Le Grand Tour race story
23/5-2012 Here is the race story from last weekend's Le Grand Tour in Finspång.
Last weekend the longest race in the Swedish Multisport Cup, Le Grand Tour, was held in forests and lakes outside Finspång. Many of the best Swedish adventure racers had gathered for this 24 hour race, raced in teams of two. We had two male teams on the starting line, Mattias and Sonny as team Silva, and Björn together with last minute replacement Emil Dahlqvist from colleague team FJS (stepping in for Robert who had caught a cold just days before the race). Our co-ed team consisted of Josefina and the strong mountainbike-orienteerer Andreas Mathisen.
Le Grand Tour was divided into 8 different sections, 4 trekking, 3 mountainbike and a long kayaking-section. Le Grand Tour is famous for its long and challenging kayaking and biking sections. This year was no exception, with a 50 km technical kayak-section, partly upstream!
The race started in the center of Finspång with 5 km orienteering rogaining. Our male teams had a good start and led the leading group all the way to transition and Josefina and Andreas were 2nd among the mixed teams.
The racecourse continued with a nice technical mountainbike-section, followed by 20 km trekking. At the transition to the long kayak, Sonny and Mattias had a few minutes lead over Björn and Emil with a 20 min gap to the rest.
The 50 km kayaksection was a real challenge with narrow rivers and long lakes. Our teams managed the tricky navigation during the night and defended their positions all the way to transition.
The race continued with a wet and technical coasteering and an 80 km long mountainbike-section with several route-choices and heaps of nice single-tracks. Björn and Emil passed Sonny and Mattias on the bike-section and the gap grew on the following trekking and mountainbike-sections. Unfortunately, Josefina and Andreas had to withdraw at the end of the long mountainbike-section, due to stomach-problems for Andreas.
At the last transition, the race was back in Finspång and the racecourse ended with 8 km orienteering. Björn and Emil crossed the finish line as winners of Le Grand Tour after 21 hours and 41 minutes, with Sonny and Mattias 2nd.
Next up is the APEX race in Interlaken, Switzerland, starting June 6th.
Share on Facebook
Photo: Andreas Strand.
Last weekend the longest race in the Swedish Multisport Cup, Le Grand Tour, was held in forests and lakes outside Finspång. Many of the best Swedish adventure racers had gathered for this 24 hour race, raced in teams of two. We had two male teams on the starting line, Mattias and Sonny as team Silva, and Björn together with last minute replacement Emil Dahlqvist from colleague team FJS (stepping in for Robert who had caught a cold just days before the race). Our co-ed team consisted of Josefina and the strong mountainbike-orienteerer Andreas Mathisen.
Le Grand Tour was divided into 8 different sections, 4 trekking, 3 mountainbike and a long kayaking-section. Le Grand Tour is famous for its long and challenging kayaking and biking sections. This year was no exception, with a 50 km technical kayak-section, partly upstream!
Photo: Andreas Strand.
The race started in the center of Finspång with 5 km orienteering rogaining. Our male teams had a good start and led the leading group all the way to transition and Josefina and Andreas were 2nd among the mixed teams.
Photo: Andreas Strand.
The racecourse continued with a nice technical mountainbike-section, followed by 20 km trekking. At the transition to the long kayak, Sonny and Mattias had a few minutes lead over Björn and Emil with a 20 min gap to the rest.
Photo: Andreas Strand.
The 50 km kayaksection was a real challenge with narrow rivers and long lakes. Our teams managed the tricky navigation during the night and defended their positions all the way to transition.
Photo: Andreas Strand.
Photo: Andreas Strand.
The race continued with a wet and technical coasteering and an 80 km long mountainbike-section with several route-choices and heaps of nice single-tracks. Björn and Emil passed Sonny and Mattias on the bike-section and the gap grew on the following trekking and mountainbike-sections. Unfortunately, Josefina and Andreas had to withdraw at the end of the long mountainbike-section, due to stomach-problems for Andreas.
At the last transition, the race was back in Finspång and the racecourse ended with 8 km orienteering. Björn and Emil crossed the finish line as winners of Le Grand Tour after 21 hours and 41 minutes, with Sonny and Mattias 2nd.
Next up is the APEX race in Interlaken, Switzerland, starting June 6th.
Share on Facebook
Photo: Andreas Strand.
Photo: Andreas Strand.