7 Cerros Medellin Urban Adventure Race
Lundhags maintains 22 minute lead over Sole and Teva-La Pinilla...
Jacqueline Windh / 23.09.2007
It’s been a really fast and exciting day here in MedellÃn!
The Swedes have managed to maintain the 20 minute lead they took over the chasing teams Sole and Teva-La Pinilla right to the finish line (they needed 30 minutes to catch Spain in overall rnking). But penalties for these two teams might change everything...
From the orienteering section, they hopped on to their bikes for some quick stops at various places, to face various challenges, around the city. First to Parque Norte, graced with a tiny lake, not more than a couple of hundred metres across, with a forested green island rising out of its centre. Five laps around here... The Swedes were first, with nearly a two-lap advantage over Sole and Spain, whose four kayaks were so tight together that many of the locals watching the race thought they were all on one team: first Antonio and Monica, then Darren and Karen, then Aurelio and Albert, and finally Paul and Marcel. Then back on the bikes...
I caught all three teams in the stairway at the highrise – 36 stories to climb and then descend. They crossed one another at ground-level, Lundhags already exiting the stairway just as Sole and Spain entered it. Spain’s Aurelio Olivar, an extremely strong runner (half-marathon PR 1:06) was ascending happily, a big grin on his face, several stories ahead of the other seven racers, who all looked pretty puffed. Sole’s Darren Clarke is having a tough day, racing with one eye swollen shut – no injury, he says, he just woke up that way. I can’t imagine how he managed to skate with no depth perception...
SleepMonsters
