For the 3rd year in a row I would participate in one of my favorite OCR events, which is located just outside Stockholm. I remember my first race here in 2017 – I got 4th and Jon Albon crushed the field! It was an intense race and I had such a great time running in the forest and crushing obstacles!
In 2018 I was back with a big group of Danes, and Nikolaj, Ida Mathilde, Annika and I shared the podium with our Swedish friends, Anna and Krister. The race had grown, but they hadn’t changed their core value and it was still amazing. I knew 2019 would be even better – primarily because I had gotten faster and wanted to run with the best Swedes! And with a startline that included Krister Sellman, Cimmie Wignell, Axel Mendes, Frederik Stenbeck, Alexander Mars etc., Nikolaj and I had a proper challenge on our hands – don’t let the Swedes win!
3-2-1 and we’re off, sprinting towards the first obstacle; the walls! We all know it’s a question of getting a good start on the first 3 obstacles, so the pace is crazy and I even see Axel Mendes jumping over the walls without touching them! I’m part of the leading group and as we cross the third obstacle and exit the stadium area.
The next 400m takes us through some tires, before we pick up a heavy metal chain. This is the perfect time to get an overview over the positions and I’m happy to be in 5th place after the carry. Nikolaj, Krister and Cimmie is in the leading pack and I join Axel, Stenbeck and one more in the 2nd pack as we rush over some more walls and into the forest.
The trails in the forest are trying their best to kill me. I’m running my heart out but it’s hard for to find a good rhythm, as I swap positions with Axel and Stenbeck a few times. The trails gets the best of Axel around halfway through the race, were we have to carry a piece of wood up a ski slope. Stenbeck had pulled away from me and I’m hungry to get back in 4th place on the downhill! I almost catch him, but overseeing a tree I crash and drop my piece of wood. Damn it! Picking it up the race continues towards the last 1/3 of the track. At this time I had little hope of ever seeing the top 3 again.
In 2018 the obstacle area played a large part in my podium finish, and so I was hoping it would help me take over Stenbeck and leave him in the dust – maybe even to see 3rd place in the horizon. My hopes were no good as I was slow on the ropes, had a bad traverse on the next obstacle and didn’t gain a second. I had to push it a little bit on the next 600m running part, as I wanted to arrive at the low rig before Stenbeck. I did so and luckily my technique was great here and I gained a 10-20 second lead which was very much needed. My new goal was catching 3rd place, so I got my head in the game and got ready to smash the last 2 km!
Those kilometers included some tough trailrunning, some bacis obstacles like walls, over-unders, a cargo net and finally some rings. After the rings it was 600m of going-so-hard-you-don’t-know-your-name to the finish line. And so I let it all out and pushed a little harder towards the end, clearing a simple low rig, a balance beam and the final rig without too much messing around. It was to no good, as Krister, Cimmie and Nikolaj all crushed my little ass and Cimmie even beat Nikolaj! The Swedes took the win this year.. But I had a great, great race and have no complaints about my performance!
Thanks to cheerleader #1, Katrine for having my back!
All things considered I had another AMAZING experience at Ultimate OCR. I would very much love to come back in 2020 and have my ass handed to me by the Swedes. I love these trails and the obstacles are great. Ultimate OCR is a classic OCR event and I highly recommend anyone to give it a go!
Congrats to Linnea, Annika and Karin on the top 3 for the women, and also to teammate Ida Mathilde on finishing 4th in a very strong field!