“Through adventure racing you can go out of your comfort zone and experience yourself”
28.08.2017
Staffan Bjoerklund – Team Sweden, 3rd place on the RFAR 2017 / Adventure Race European Championship
Photo: Leonid Zhukov
Staffan: We’ve raced together once before for the Swedish National Championship last year. Some of our members are last year’s European champions so we are here to defend their title.
Photo: Leonid Zhukov
RF: So you do the races professionally?
Staffan: Yes. I and my girlfriend Marika, who is also racing with us, have been professionals for three years. This year we went back to guiding and mountain guiding too. So we’re working a little bit more this year but we race more as well.
Photo: Roman Barabonov
RF: Why is it interesting for you to do adventure races?
Staffan: Just imagine: you’re four individuals, you need to be a team and you have to stay together, to work together. And it is interesting because there are different disciplines: biking, running, kayaking, swimming and navigation. You also need to handle hunger, to handle insomnia when you don’t sleep. It’s a very complex sport, that’s why we like it.
Photo: Leonid Zhukov
Photo: Leonid Zhukov
RF: How do you train for these races?
Staffan: We train a little different; adapt our training differently but of course we train a lot, a few hours every day and we try to do some longer training sessions. It’s more like a lifestyle, you have to live adventure racing than just train because it doesn’t matter how strong you are, you have to be really good with yourself and with your team. If you can handle all the problems you run into, that’s what makes the difference.
We live far apart from each other but we train together when we can. And we also race together a lot all around the world.
Photo: Roman Barabonov
Photo: Roman Barabonov
Photo: Roman Barabonov
Photo: Roman Barabonov
RF: What is the main reason why some teams can push their limits so hard that they win? Because all the teams are motivated, all the teams want to win but only a few are in the top and only one wins.
Staffan: You have to understand the sport. A lot of people think that sport is very complicated; and it’s hard to understand how you should do things on the course. It’s like every profession: if you’re really good at something, you understand that profession really well, you’ve done it many times. So it’s a lot about experience. Same thing here: the more experience you have, the smarter you can be and the more you understand how to move, how to look on the map, how to make smart choices, how to paddle efficiently, when to eat, when to sleep. So it’s a lot of tactic and strategy in the sport and that’s what makes the difference between teams I think. Of course the physical abilities of all the four members matter, but I think it’s secondary.
You need a lot of experience; so the more you have raced, the better you understand how people work, how the sport works.
Photo: Sergey Alexandrov
Photo: Natalya Lapina
Photo: Natalya Lapina
Photo: Natalya Lapina
RF: Do you still have time and strength to enjoy the nature during the race?
Staffan: We love the nature, that’s why we do this sport. You get to explore new countries, new areas and meet new people and that’s the main focus. Definitely we tell each other many times during the race: “Oh, look how beautiful that is here!” And: “Look at this! And look at that!” Yeah, it helps a lot. So we definitely enjoy the beauty of the nature.
Photo: Leonid Zhukov
Photo: Roman Barabonov
Photo: Roman Barabonov
RF: How do you manage to solve the problems during the race if they occur?
Staffan: That happens every race and it happens for everyone. It’s just the matter of how you take it. You have to look at the solutions and the possibilities. The bike can break or… luckily we’ve never a person hurt so badly so they can’t move but I know that the other teams had that. If that happens, you have to take that situation, evaluate it and exceed through that.
We always try to move but it depends. Last year in Spain for the European championship one of our bikes broke and we ran with it the rest of the section. So you’re always prepared that something can happen but you never know what to prepare for. Though, after more years of racing you would already mentally prepared. The more you race, the more prepared you get; and the more experience you have, the easier are the problems to solve. In the beginning there are so many things to happen, and after the years of racing there is nothing more. You can always guess what’s gonna happen, you just don’t know for sure.
Photo: Roman Barabonov
Photo: Roman Barabonov
RF: Why do you like multisport? Why don’t choose something more specified? Something… easier and predictable.
Staffan: I guess, it’s the motivation. It’s easier to find motivation for training when you have so many disciplines to choose from. So it’s easier to train. If you’re focused on one sport, you can get bored. And it’s very predictable. I think all the life is predictable as it is: we get born, and we die, and we know pretty much what’s gonna happen in between. Through adventure racing you can go out of your comfort zone and experience yourself.
Photo: Leonid Zhukov
Photo: Leonid Zhukov
RF: Does your experience as a mountain guide help you during the races?
