Well, where to start. The season has certainly started well, first victory in ARWS in Spain where we managed to beat Seagate and now victory in HÅEC and once again a successful battle against New Zealand opposition. I have felt less prepared for this season when I throughout the winter have fought both heel spurs and a grumpy back of the left thigh. I have not really found the fluency in running but luckily adventure racing is so much more than just running. After the Spanish adventure, where we competed in 81 hours, my left knee and the back of my thigh were pretty sore, which meant that I had difficulty getting the quality training I wanted before Åre so I was far from sure of being able to take home the victory this year. And then when Sam Clark appeared on the start list, I felt that my victory possibilities became ever smaller. The guy was just 5 min after Braden Currie at this year’s Coast to Coast and thus second in the individual World Championships, a fantastic achievement.
The fact that the paddling was moved to Lake Åre was a bummer but absolutely right for safety reasons. I had no underlying rudder with me but Fredrik from Nordic Kayaks knew what to do. He had an extra boat which was perfect for me, a little longer and lighter, and hopefully a little faster.
We were at the start in good time, jogging and investigating the portage, trying to keep warm and talk with other contestants. Everyone was tense and full of expectation, we all just wanted to get started .The wind was moderate but we could see that it was going to be a grumpy ride on the lake.
I’m trying, along with many others, to find a good starting position to be able to get away in a good way, we were all drifting in the wind and shoved together and suddenly, bang! Start, shit, it’s too crowded, hitting the paddle in the other boats, someone’s boat stands crosswise in front of me, I “lose” the train that takes off to the left of me.
The basic idea was to try to find a quick wave like behind Danny H (who then made a nice thing on the bike leg where he lent his bike to a friend and ran the final 22 km), but now the gap was a little too big to close in on. So I followed plan B, just lying in the peloton and try to save as much power as possible, preferably not pull one meter. It all became a paddle stretch in cruising pace when I consistently told myself that I would not pull the whole train. A little alarmingly Sam Clark and Danny kayaked together and constantly drove faster than us in the second cluster, not good.
Out of the water, I dumped the kayak and jogged toward the TA, trying to eat and drink of what was left in the life vest. The paddling is just a transport; it is now the race begins for real. I came out of TA with Emil and Mattias. We were 4 minutes after Sam. That’s a lot of time, this will be tough. A bit up in Tottbacken we lost further and were 4:30 behind, but I found a good pace and tried to go on calmly and methodically.
Halfway up I start to see Sam in front of me and understood that I was getting closer. We passed through the clouds and Åreskutan showed its absolute best. It was magical with clear blue sky, blending white snow and the cloud cover below. I usually aim to find at least three highlights during each race, this was definitely one of them.
Photo: Jakob Edholm, HÅEC.
I passed Sam just before the top, talking and laughing a bit about the quantity of snow, I laugh because it’s beautiful with snow, Sam laughs more frustrated.
Downhill towards Huså I just try to find a good flow without crashing too many times. I had expected a clear path in the snow but I sometimes have problems to see where I’m going in the clouds. Once down on the gravel road, I just try to save my legs so they will be fresh for the final bike leg.
A smooth TA and away, I rode just a few meters then the road is blocked, wtf, where should I go now? Remembered Mats said that the course would pass through the courtyard of some old man. I make it around and into the yard, but wasted many precious seconds to figure out the way. Knew I was leading by about a minute, but that´s nothing, a crash and Matte would catch up.
Pushing on in the normal pace, make no mistake, try to eat and drink, listen for screeching brakes behind me but hear nothing. When I pass the road the first time I hear that I was 70 seconds ahead of Matte in TA at Huså and about 4 minutes before Sam. I’m usually pretty good at tough uphill so they would have a hard work to catch up. At Björnen, I had extended my lead but not more than 10 seconds.
In the test run of the MTB track, I got a cut in my tire in the tricky parts of the track so I chose to take it easy and slowly there, being told that I have kept the lead and Natasha screams that she’ll give me a final time update at Tott (she was everywhere). Once there, I hear that I lead with 1.51 minutes and I feel for the first time that I will get through this, I celebrate a little, start singing, putting in a lower gear and start pushing up the last hill. At the entrance to the downhill slope Getrappet I saw no one behind and slide very slowly down through the turns not risking anything. When I’m down I drop the handlebars and lean back to enjoy it all. When I arrive at the final climb to the finish line I hear someone screaming and see Matte coming as a cannonball from behind, but there is never any danger.
Photo: Jakob Edholm, HÅEC
Last year when I won, it was full throttle from start to finish, with a comfortable lead on the bike route, this year it became more tactics racing with calm kayaking, controlled running and controlled cycling. The question is how I should put it up next year…
Mattias makes a very solid effort on the 2nd place, Jossa fought her way to a 3rd place in the tough opposition and Björn makes a CRAZY strong effort considering the conditions (he just got diabetes) and ends 6th.
A big thanks to Mats and Natasha for a super arrangement, and a fantastic support on the course, thanks to all the sponsors, Haglöfs, Silva, Specialized, Hestra, X-Kross, Enervit, Icebug, Source and Gainomax. Thanks to the staff at Haglöfs for all support and good company. Thanks to the service team Anton Olofsson and family Wikberg who did it exemplary and above all, a big thank you to all the wonderful people who carry out the competition behind the fight for the podium, YOU are the real heroes!
Thanks also to the family Nordenmark and Acron Olle who is always there cheering, you guys are amazing!
And you who want the victory recipe for the last few years, check out the video of me and my everyday life which is made of Andreas Strand, Ronnie Hammar and music by Magnus Ringblom:
/Robert, Team Haglöfs Silva