SleepMonsters in Slovenia

Rob / 23.06.2004

Team SleepMonsters are headed back to Adventure Race Slovenia to defend the title they won at the inaugural race last year, but there is much stronger opposition this time, including 2 other UK teams.

David Hooper, Fiona Paterson and Howard Lowe all raced in the SleepMonsters team last year and they are joined by Chris McSweeny, replacing Ski Sharp. They know what to expect this time (poor maps, rich alpine scenery and a friendly welcome), but are not feeling under any pressure to win again.

“We have promised Ski to have a Radler (beer) on him and are looking forward to the craic” said Hooper. “There are strong teams this year, including the winners of the race in Croatia a few weeks back, but we will just do our own thing and see what happens. Most of all we intend to enjoy ourselves.“

It will be a tough race in every respect. The HQ is in Velenje, the same place as last year, but the course will be in new areas and is expected to be more challenging. It’s even said to have 6km of caving! The whole route is 240km, with 80km of trekking, 95km of mtb, 6km of caving, 3km of swimming, 50m of abseiling, 30m of jumarring, 12km of kayaking and 40km of mountaineering, rising to altitudes over 2,800m.

When the race starts on Friday the SleepMonsters team won’t be up against only local teams, as they were last year, and they should have a good contest with the two other UK teams. Snow and Rock are in good form with 2 ACE Race wins behind them this year, though the team makeup is different – this is the team which finished 7th in Croatia at the recent Terra Incognita. (Nick Gracie, Warren Bates, Mark Humphry & Lisa Godfrey.)

John Cunningham, who has raced with Snow and Rock at the ACE Race wins, is in the third UK team, which is called ‘No Limits’. It could just as easily have been the ‘SleepMonsters Forum Foursome’ as that is where the team came together and John, Gill Watson, Steve Jones and German racer Rolf Johannes have been regular faces on the forum since it started. Steve was a volunteer at the race last year, so he will be more familiar with the race format and maps.

We’ll be following how they all get on as the race progresses, though information and communication was very patchy last year. [Coverage will be on SleepMonsters.com, but you can always follow the links from here via the ‘SleepMonsters Worldwide box’ on the home page.]

You can read the accounts of last year\'s race by Dave Hooper and Steve Jones here.