Czech Adventure Race 2013
Day 1 at the Czech Adventure Race
Jan Smolik (Czech Adventure Race) / 22.08.2013
Green lemmings jumping off a cliff … The Wenger Czech Adventure Race started very untraditionally with competitors jumping off the podium. If you have ever played the video game Lemmings, it was exactly like that: unstoppable green men falling just off anything.
The race started at 10 a.m. from the main square in Kroměříž. After jumping from the podium teams collected their maps from which they discovered what will follow. Half of the teams went for orienteering, the other half for in-line skating. They swapped the disciplines afterwards.
The orienteering section was through the Flower Gardens which are on the UNESCO World Heritage list. Both gardens and castle are really beautiful but it is not clear if competitors had time to admire them. The pace was fairly quick and the fastest teams were able to run through this section in about thirty minutes.
The skating section seemed to be pretty straightforward. You ran to the start of the section, skated for 30 kilometers and came back. However team Salomon-Suunto/Accom/OpavaNet, who are the biggest favorite of the race, made a navigation mistake. They solved it by swimming across the Morava River, but they lost 30 minutes anyway. Another Czech team, Salomon-Suunto/Nutrend, moved into the lead) followed by the Russian team Red-Fox.
Teams continued on bikes to the south and moved to another section of Morava River. This area is fairly flat and reminds me of Holland. There was a windmill on the way and there is also Baťa Canal. If you want to see Holland, come to this area of the Czech Republic!
The two major stages of the day were canoeing and skating. The canoeing started at the place where the Morava intersects the Baťa Canal. Teams paddled down the river and returned through the canal. The return path was tough as the wind was blowing against the teams and Salomon-Suunto/Nutrend kept the lead. There was a battle for the second place though. On the change from canoes to skates, four teams were in the TA almost simultaneously. Red-Fox with a slight advantage, Estonian ACE slightly lagging and Czech Salomon-Suunto/Accom/Opavanet and Adidas/Elvac went head to head in between.
The skating stage was along the same canal, so the fast teams on the skates could wave to the slower teams in their canoes. Positions did not change much between the leading teams.
With following biking stage came an abrupt change in the landscape. After the flat lands came the mountains. Chřiby are not very high mountains, only 500 to 600 meters above sea level … they are mostly hills. But they have a mountainous character with a large area covered with trees, steep climbs and curved roads.
This section also involved ‘Bollscross’, the obstacle course that has became a signature challenge of the Czech Adventure Race and it was almost dry this year. It was mostly a test of how many times you could cross a single gully … and on the bottom of the gully there was mud. You needed to slide down and scramble up again, but there was beautiful view from the highest place.
On the end of the biking stage Salomon-Suunto/Nutrend was leading by 30 minutes before Red Fox with Salomon-Suunto/Accom/OpavaNet another 5 minutes back.
You can see the race leaderboard at http://www.adventurerace.cz/2013/live.php?lang=en
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