Finish Omjakon wins Czech Adventure Race

Second day of the race started in a nice sunny weather. After finishing biking section, teams quickly repacked and set off for the skating and trekking stage. There was 20 kilometers long mandatory skating section, and then teams had to decide. They could either leave their skates on the CP or to take them with them. It was not an easy decision. Stage was hilly, and there were only thin paths leading to some CPs. And all of them were on a hill. It was not clear whether teams would spend more time riding the skates or carrying them.



However, most of teams decided to take skates with them to relieve their feet.  In this stage Omjakon increased their lead. They are from cross-country skiing country and they are used to this kind of movement. Skates were an advantage for them. This stage increased intervals between teams. Last team in the pack was almost 24 hours behind the leader.

After returning to the TA B, teams took their bikes again for a ride back to race headquarters. On the first CP of this stage, there was a climbing section. Second Tilak are good climbers and succeeded on all routes and decreased lead of Omjakon. Fins were not as good and had to go on two penalty circuits. They seemed to be tired on this part of race. On CPs, they did not talk, just punched their cards and rushed away. Only Outi was smiling when organizers clapped their hands to support them.

Despite this, they increased their lead once again. It was in this part of race when race area was hit by a big thunderstorm with hailstones. First teams climbed on dry rocks other had to do with wet one.

After finishing two other ropes section, teams set off for the final trek. It was tougher than originally expected, because land was wet and soft after previous rain. Even Finish team slowed down a bit. Especially during night. However, differences between first teams were large and they did not change much during this stage.

Surprisingly, after rainy night, morning was sunny again and teams were getting hot. On the last CP they had to decide whether to walk around or swim across the lake. And decision was in most cases unanimous: “lets swim, it is too hot”.

Omjakon crossed finish line on Friday at 10:29 after 48 hours and 29 minutes on the course. Second came last two-year winners Tilak (Czech) and third Sport2000 (Czech). Fourth to cross the finish line was Nev-Dama Outdoor Ekonom, who was biggest surprise of the race. They were composed of three novices to expedition adventure racing and their lady-captain had only raced once before. They were also second in the academics category (after winning Omjakon).

Now, 7 hours after we welcomed first team, all the other teams are still struggling on the course.

Tekst: Jan Smolik
Photo: Havel