Czech Adventure Race 2012

The Race Heats Up

Jan Smolik / 02.08.2012

The Wenger Czech Adventure Race 2012 started at 10 o’clock sharop Wednesday from the Main Square in Kadaň.  It’s a very beautiful square and well worth visiting.

The first discipline was a prologue of city-orienteering, which actually took place mostly out of the city. There are several hills around Kadaň and competitors visited just about all of them. One of checkpoints was at the top of an observation tower, from which you could see most of the other checkpoints … like the ones located at neighboring hills. But you could also see teams clad in green jerseys running in a field deep below you.

First to return from the prologue were favorites Berghaus/Accom/Merida, closely followed by Wenger/Estim, who were second last year and then, more surprisingly, came Garmin.

As prologues do, this one gave everyone a clear idea what the race will be about.  The first trekking stage was even hillier!  Most checkpoints were located at a castle, or at least the ruins of the castle … and castles tend to be located at tops of hills.  So competitors spent they time walking up and down. Sometimes you were able to see the peak you needed to reach next and wished there was a bridge! Anyway, many beautiful places were visited, with outlooks opened to even more beautiful surrounds.

What was the worst thing on trekking stage was the terrible heat. Many competitors complained about dehydration and cramps. One team even had to withdraw as they were cooked.

Berghaus/Accom/Merida spent most of the day building their advantage, only to lose it on CP6 that was hard to find from one direction. Wenger/Estim gained on them, but Berghaus managed to keep their lead to CP7. However, between CP7 and CP8 Wenger took a better route choice and suddenly at the end of the stage they found themselves in the lead.

Another strong Czech team – Addidas Terrex – was third for most of the stage. But the heat was too hard on them and they looked very tired at the transition area. They actually arrived together with Local Blok, who looked fresher. Garmin fell to the fifth place, but they also looked fresh when we met them running to the transition area.

You can follow the leaderboard at  www.adventurerace.cz/live.php?lang=en