Reborn OCR – Ledreborg Slot

After the OCREC I gave the Alps a visit, ran a bunch of beautiful mountains and felt like my summer off-season training was going nothing short of great! But making it to August I had a lot of success in falling behind on everything I wanted to do.. I ended up getting myself so busy, I was always quite tired and missed some important sessions – stupid Leon. So when the time came for my first race of the pre-OCRWC-race-plan I had heavy, tired legs and I honestly didn’t feel nearly as motivated as I thought I would. Reborn OCR Ledreborg Slot is rumored to being one of the best and most beautiful events in Denmark and here I was, hardly even ready to give it a go.

I know I know, that’s not how you catch your audience for a race-recap story, but it’s the truth. Therefore I made sure to do a longer warm-up than normal, chucked a Red Bull and slapped my little legs to let them know it was time to shine. A short while later I’m in the starting area with a bunch of amazing people and the countdown begins. 5-4-3-2-1 and GO!

I immediately and surprisingly found myself in first place, running through the over-under-over in the water and towards the second obstacle; haybales. Nikolaj quickly made a hit to get in front and I felt 2 other guys stay close to us – maybe our Young Gun, MC! The 3rd obstacle, a rather long balance challenge, started spreading the field out. To my luck, Nikolaj made a mistake and I got back in 1st position with MC on my tails through the dipwalk and the forest. I decided to speed up a bit, hoping to break a few spirits on the go and make the other athletes feel like keeping up isn’t possible. Great plan – except that kind of race tactic doesn’t work on The Dam! Just 400m later he’s caught up and he flares past me, working hard to make up lost ground. I let him run, knowing there’s a carry just around the next corner.

Wait what, what’s happening here, let’s just rewind the story – my legs were done but now I’m flying through the forest?! I guess that’s one of life’s mysteries, one I don’t have an answer to. Maybe it was the long warm up, maybe it’s just the beautiful trails..? I pick up the military water carrier thing, do the carry and stick to Nikolaj who still has more speed in his legs than I do.. Under nets, up the hills, through the bushes until the 2km mark, were the first ‘technical’ obstacle is in our way: The Nuts!

Nikolaj did OK, and I followed with a slightly quicker completion and then it was a chase down the hills! I look back and see no one, then put my eyes back on Dam and push a little harder. Over 5 x 2m walls, down the water slide (yeah, there was a slide), over the new Ice Flakes obstacle and through the Wheel of Steel. Here I catch up with Dam, and we’re back in the water just half a meter apart.

We’re 2,7k into the race when I hammer my knee into something hard.. But that’s OCR and the next 5k are probably more interesting to follow on the IG live coverage by @reborndk which is saved in their highlights. Shout out to Lars Bager and Jens-Christian Finnerup for a fun coverage, by the way! They follow Dam and I as we struggle closely through the woods and obstacles like The Weaver, Tire Flip, Low Rig, Chain Drag, Stairway to Heaven and more.

Closing in on the 4th last obstacle (the Dominator) the crowd is yelling and I close some of the gap Dam had built on the run. We’re now just 15 seconds apart a mere 500m from the finish! We both clear the Atlas Stone lift quickly and rush towards the 2nd last obstacle, a brand new parkour-inspired obstacle called Ricochet. You have to run up a wall with a step, bounce and jump whilst turning 180 degrees and grab an Irish Table and get on top of it. I’m sure this wouldn’t be a problem most days, but 8,5k into the race with a Leon on your tail, Nikolaj failed! Not once, but twice. I catch up and this is it, my chance to overtake and just 100m before the finish! Naturally this freaked me out and I fail like the US did in the latest election… We’re now both trying to clear it and Nikolaj does just around 20 seconds before I do. Damn it!

Both cruising through the last obstacle (feet can’t touch the water, so we actually both had to re-do it) Nikolaj stands the victor and is ready for a hug and a high-five by the finish line. It was a fun, interesting and tough race – and the body turned out to function quite well after all.

I’m excited for a re-match at Reborn OCR – Horsens the 21st of October and I hope to see many of you guys there! Shout out to the organizers for an incredible race course, to Dam for pushing the pace, to Ulrikke for winning the womens division by 5 minutes and anyone who did the race for pushing their limits!

P.s. Digging the new Reborn ELITE team vests?! We sure do, so keep an eye out for those the next couple of months!