Merrell King Winter
It’s Been A Hard Day’s Night
Rob Howard / 12.01.2014
The Merrell Kong Vinter 2014 is now packing up after delivering about as much outdoor sporting action as its possible to fit into a one day race.
The last teams arrived back at HQ at dawn, coming back in just after 7.00, a bit after the course officially closed for its 21 hour deadline. With teams taking various options during the night the organisers were glad to get everyone safely back and accounted for.
The latest back were the masters teams who had completed the steep and slippery gravel pit orienteering map in the night, then cycled back past the royal castle at Fredensborg (which is where the crown prince and his family live), back through the forest of Gripskov and into the finish.
It wasn’t until the very end of the race that the final prize place was decided. That was for the mixed team on the Masters course, which was won by team ‘Den Sprode, den slidte and den visne’. They were among the last team to finish and threw their sleeping mats down on the floor of HQ (it wasn’t easy to find any space) for a very short sleep. All too soon Lars Bukkehave was shaking them awake to have a very groggy prize giving as the race was packing up to leave.
By this time in the morning there were exhausted racers and staff sleeping all over the building, mud plastered bikes and kit scattered around, and the food area where racers had eaten when they got back was a scene of devastation.
It will all be cleared away and tidied up quickly and by the time the good citizens of Denmark are making their way to Sunday morning church the race will have come and gone for another year.
SleepMonsters
