Having spent quite a bit of time away this winter on training camp with a total of 4 international OCR events thrown in there as well, I was very excited to finally get back to some proper Danish OCR. I’m sure many of you who’re reading remember the DOMINATOR obstacle from the OCREC18 – I was about to finally play with obstacles like that again!
I considered doing some micro-tapering for The Pit, which I’ve done for a few races this winter. But honestly, I didn’t feel like it. I was on a training spree and felt amazing, putting in some serious sessions which I know will benefit me in the long run. So I went into the race knowing my legs would maybe be a bit tired, but that was OK – I knew it would probably come down to my arms anyway.
Reborn puts together a race series of 3 events a year and The Pit would be the first. Last year the course was snowy (so I was told, we were in New Zealand then), but this year the sun was out and it was warm enough to wear shorts and a long sleeved shirt underneath my new SAYSKY singlet. The course would be 5km with 25 obstacles and looked like this:
The warm up wasn’t bad at all. I did my full body thing and some strides, got into the starting booth and high-fived Nikolaj, hugged Ida Mathilde and smiled at Renaldas who would be the 2nd fastest runner in the group. Bo Rocatis (the one-legged-warrior) got us all pumped for the beginning and after the countdown everyone shot out the hole. Nikolaj was in the lead and he trailed many runners into a steep climb, which left me somewhere around 15th. Honest talk – my legs immediately got heavy… I took it easy up the hill, fast down and went straight to the carry which I never found a rhythm at – what a newbie…
I put my jerry can down and trailed the pack for the next 100-200m and then made a small move, which left everyone in my dust except Nikolaj and Renaldas. Turns out sprinting up a hill to catch Nikolaj was tougher than most expected.
The race became a single-trail run with another ascent/descent followed by a log carry. I maintain contact with Renaldas right on his heels as Nikolaj is about 30m ahead of us. As we check of more obstacles from the list, nothing changes with the position. I can see 4th, 5th and the rest when the course crosses a few times and feel confident that the battle is among the three of us. I plan to maintain 3rd until the last 1km of the race, which would include some seriously technical grip-based obstacles.
At the dip-walk I’m about to make another move, this time for 2nd place. I get close to Renaldas and overtake him on ovals-snake-ovals (fun combo), which he unfortunately fails in the process. Touching my feet to the ground I can see Nikolaj have made some pretty good ground on me before the obstacle zone – I figured he’d do that. What surprised me was his strength on the next 4 obstacles! Nikolaj was completing everything pretty damn smooth and I was only gaining around 20 seconds on him. This was primarily annoying at the low rig because I really felt strong here.
During the DOMINATOR my forearms get the familiar pump. It’s a painful thing, but I tried to climb through as fast as possible only to see myself stuck inside a tire! I wrestly my way out and back onto the course to see Nikolaj starting the last obstacle. Shaking my arms and keeping my eyes on my teammate, I see him complete NUTS and take first place.
I complete it as well, taking my sweet time as no one is behind me. Landing on the ground I jog to the finish line and hug the victor, high-five the organizer and feel happy to be done with the race. Not long after Ida Mathilde takes the win for the ladies wrapping up a solid result for the gang. It was tons of fun, a proper challenge and a race I won’t miss in 2019!
Podium male:
1) Nikolaj Dam
2) Leon Kofoed
3) Stefan Hansen
Podium female:
1) Ida Mathilde
2) Ulrikke Evensen
3) Maria Lund
I’ll be at Reborn Ledreborg as well – see you guys there!