The North Face Adventure Trophy 2006
Trekking Through the Tatras
Russ Ladkin, Team Snowcard.co.uk / 16.05.2006
This would be something quite different. Entry fees were only £45 each but of course it would take another £200 apiece to transport our bikes and equipment to and from the race. An incident just before our departure cancelled all trains to the airport, followed by an airline that initially denied all knowledge of a bike booking. But then it\'s always said that getting to the start line is the hardest part.
There are two categories: Masters: 350km continuous race for mixed teams of 4 and Amateur: 230km for pairs planned to have timeouts between the stages. The two courses are similar with the Masters branching off for extra sections and the Amateur class being held back at transitions to keep the two classes roughly together and allow them to see the Masters teams in action.
10am comes and we are finally off around the 5km town orienteering course at a pace that doesn\'t betray that these competitors are in 200-300 km races. However this pace doesn\'t last long as the next stage is a 30 km mountain trek starting with a brisk 1000m climb to the first checkpoint (CP) on the border ridge.
We are pleased to have a few teams and pairs in front of us consolidating the soft, wet snow into good steps to plod upwards into the cloud. Not unlike UK winter conditions. With this stage being mostly within the National Park the route between CPs is fixed for everyone but for nearly the whole of the rest of the course we will have free route choice between CPs.The next leg begins with a tricky 3 km traverse of the border ridge to our high point just below 2000m.
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