left home shores ...
After a night in preparation for the sleeplessness to come we met up in Stockholm with fellow competitors and friends Aberdeen Asset Management. After jointly having to charter our own bus to get both teams and baggage to another airport across the city we eventually had time to reflect and settle. We even managed a few welcome hours exploring the city whilst polishing up the inline skating skills!
After a 2.5 hour flight North at last we arrived in Hemevan-Tarnby and were allocated a chalet where we settled down for the only relaxing nights sleep before the race start.
I think Cranny and I were the first team in the local supermarket at 9am sharp, hoovering up the tins of ravioli and tuna and sampling the energy bars along with team Port Nelson, the job was done remarkably quickly.See All Event Posts
