The APEX Race
Silva Gerber Adventure Win APEX
Grant Killian/Rob Howard / 31.05.2011
The second half of the APEX race showed the nastier side of Swiss weather, with almost constant wind, rain, and snow in the higher reaches of the course. Teams completed a fun (off the clock) canyoneering activity despite the weather conditions, enjoying the ropes, pools, and swims (and their thick wetsuits!). The race leaders continued quickly into the Brienzer Rothorn trekking leg, which is an exposed series of ridge trails at high altitude above the scenic Brienzersee (Lake Brienz). Conditions on the ridges deteriorated as the day wore on, and race organizers wisely re-routed the trek into lower elevations, which were safer for the slower teams who would take this section on at night. Many teams, however elected to sleep a few hours at a transition area further up the valley from the Brienzer Rothorn trek . . . replenishing their energy for the final push to the finish line.
The race leaders, Silva Gerber and R'Adys Black Diamond, ended day 3 with less than 30 minutes separating them after time adjustments, but the Swedish team pushed onto the finish line strongly and crossed the finish line first to win the race in impressive fashion.
They completed the final trek of scenic valleys and forests, concluding with one racer dramatically paragliding down to Interlaken, while the rest of their team ran down the mountain. Reunited at the landing field, the team had a final short trek to the finish line.
The Silva Gerber team only slept for 1 hour 40 minutes throughout the entire event, and raced without making any significant mistakes; their experience and teamwork powering them to victory, finishing 4 hours in front of the Swiss team R'Adys Black Diamond.
The team win their free place in the World Championship final in Tasmania later in the year, and will be a force to be reckoned with. Led by Björn Rydval the core of team raced for many years as Lundhags Adventure, achieving many podium places at international level, and are joined by Aaron Prince from New Zealand, who now lives in Sweden and has raced with many top teams in recent years. Their experience and strength showed through in this race, where they were clearly the outstanding team from start to finish. (You can find out more about them on their team <a href="#" onClick="javascript:newsitewindow('http://www.arsweden.se/adventure/index.php ')" class="main">website</a>.See All Event Posts
