Training Log Archive: jackson5

C • Another detailed race report ;-) 4

(By Lars Bukkehave)
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3.place and podium at ARWS - Adventure Racing World Series Expedition Oregon.

We got 99 problems but artifical sugar was not one of them!

Hard navigation, a lot of technical stages and big changes in temperature made all teams to make a lot of mistakes and slow process. In the end it was not about making a flawless race but just to hold on and not end on a kamikaze suicide mission.

Many times during the race we were almost embarrassed how many navigation mistakes and how slow we were going. But almost all other teams also had a tough time. Lets face it, it was a hard technical brutal course! But that's also what made it so epic.

The fight for top 5 and top 10 was very tight and all teams could smell each other! Fun to race that intense race where there is fight for each placement.

It started out with a snowshoe stage in spring snow with summit of Maiden peak. We used light Leki hiking poles with a big snow basked that helped a lot on the uphill.

Then to packrafting where we on flat water connected the boats with Nite Ize. Then on a big lava field with super sharp rocks but thanks to our inov-8 All Terrain Running shoes they had a good grip and did not rip apart.

Then some tactical route decisions in packraft, where water froze on our dry suit and boat during the night. It was cold, very cold!

Then a fun orienteering stage on ridge line that involved some scrambling. We almost nailed it flawless, but a fast moving french team who took the orienteering cup.

Then a long bike stage with lots of technical single tracks that made time fly! We enjoying it both in the right and also some times in the wrong direction.

Then hitting the darkzone with 2 hours to spare. So we had 1 hour of sleep.

We were first boat on the water. It was a great class 2 river, a lot of fun but with a single flip that ended up breaking one paddle, we removed that piece and had a baby paddle.

Followed by a death march with all our packrafting gear. Heavy as hell. A stage that can make or break a team.

In to a short MTB that toke us to the next orienteering. With a great start but in the end we was so sleepy that we lost trek and had to make a big detour to get back. A long bike push to the summit and on to the multi pitch climb. Full focus. Very cool add to the race.

Finish with a long bike ride to finish. We made it to the podium.

Thanks to my team for a great time, we hold it together even when we was falling apart.

Thanks to Jason, Chelsey and Dan for making a World class course. We will be back next time, its a event not to be missed. Also thanks for all the great crew that made and awesome job out there.

@ Bend, Oregon

Event: Expedition Oregon