Explore Sweden Expedition Adventure Race 2009 - The 1000k Monster
A Day of Pure Happiness or Pure Despair
Mia Renz / 08.07.2009
When they crossed the finish line it was raining cats and dogs, but the Polish were just smiling.
The happiest team at the finish so far is SOLE Herkules. Elite Adventure Racer Karen Lundgren from the US joined three guys from Sweden and had a great time. On the big sail leg Gunnar Hallnéius showed great sailing skills and overtook Statkraft.
Just before five a clock in the morning Statkraft crossed the finish line in fifth place. With broad smiles on their faces the team completed the race wrapped in national flags. They were very tired and very wet, but just as happy and thought it was worth it.
\"Yes, absolutely. We are very happy\", team captain Arvid Björkroth said just after they crossed the finish line.
The last day they raced in pouring rain all day and all night. \"It has been wet!\" Arvid Björkroth said. He also said the last long bike ride was hard and they had to struggle a bit to cope. And the last day the weather didn´t make it easier. “It takes down the spirit and everything becomes harder�. When they reached Arvid and Henriks hometown Sollefteå they got some renewed energy, not least by the cheering crowd that helped them on. “It was great fun, and an incredible arrangement in the park�. In general they were happy with their performance and thought it went quite well. They really earned their fifth place.
At the same time as teams arrived at the finish others went out on the long sailing stage on Indalsälven from Utanede South of Sollefteå. This is where the Swedish Thai temple, King Chulalongkorn\'s Pavilion, is located - a very glittry and exotic building, even for us.
Four teams, DenSurka.ru, Chasing Daylight, Nike ACG-arena, Rejlers Kolmården Adventures and Herkules struggled with headwinds. DenSurka.ru even tried to carry their boat on the road. We guess they got tired of the river since the whole leg took them 19.5 hours.
Just before 10:00 Team Explore reached the finish line at Hotel Södra Berget after 4 days 21 hours and 18 min. The team got to use the showers at a friends room at the hotel and she came out and said \"Racers smell worse than old cheese!\"
Rejlers-Kolmården spent about fourteen hours on the river in a sailboat and were quite tired when they came ashore. \"Whose idea was it that we should have these?\" Emilie Kiraly asked just afterwards and had a grim look on her face. The assistants laughed and said, \"We are the media, not officials\". \"Oh\", Emilie replyed, now with a smile on her face.
In spite the struggle on the boat they were in a very good mood. \"It was fun doing something different\", said one of the guys. They tried to sail but had little success. \"It was quite windy\", Emilie filled in and continued, \"When we sat sail it felt great, we got real speed – but in the wrong direction ...\".
The team went on with broad smiles on their faces. The sailing-section was a source of joy after all.
120 hours and 39 minutes since they started in downtown Sundsvall Team Helly Hansen UK came back and crossed the finish line. Multitude Salomon reached the finish line in a very good spirit. They said it was a beautiful course and they had enjoyed the race.
In the rare Team Issy Aventure-Whitspirit had a rough night on their bikes. They were cycling in pouring rain and were both wet and very cold. One of the team didn´t feel so good in the cold conditions so they stopped and took a break and recovered.
But the Frenchmen’s ordeal wasn´t over. When they reach GZ4 they discovered that there were more who were interested in their food. The assistant had left the food on the riverbank and the birds were having a party. When Issy came to the river there was only paper left, all the packaged food were gone.
Togheter with Team Issy Aventure-Whitspirit ,Team YogaSlakers fought to avoid a cut-off when the TA12 in Sollefteå closes at 23:00 on the 8th of July. We are sorry to say that none of them made it. They have been real happy campers all the way and our volunteers give them a big cheer!
SleepMonsters
