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Posted by Grant on 19. April 2009 06:34
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Despite some early rain, the views from up high on this Stage were excellent. Teams climbed from the Engelberg valley up to a mountain terrace overlooking the town, then took a cable car up to a second and still higher terrace where winter was still in full effect.
This plateau was surrounded by towering peaks in every direction, and while all the teams hustled through this portion of the race, the scenery left a lasting impression.
The trip back down from the terraces was fun and the skies opened up to give a good sense of why this mountain valley is considered one of the most beautiful in all of Switzerland. Once teams came down from up high on the South edge of the valley, the course took them back up again on the North side of the valley. This way, racers got to see the valley from many perspectives and complete a proper tour of Engelberg in just a single day.
Teams overcame sore muscles and general fatigue to complete this stage. The Untamed Adventure team had a racer withdraw at their 2nd checkpoint due to chronic knee pain (most likely tendinitis from all the up/down), but the other 3 racers continued on and represented Virginia proudly.
The final results from Stage 3 didn't shake up the standings too much. Chris "the Ibex" Schneider won the stage to complete a sweep of all 3 stages, and win the overall Untamed Switzerland 2009 competition. 2nd place went to the Milns/Geiser duo, who battled dead legs for the final couple hours of the Stage. The Richmond ASR team of Zurich residents pushed hard on Stage 3 and earned an impressive 3rd place finish for the Stage and overall (I ended up shadowing them for a couple hours on the Stage and can attest to how hard they were pushing to catch the Untamed Adventure team who had opened up an early lead on the stage). 4th place for the Stage and overall went to Untamed Adventure from Virginia. 5th place on the Stage went to Wijnand Jager from Holland, who ambitiously decided to attack the optional checkpoints first and after having them all, went for the mandatory points; a risky strategy, but with the snow cleared from the lower levels of the mountains the stage was faster than anticipated and his gamble paid off. Jager finished in 6th overall for the competition. 6th on the Stage was the ladies from ARMD in Maryland, who finished 5th overall in the 3-day contest.
The smiles at the finish line were sincere, and the beer consumption was positively heroic (we think the Untamed Switzerland Ale might be non-alcoholic, based on how much was put away by 15 tired and dehydrated endurance athletes!). It was a fun evening and, based on the inquiries about our future plans for Untamed Switzerland, a good sign that interest in this exclusive race in the Swiss Alps is strong and that future editions will be even bigger and better.
I do think that, compared with the 2008 edition, the pace in 2009 was far quicker. At the rate teams moved in 2009, any of the 2009 teams would have won the 2008 edition. One enduring memory for me, that illustrates this point, is when the Richmond ASR team had just finished crawling their way to the snowy top of Mt. Pilatus. They were sweating and shaking from the exertion, still wearing their snowshoes, as they staggered towards the cable car to start their trip down from the summit. They didn't take a picture, didn't remove their snowshoes, didn't visit the snack bar; they were concerned that the Untamed Adventure team was breathing down their backs on that killer climb, and wanted to stay as far ahead of them as possible. We did a similar route in 2008 and every team that year spent about 30 minutes eating french fries and taking in the mountain from up on top.
One more item that demonstrates how serious the racing was this year: the overall winner, Chris Schneider, didn't use trekking poles for the
race. He didn't carry them for any of the stages because he thought the weight wasn't worth it! He also didn't
carry food for the first 2 stages because he thought the weight would
slow him down too much. Don't try that at home, kids! The competition in 2009 was fierce and, while our tagline is "More an Adventure than a Race" and we still stand by that . . . there was certainly lots of "race" to go with this adventure. It made for a lot excitement, energy, and rivalries out there. I suspect that trend will continue as the race attracts more European adventure athletes. Will an American team ever win a Stage again?
We'll have some more stories and pics to share, and some fun comparitive data using the GPS tracking (that worked very well for us!), but right now we're going to clean up and get some sleep . . .
If you want more right now be sure to visit the Pictures section on the main website.