OLD NEWS >> June - August 2004

2004-08-03 I am going to race soon! The next competition is Fjällräven Extreme Marathon in Åre August 6-7th. I will participate in the women cathegory, running the longest distance (70 km) together with Hanna Larsson who usually represents Team Arkitektkopia. It's 2-days race, the total winning time is about 10 hours (first day with a mass start and the second day with a chasing start, we will spend the night in a base camp in the mountains in a tent which we have to carry with us together with some other equipment). I should be in quite a good shape for this kind of race right now. Apart from the week in Norwegian mountains I also spent 2 days in Sälen last week, running 3-4 hours each day. Sälen is one of the nearest mountain areas, about 3 hours drive from Borlänge.
www.fjallraven.se/fem

It is not easy to turn off the computer and leave in these days. The World Championship in Adventure Racing is going on in Canada, Newfoundland right now and it is possible to folow the race online: http://www.sleepmonsters.com/racereport.php?race_id=507. Three Swedish teams are participating and I keep my fingers crossed for all of them.

2004-07-20 Back from my summer vacation in Bodø in northern Norway where I spent one week running/trekking in mountains, fishing (and watching TV). I realized again how much I like to be in mountains. The landscape around Bodø is perfect for training - both if you are an orienteering runner or adventure racer. I ran part of the course from Norwegian orienteering championships in long distance which was organized in Bodø one and half month ago. The mountains there are not very high (up to 1300m) but quite steep and rough. Check the pictures taken during one of our trainings/trips to the mountains.
I could note a new record in driving car - I drove 860 km without any longer stops (from Borlänge to Arjeplog). The whole distance was 1150km (one way) and we made it in 12 hours on the way back to Borlänge.....
Read more about Bodø and about the Norwegian Championship in orienteering on long distance (map, pictures).

2004-07-04 I have been trying to recover from Explore Sweden (read the report below) but it takes some time, especially because I am quite busy at my work and do not have any vacation left. I participated in Jukola (orienteering team - race in Finland) two weeks ago and last weekend I went with my friends to Åre (one of the main Swedish skiing resorts) for a short training camp. The plan was to train on the course for Åre Extreme Challenge (AEC) and prepare for the race. The first section is 25km kayaking with some parts of wild water (class 2). I wanted to try and see whether I can get through without flipping the kayak. I was quite nervous since wild water kayaking is not my favourite discipline... I paddled the course twice and did not flip over. The second section is running (about 15km with 1000m climbing) and last is about 35km MTB (with some parts where you have to pull your bike). Tough race! Despite the "success" on the kayaking section I decided not to participate in the race and stay at home this weekend instead. The picture here is taken during a hill training at the skiing slope Romme Alpine (about 10 km from Borlänge). See pictures from Åre, Jukola etc.

Explore Sweden
Our team had to pull out at the end of the second stage of Explore Sweden, after passing the top of the highest mountain of Sweden Kebnekaise (after approximately 45 hours on the course).
The race was almost the toughest one we have ever done, said members of the winning team Nokia Adventure (Finland). Second place went to Cross (Sweden) and third to Seagate (New Zealand). Only 9 teams (out of 22) crossed the finish lane.

See the website of the race www.exploresweden.se (results, pictures, movies..) and the adventure racing portal Sleepmonsters with an extensive coverage of the race (reports and pictures).
Pictures of our team taken by our photographer © Mats Andren foto@wombat.to

We didn't have very good start (the first section was coastering - swimming between small islands in the sea and climbing on the cliffs along the coast, the water had only 7 degrees C). We lost some time because of a wrong route choice to the CP2 and also by getting 30 minutes penalty (our maps got wet during the swimming and we had to ask the organizers for new ones). The first stage was located in the High Coast area, south of Örnsköldsvik and consisted of MTB, canoeing (+ pulling the canoe on the land between the lakes), inlines (on the main highway E4!), long trekking in Skuleberget national park (great area and interesting navigation), via ferata and more MTB. The pace was high and reminded me Raidseries rather than an expedition race.

We had to choose the shorter version of the course (in exchange for a time-penalty) but we arrived at the airport in Kramfors in time, could get some sleep and cought a special plane which took us and the other teams to Kiruna - the north of Sweden. The locations of the stages ware secret until we landed but we expected the second stage to be in the mountain area around Kebnekaise - the highest mountain of Sweden because the compulsory equipment for this stage was e.g. snowshoes, crampons, rope, ice axe etc. and we knew that we would be trekking on glaciers. The stage consisted of 56 km of trekking (+ via ferata and repel) and 77km inlines. Check the map for trekking. I had never been on the top of Kebnekaise, and never walked with snowshoes and crampons before. This section was really spectacular but very tough, not only because of the length and elevation but also because of the wet snow, low temperature during the night (below 0), and the difficulty to get water in the alpine area. One of my team mates (who actually pulled me up to the top of the mountain) got problems with his stomach on the way down, started to vomit and eventually collapsed after not being able to keep any food or water in his stomach. He was picked up by a helicopter and ended up on IV-drip. It was surprising how many competitors experienced the same problem. The medical team got a lot of work during this stage and had to buy more IV-drips afterwards. Unfortunately, the race was over for us.

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