The APEX Race
APEX Switzerland 2011 – A Race of Many UPS and DOWNS.
Team SleepMonsters/Likeys.com / 10.06.2011
<b>Day 1 (Wednesday)</b>It all started on a very hot day on an airfield on the outskirts of Interlaken in the Swiss Oberland Region. We were surrounded by the foot hills of the Alps with the mighty Eiger and Jungfrau Mountain range a little way up the valley. Following a team procession from Interlaken and the wonderful Balmers resort the 28 teams were lined up at 10am for the first of four prologue legs.
We were in the same group as one of the race favourites ‘Silva Gerber’ who sped off through the airfield’s grounds to collect the checkpoints before ascending a few hundred metres into the hills. Subsequent prologue legs left at 90 minute intervals and included white water rafting just outside of Interlaken, a very hard trotty-biking relay and finally another section of orienteering. The speed, sun and heat reflected off the airfield’s taxiways and took its toll on everyone. The majority of the racers sought shelter in the shade wherever possible.
Following a short break in the proceedings, the team with the combined fastest time through all 4 prologue legs left at 5pm. All other teams departed based on the difference of their times with the leader’s time for the prologue. We left at 17:40.
We headed off from the airfield for the 9km run through Interlaken to Lake Thun and did a fast transition to kayaks where we passed a number of other teams. Good start!
The 27km paddle took us from Neuhaus at the eastern end to Thun at the western end and back to Faulensee half-way between the two. The views from the lake of the surround hills were stunning and we paddled into a setting sun. The night had descended at Thun and we’d turned around for the paddle back to transition 2 just before midnight.
<b>Day 2 (Thursday)</b>
The 105km bike leg started with a brutal hike-a-bike up to a small village overlooking the kayaking lake below. Then, Gary’s chain jammed itself behind the cassette and no amount of force was able to remove it. The team’s chain breaker struggled to break the Shimano chain. Luckily team #9 (Leteci Nomadi from Slovenia) gave us their chain breaker in exchange for our multi-tool. We managed to fix the problem and discovered that one of the cogs had been bent. We caught up with team #9 at the next check point and returned the tool.
The rest of the bike ride took us up the Kander valley to Kandersteg (CP8) where we dropped off the bikes to complete a 6km horizontal and 500m vertical trek loop in the dark. We got back on the bikes and descended 400m down fast gravel roads to Kandergrund. Gary was concentrating on navigation at this point and failed to see a wooden barrier and barbed wire across the track at sunrise, but a shout from Mark allowed him to slow down enough to save breaking his bike and legs. See All Event Posts
