Nordic Race – Urban (DK)

Over the first 7 walls I maintain a strong push in order to arrive quickly to the balance bar. I’m very good at balance obstacles and I hope others will follow my push and fail the balance. I get out of it with a tiny lead and as we head into a 600m run, I cruise back into a comfortably hard pace and let Jonas, Pierre and Sebastian overtake me. We have a bunch of positions switches heading into the next obstacle gauntlet and I make sure to survey which obstacles I can move faster on than the group, planning my strategy for the 2^nd loop. I can see my #getagrip training is paying off – let me help yours improve as well!

At Power Push, a stupid wall-ball exercise, we’re neck and neck heading into some big walls and Rabbit Hole, an obstacle in which you jump in-and-out holes. My hands slip on the wet surface of Rabbit Hole and I lose 6-10 seconds, which means Jonas and Pierre gets a small lead. I make sure to stick with them through the last half of the first lap, which included Atlas Stones, Dip Walk, Edge, Rope Climb, round Irish table, a crawl and more. Gauging their pace through the terrain and planning my push for the 2^nd lap.

I clock in the first lap 12 seconds behind Jonas and 3 behind Pierre, with Sebastian and Nikolaj hot on my heels! To my luck Pierre fails the balance beam on the 2^nd lap, and that meant he had to surge in order to get past me again. Having made a strategy in lap 1, I let him – and then pushed past him in the next obstacle gauntlet, and I didn’t let him pass again. I looked forward to the tight booty of Jonas and started pushing the pace.

I lifted, jumped, crawled and swung very well on my 2^nd lap, but to no avail – that 1^st place check wouldn’t come home with me at this race. Pierre huffed and puffed, pushing all he could to take me down from behind, but instead Sebastian blasted past him just before the finish line. When you’re racing at your absolute limit, even the little decisions can have a huge impact on the final result. When do you push, when do you hold back and how will it all play out mentally on your opponents. It’s a tough game racing shoulder-to-shoulder. 

Luckily, I know and understand why, there’s little doubt in my mind the top podium position belongs to me in 2023. I’m not stating this to be arrogant (I’m Danish, damn it), but to fuel my fire and to also share with you my thought process. Having run a 5000m test a week before, I had a very good estimate of “how much slower” I am compared to former capacity. Once that gap is closed, then the real party begins!

I can’t thank the OCR community enough for being as awesome as you are. I know it’s been a lot of years with either an international focus for me, or just a big fat injury. So many came over to say hi, some even to get a photo and congratulate me on the comeback. Some also came to talk about heavier subjects like cancer, and even more came to talk about grip- & pull power training. I appreciate you, the organizers, the volunteers, the build crew and I look forward to the rest of the season!

Men’s Podium:

1st – Jonas Drescher

2nd – Leon Kofoed

3rd – Sebastian Ifversen

Women’s Podium:

1st – Ida Mathilde R. Steensgaard

2nd – Siri Englund

3rd – Liza Savinova