Helly Hansen UK ready to race in Sweden….
Team helly Hansen are in the final preparations for the Adventure Race Explore Sweden. Team Member Nicola Macleod is joined by Bruce Duncan, who raced in Patagonia, Nick Gracie and John Laughlin two experienced UK racers.
The 2009 edition - the fifth of its kind - will take racers from the coastal city of Sundsvall on a great journey through the middle of Sweden en route to the mountains at the Norwegian border and back again.
The teams will be racing at the peak of Sweden’s fantastic and light-filled summer period, when the sun circles high in the sky, dips below the horizon for a couple of hours, and then rises again. For more details and to follow the teams progress click hereExplore Sweeden.
The race course will cover 1,000 km and teams will travel through vast forests, on rivers and lakes, and in the high alpine mountains in the most beautiful parts of Sweden.
The support crew will be Twittering to Nic’s account… at @nicolamacleod or follow here on the Teams website for updates and news. Also you can follow John johnlaughlin @johnlaughlin
Helly Hansen Adventure Challenge Series 2009-10
Helly Hansen and Trail Plus have announced the dates and locations for the Helly Hansen Adventure Challenge series. For more information please follow these links Sleepmonsters&Trailplus
2009 dates and venues are:
- Sunday 20 September: Cannock Chase, Staffordshire
- Sunday 18 October: Longmoor Camp, Hampshire
- Sunday 6 December: Hawley, Nr Camberley, Surrey
2010 dates and venues are
- Sunday 31 January (2010): Pirbright, Surrey
- Sunday 21 March (2010): Grisedale forest, Lake District
3 Peaks is over for Team HH….
The only all girl team in this years 3 Peaks Yacht race completed the course in 13th place. The girls completed the course in 5 days 53 mins. The going was slow for all the teams with the lack of wind forcing teams to row for many hours to progress through the course.
Nic was tweeting from the course,you can read and follow her at @nicolamacleod.
Wenger Patagonian Adventure Race Trophy….
Last week the Winners trophy from the Wenger Patagonian Adventure race finally arrived to us only to have to be sent back to the organisation the following week in preparation for the 2010 race. The team and racer names are on the trophy with the winning time and we managed to take a few quick photos.
Please go to the following link to view the trophy Flickr.com
Helly Hansen UK enter Explore Sweden
Team Helly Hansen UK will take on the 1000km monster that is Explore Sweden this summer. From the 2-9th July Bruce, Nic, Nick and John will fly the flag for the UK in the longest World Series event this year.
This race is set to prepare us for the world championships in Portugal later in the year.
The course looks fantastic and the sun never sets! More after we’re off Ben Nevis having finished the 3 Peaks Yacht Race.
Check out Explore Sweden 2009
Here come the girls!
Hels, Adele, Maria, Nic and Kirsty have started the final build up to the 3 Peaks Yacht Race. Helen’s now married, Nicola’s been eating pies, Jude’s been attempting to organise the logistics, Maria’s been training her socks off and apparently feeding Adele chocolate cake so she’s good ballast and Kirsty is leaving at the weekend to sail the boat down to Barmouth!
Can’t wait for the start now. We’ve got some BBC filming at the end of next week off the Welsh coast and we’ll be updating sail blog through a friend on shore. Check this out on: www.sailblogs.com
The race website will also carry live tracking: 3 Peaks Yacht Race & Sleepmonsters
and we will try and tweet during the journey!
Wenger Patagonian Adventure Race 2010….
Dates for the 2010 Wenger Patagonian Adventure Race have been published running from the 6th-20th February.
“The Wenger Patagonian Expedition Race launches its eighth edition of the annual ‘adventure at the end of the world’.
The 2010 edition will be held on the island of Tierra del Fuego, one of Patagonia’s most southern and remote areas. The more than 600 km journey across the Land of the Fire will become the most southern race in the history of adventure racing, taking competitors through the majestic white-capped mountains of the Darwin Range and the freezing waters of legendary Beagle Channel”
To find out more about the event please visit the race site Patagonian Adventure Race 2010
Radio 4 Interview….
Nic made it onto the Womans Hour show on Radio 4 yesterday talking about Adventure Racing. To listen again go to the link here and forward to 38 mins into the show to hear the interview. Radio4
Wenger Patagonian Race Win Rolls On….
3 months after the win in Patagonia articles and photos are still poping up in magazines. This time if you happen to be in Italy then there is a 5 page spread in the Italian Men’s Health magazine. A bit closer to home there is a nice 4 page spread written by Bruce Duncan in the UK’s orienteering magazine CompassSport, Vol30 Issue 2 April. If you are into orienteering then this magazine is for you with race write-ups, product reviews, fixtures etc… www.compassSport.co.uk
Nicola wins Dynamic Adventure 5 hour 17 May 09
At the last minute Nicola decided to take part in Dynamic Adventure’s 5 hour challenge race in Purbeck. This is an event perfectly designed for novices and experts alike. Fast and furious by adventure racing standards, and fun despite wind and rain leading up to the start.
The day started with a drive through lashing wind and rain to the Isle of Purbeck where the Dynamic team had set up in Studland village hall: a welcome haven from the weather. We heard tales of capsize and gales the day before in their 12 hour event. Fortunately this was a relative sprint: 2 hours running/ orienteering followed by 3 hours biking with a break for transition. I managed to sneak an early lead by navigating to a slightly off route checkpoint first and then catching the rest of the teams half way round to come in having cleared the course quicker than the others. this gained a few bonus points which i hoped would be enough of a cushion on the bike….
The nice thing about this race is the relaxing hour between disciplines. Enough for a coffee and bacon butty and a chat to friends and other competitors. Simon, one of the event directors knowingly said (with 20 minutes to go) that we should consider getting ready… but of course everything became a bit of a last minute rush. Time to tape on a mapboard and cross fingers that the map would survive the wind.
The bike started with a bit of a slog up the purbeck hills into the wind. Enough for tired legs! I had broken my watch so had decided to try and clear the course no matter what- and the slow progress into the wind was a nasty surprise. However, after the initial crosswind a great descent took us down into easier riding, some lovely singletrack and simple, accurate (but challenging) navigation. The key to this sort of event was route choice as scores are awarded according to number of checkpoints visited so people had selected all sorts of options which was nice as it means that everyone finishes with minutes of eachother and you see folk en route. I was particularly pleased to see my mate Nic who gave me half her sweets to waken me up after 2 hours of biking!
After a quick stop to fold maps, restock on fruit pastilles, ask a startled passer-by the time and consider my options for getting back to base, I realised i had about 20 minutes to do 10 miles across a ridgetop. However, I was committed and fortunately the wind was helping instead of hindering on the way back. Stunning views and blue sunny skies completed the afternoon and a quick sprint into the village hall left me only 12 minutes late (30points) and unable to eat for at least half an hour (which is unusual!!!).
I managed a win and had the highest score of the day. Nic W and Willo who were co-erced into a gentle day’s exercise were third and second in their categories respectively. Full results and organiser’s race report available on www.dynamicadventureracing.co.uk
Many thanks to Simon, Nicky and team for fun and superbly organised Sunday shenanigans.
