Suunto athletes and Team Explore members, Per Vestling and John Karlsson won the Swedish Multisport Championship, which was held in Uppsala, Sweden in pouring rain and near freezing temperatures on October 19.
The tough course was made up of 22km of inline skating, 20km kayaking, 45 km mountain biking, 15km orienteering and a 3km bike and run section, and took the participants through the city of Uppsala.
One hundred and eighty-three teams, with two members each, took to the start line but many were later forced to withdraw due to fatigue or darkness.
Team Explore’s Vestling and Karlsson won the hard-fought male category after 6 hours and 43 minutes of racing. They set a furious pace on the opening inline skating section and made the race-winning break during the long kayak paddling leg.
Despite their rivals working together to try and close the gap, the Team Explore duo forged ahead to claim their 15th podium position of the season.
“We had a great day today and managed to keep a high and steady pace and did no mistakes in the navigation. John was really strong today and was pushing in front most of the race” said Vestling after the race.
Next stop for the team is their primary objective for 2009, the Adventure Racing World Championship in Lisbon. Portugal, which begins on November 8. The event boasts a 910km long course that will take over six days to complete and comprises whitewater paddling, orienteering, mountaineering, mountain biking, kayaking, ropeworks and inline skating. Over 60 teams from all around the world are participating in this, the seventh edition of the AR World Championships.
Read more about the team on their website: www.teamexplore.se
Images by Magnus Stenman