Oppland Extreme Triathlon – A race report

Dieses ist die Übersetzung des Rennberichts, der bereits auf der Homepage des MC Pirate veröffentlicht wurde.

Oppland Extreme Triathlon – testing a future classic

It has always been a very personal thing, no doubt about that. Some love famous and glamorous events with a fas course and legions of spectators who keep pushing the athletes, providing a Tour-de-France-like feeling. Thrilling in a way, certainly. Some others prefer those smaller races, not necessairily lesser, Norseman for example has in the meantime become as prestigeous as the „big ones“.

Then, furthermore, you can find these tiny ones, huge by demands. One of those is Oppland Extreme Triathlon in Norway, this year held as a test-race on the last Saturday of June.

With only 19 athletes competing, race numbers are lovingly personalized…

Task for the day:  Swimming 3.8 km in Randsfjord, Norways fourth-largest lake, a 200km bike-journey with an elevation of 2500m across the Valdreflya plateau and finally a marathon from the Sjoa valley into Rondane National Park with only another 1000m of elevation. Quite a bit, all this, even though the swim was shortened to 1.8 km due to a water temperature of 11°.

 

Early morning, 3:30h: Dwarf-march into the big dark forest, off to the swim start  

4:00h: Off they go! All 19 of them.

1.8 km later they come back, one by one this time…

The bike course starts off quite pleasant with some hills through early-morningly woods. After 40km though, a long uphill begins…

… which evolves to the main topic for the next 100km.

After about 100km the course passes the timberline, without any warning the landscape changes dramaticly. The temperature has dropoped to 4° and there are walls of snow on either side oft he road. Quite an unreal atmosphere…

At km 140, the highest point of elevation, 1389m, is finally reached, from this point the course descends more or less steadily into the Sjoa valley (the „less steadily“ bits  really hurt at this point oft he race…). The majestic river is sure something to look at, so the last bit is at least mentally entertaining, while the body hurts since quite a while…  

Out of T2, I stagger down the road to Otta, which works out quite well fort he first 7 km. Later my feet begin to ache, due to my old well-known orthopedic malfunctions which have always been my key limiter for the run. High-arch-splayfeet, so there you are… Well, after hours of marching, I finally reach  Otta, the regions main city. From here the road goes up again, up and further up, through a forest, alongside a little river, coud be a lovely hike. Well it isn´t, it still is  race, though. Meanwhile the temperature has risen to 25° and the afternoon has become really exhausting.

Later we step out of the forest and enter a cabin estate, then the path takes a turn tot he right and we stand still like thunder-struck. The scenery that appeared without any warning is one of those pictures you see for the rest of your life, whenever you close your eyes: a treeless plain, reaching to the horizon, where the snow-covered peaks of Rondane National Park rise up to more than 2000m.

Nasty detail: That´s where the finish-line is, somewhere out there among the mountains, still 10km to go.  

Second problem: the National Park boundary lies 6km before the finish-line, no cars are allowed beyond that point. This means, that Susanne, who has supported me all day, has to park our support vehicle and march along with me. In addition to that, like everyone we have to carry all our belongings that we may need until the next day, in our backpacks, because the finish is located at Rondvassbu, a lodge which is run by DNT, the Norwegian Trecking Association.

Everyone, in this case, means really everyone, even the organizeing crew. So, we happen to find ourselves in a little trek for Rondvassbu, a jolly bunch with me being the only one still in race mode. Well, this doesn´t matter at all at this point, race timing is done by time of day, the race is supposed to be something like a race without racing. Split times have been reported to the transition zone log book by the support crews: „Daniel left T2 at 14:00“

21:30h: Close to the finish-line at Rondvassbu. Awaited and cheered by all fellow-athletes and crewmembers. One of the most emotional finishes I can remember.

Done it, at last! Under full armour… Race-time 17:30 hours.

Late at night, at about 00:15h, the last finisher approaches. Again, everyone is outside to welcome him, the sun has not yet gone down.

On the next day, no award ceremony is held but a finisher-shirt-handover-meeting. OK, there were awards given, to the first and the last athlete!

Athletes, support and crew have merged to one big family.

Epilogue:

Never have I experienced a relaxed, regardful and friendly atmosphere like this. I am really curious about what the future will bring for this wonderful race. The course is beyond compare, I am sure that we witnessed the birth of a classic. I heard that there is cautious planning in progress. Maybe we will see another edition next years, probably with some more competitors and very likely with a German crewmember who has done this year´s race as the only international guest…

We highly recommend keeping an eye on Oppland Extreme Triathlon!

Not to forget:
Thanks to Karen Nybakke for letting me use some of her wonderful pics!