Merrell King Winter

Treetops and Statues

Rob Howard / 11.01.2014

Through the afternoon and into the night of the Merrell Kong Vinter the rain and the temperature kept falling and the teams in the race were called on to maintain both the physical and mental strength required to continue. Resolve and determination were needed and so was the ability to look after suffering team mates and stressed equipment, particularly the bikes.

On the Masters course it was a slightly different top 3 who returned to TA1 after the paddle on Esrum Lake.  Skandia Adventure were still in the lead by a few minutes, but they were being chased by ATventure.dk, who had the strongest paddle. (This was no surprise as one of the pair is a national kayaking champion – there seem to be Danish national champs at all the AR sports in this race. ) They were followed by Knosen SKII, Kiroprackto3400.dk (another pair) and Estonian AR, who had slipped to 5^th.  (Paddling is one of their weaker disciplines and running their strongest, so they will be looking forward to the longer running stages on the second part of the course.

After returning to the TA the Masters leaders set off on the bike stage in a wide loop around Gripskov forest, which is a mix of coniferous and deciduous trees on rolling but relentless hills. The maps here were 1;25,000 as they are on most of the course, but even these had  been supplementing by overprinting more detailed sections from forestry maps near the checkpoints. (They were pasted in at the same scale.) Lars Bukkehave explained, “We try hard to have the best maps possible as we want orienteering to be a true test of skill, with no luck involved”.

The checkpoints were set in a few interesting places, behind huge glacial boulders, on lake shores and on an ancient stone circle. Teams also passed a bench dedicated to Hans Christian Anderson – it’s said he sat there to write some of his stories. (They will pass back this way later in the night to get back to the finish.)

All these points of interest were probably of no interest to Knosen SKII as they powered through the ride and into the lead, passing the two teams ahead of them towards the end of the stage. There was still not much between the top 3 and ATventure.dk were quicker in transition as they were not lured to the warm fire in the changing hut. They were one of the few teams not to take the chance to warm up while they changed and the hut was busy mud plastered racers huddled close to the central open fire, trying to get warm and dry out their gloves.

The transition was also busy with teams fixing punctures and gears, or trying to. The Swedish team Frosta Multisport were the first to pull out of the race with a derailleur problem they couldn’t fix and were soon asked for a spare inner tube by another team.  There were lots of reports of brake problems too and with most of the cycling still to come the state of teams’ bikes could be an issue later in the night. (The Masters course makes a complete cycling circuit of Esrum Lake in the later stages of the race.)

By this stage over half the Masters teams had missed some optional checkpoints around the course, and a couple of teams who had completed the cycling first were unable to do the kayaking as they missed the 15.00 cut-off.

With the kayaking and the forest cycle complete the next ride took teams up the West shore of Esrum Lake again to reach the Esrum Monastery, where there was another orienteering map to complete. The monastery was a large collection of buildings surrounded by streams and ponds and this run was described as a sprint orienteer, very short and with CP’s close together. One of these was on a large fallen tree which created a bridge across a small river, and another in front of the main monastery building, set on ancient stocks. (Maybe it’s for sinners to be clamped in and pelted with rotten fruit!)

By this stage night had fallen and mercifully the rain had stopped. Knosum SKII remained in the lead ahead of Skandia, but ATventure.dk who were in third place had to pull out when their navigator got dirt in his eye and could not see properly.

After the monastery another short ride took the Masters teams to the Til Tops high ropes course, and here they met up with the bulk of the teams on the shorter Adventure Course. This is really the only point where their paths cross. As a result the small reception centre and tree top course was really busy, with racers visible by their head lamps, climbing up ladders, cautiously stepping along wires, or zipping down into catch nets. The place was a hive of activity.

The Adventure Course had reached this point by riding through the forest, and then heading further north to the Tegner Museum for another short orienteering course. (The race makes use of existing maps and courses which seem to be abundant in Denmark.) Tegner was a sculptor and the museum itself is a huge concrete bunker of a building set on a hillside, but the run took teams through numerous large classical statues set out in the landscape. It was a very different place to run.

Adventure teams then headed to the tree top ropes course and directly back to the finish, while Masters teams took the much longer way around to the finish by heading south and round the lake, then back through Gripskov Forest. The Adventure winners are expected back around 19.00 and the Masters winners around 23.00, after which teams will finish right through the night until the course closes at 6.am. 

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