Untitled Document

Newsletter Number 7.5- December - 2006

Team SOLE Ends '06 with Win in Portugal

Paul leads Petri and Auerlio on the cobblestone of Portugal

Paul, Petri and Auerlio seek out
the fastest route.

At the finish line - 1st place!

Coming just days after the smashing win of the year at Eco Motion Pro in Brazil, Team SOLE went to Portugal for the XPD 250km Adventure. We were invited to present at this very important 1st annual Adventure Conference. 3 days of workshop and conference with every race organizers from all over Europe and S.America was quite intriguing, and many new relationships started. This let to a caged up group of athletes like you never seen. Race morning came along, as was freezing rain, 18 foot waves and a tad bit of stress.

Team SOLE newcomer, Petri Forsman of Finland (formerly of Team Nokia) was minus his bike and some gear from his travel just the day before. Learning it was on it's way from Frankfurt to the start, the bike was built and ready just 5 minutes before the start, leaving minimal proper prep time to be ready for the blazing fast 18km urban orienteering section to start.
Have no fear, we grabed the map, and the hammer session began. Running pace with the French and Portuguese Army Team among others, we ran a 90 minute 18km section like our hair was on fire. Petri like a greyhound, Aurelio hanging well, and Paul suffers a severe IT Band strain not 20 minutes into this section. Full limp and severe 'discomfort' was not the best way to begin this 250 km race.

We find ourselves at a place called Cabo Roca, which is the very most western point of all Europe. Gigantic waves, LONG white sand beach, wild cliffed trails, and midevil townships and castles is the landscape for the next 24 hours.

Now if you didn't notice from the picture or the story line yet, Team SOLE is with out our very most important catalyst and backbone, Karen Lundgren. In a strange set of circumstances and plans, we Karen sat this out to manage some biz and home, and prepare for the 'very last' race of the year to be in Oman for the team. We subsequently pulled out of this event just prior to this XPD Portugal race. This shaped up to be an excellent opportunity to race all male (allowed in this race in the Elite Catagory), and particularly with long time Team SOLE friend and rival Petri "the Terminator" Forsman. One of the most recognized faces and reputation in top level adventure sports and orienteering, he was an instant match for our style and goals. The fun factor is never in question when in the company of Petri.

This was our teams experience at this very unique Portuguese format of racing, a combination of rogaine, staged race, and non stop racing. It took us 3 days to figure it out, and master it, so I'll spare you details. Bottom line, the team endured some exceptionally cold, wet and muddy conditions and a very high level of navigation into about 2am of night one. We caped off this first stage with a wild 12km up river, against a roaring tide pulling out, and a 25mph head wind. The boats were of a poor selection, and with the wind chill...this was a severely cold section.

A 5 hour mandatory stop zone, and the race resumed with a 1 hour Score/O Course in the heart of a famous midevil town that goes by the name of Sinta. Think castles, narrow alleys, cobblestones, giant hillside mansions, and a history that goes back for several hundreds of years. Onto the mountain bikes for some really quality riding, then to one of the highlights of the event. A down hill TRIKE section. This is a standup 3 wheeled machine, with 12 inch wheels and handlebars. I was elected by the team for this section, while Aurelio and Petri both did a ropes and archery section respectively. It was carefree thrills for about a 30 minute section, that did involve one high speed cliff side section that had a significant pucker factor.

To end the event we orienteered ourselves down to the coast for a 3 km sunny and warm beach run to the crowd awaiting us at the finish. Our legs just beat from the steep and high paced road running, and our minds on the opportunity to sit and enjoy a meal and bask in the joy of another win for Team SOLE.

It would be a shame to publish this report with out mentioning the enormous and tireless effort put forth by our support team made up of Europe's top adventure woman Monica Aguilera and local Portuguese triathlete star Sarah. These girls managed some 10 transitions in 36 hours in extremely cold conditions, and managed to feed and tune us to perfection. A real example of complete teamwork and management, led Team SOLE to our smashing finish to our spectacular 2006.

As always, giant thanks to all our supporters, friends, and sponsors that have made it possible for our team to grow and strengthen to the level we enjoy today.