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A Hard Battle to the Finish Line

Mia Renz / 08.09.2008

A feast met the teams at CP46. When the teams opened the door to the cabin a smorgosboard of pizza, hot dogs and snacks were served.

During the long night on the mtb section there were many different route choices, ending up luckily for some and with huge navigation errors for others. FJS lost their lead due to a bad choice when they followed a road that ended up in a deadend.

Lundhags and FJS arrived at the same time at TA5. They got a short rest before the dark zone ended and were accompanied by TietoEnator when they were allowed out on the the river kayaking section, a 90 km long paddel from Pengsjö to Hörnett.

FJS seemed to be the stronger team and reached CP48 a couple of minutes ahead of Lundhags. TietoEnator Adventure Vit arrived 6 minutes behind the top two. The teams looked strong and fierce despite the cold and foggy morning on the river kayaking section. FJS lost their lead to Lundhags who had made the right choice of kayak trolleys (made by team member Robert Lindberg)and these made the team faster on the portage stages.

During the night Ida Semrén in FK Herkules suffered from hypothermia and the team decided to seek shelter. They stayed at a cabin and had a good rest and some food. Ida got to see the medical team and took a long hot shower. They decided to stay in the race with their strength renewed. On Monday afternoon, two days into the race we still have all teams in the race and we have no reported injuries.

At CP55 Lundhags made a a navigation error and looked for the CP on the riverside 200 meters below the right position. They lost 15 minutes but FJS still had 6km to catch. Despite their error they stayed focused and speeded up after finding the CP, heading down the river of Moälven towards Haffstafjärden.

With a strong last leg Lundhags crossed the finish line after 2 days 20 hours and 18 minutes. 1 hour and 17 minutes later we could greet FJS. Before the dark zone kicks in tonight we expect TietoEnator Adventure Vit at the finish.

The rest of the teams are on the last river kayaking section and will be stopped by the dark zone at 20:00 tonight.

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