Staffan: I think it helps a lot. When I’m guiding I have clients, which I have to take care of, and climb with them; sometimes I’m out climbing by myself or with my girlfriend. We’re playing with nature and that’s the same thing here. A lot of skills you get from the mountains you can bring into adventure racing. Sometimes it takes you a lot of time to climb the mountain, 20-30 hours to reach the summit and then you go back. Same thing with adventure racing: it takes you long days, you don’t sleep, you have to push yourself through, it takes a lot of skills with the ropes which could be brought from mountaineering to adventure racing.
Photo: Roman Barabonov
Photo: Roman Barabonov
Photo: Roman Barabonov
RF: How did you come to this kind of sport?
Staffan: I don’t know. =) I finished school and started doing this after school.
I was playing ice hockey in a professional level at school. After the hockey I did running. Then I got to know adventure racing and now I’m here. So… =)
Photo: Roman Barabonov
Photo: Leonid Zhukov
Photo: Roman Reutov
Photo: Roman Barabonov
Photo: Roman Barabonov
Photo: Leonid Zhukov
Staffan: We’ve raced together once before for the Swedish National Championship last year. Some of our members are last year’s European champions so we are here to defend their title.
Photo: Leonid Zhukov
RF: So you do the races professionally?
Staffan: Yes. I and my girlfriend Marika, who is also racing with us, have been professionals for three years. This year we went back to guiding and mountain guiding too. So we’re working a little bit more this year but we race more as well.
Photo: Roman Barabonov
RF: Why is it interesting for you to do adventure races?
Staffan: Just imagine: you’re four individuals, you need to be a team and you have to stay together, to work together. And it is interesting because there are different disciplines: biking, running, kayaking, swimming and navigation. You also need to handle hunger, to handle insomnia when you don’t sleep. It’s a very complex sport, that’s why we like it.
Photo: Leonid Zhukov
Photo: Leonid Zhukov
RF: How do you train for these races?
Staffan: We train a little different; adapt our training differently but of course we train a lot, a few hours every day and we try to do some longer training sessions. It’s more like a lifestyle, you have to live adventure racing than just train because it doesn’t matter how strong you are, you have to be really good with yourself and with your team. If you can handle all the problems you run into, that’s what makes the difference.
We live far apart from each other but we train together when we can. And we also race together a lot all around the world.
Photo: Roman Barabonov
Photo: Roman Barabonov
Photo: Roman Barabonov
Photo: Roman Barabonov
RF: What is the main reason why some teams can push their limits so hard that they win? Because all the teams are motivated, all the teams want to win but only a few are in the top and only one wins.
Staffan: You have to understand the sport. A lot of people think that sport is very complicated; and it’s hard to understand how you should do things on the course. It’s like every profession: if you’re really good at something, you understand that profession really well, you’ve done it many times. So it’s a lot about experience. Same thing here: the more experience you have, the smarter you can be and the more you understand how to move, how to look on the map, how to make smart choices, how to paddle efficiently, when to eat, when to sleep. So it’s a lot of tactic and strategy in the sport and that’s what makes the difference between teams I think. Of course the physical abilities of all the four members matter, but I think it’s secondary.
You need a lot of experience; so the more you have raced, the better you understand how people work, how the sport works.
Photo: Sergey Alexandrov
Photo: Natalya Lapina
Photo: Natalya Lapina
Photo: Natalya Lapina
RF: Do you still have time and strength to enjoy the nature during the race?
Staffan: We love the nature, that’s why we do this sport. You get to explore new countries, new areas and meet new people and that’s the main focus. Definitely we tell each other many times during the race: “Oh, look how beautiful that is here!” And: “Look at this! And look at that!” Yeah, it helps a lot. So we definitely enjoy the beauty of the nature.
Photo: Leonid Zhukov
Photo: Roman Barabonov
Photo: Roman Barabonov
RF: How do you manage to solve the problems during the race if they occur?
Staffan: That happens every race and it happens for everyone. It’s just the matter of how you take it. You have to look at the solutions and the possibilities. The bike can break or… luckily we’ve never a person hurt so badly so they can’t move but I know that the other teams had that. If that happens, you have to take that situation, evaluate it and exceed through that.
We always try to move but it depends. Last year in Spain for the European championship one of our bikes broke and we ran with it the rest of the section. So you’re always prepared that something can happen but you never know what to prepare for. Though, after more years of racing you would already mentally prepared. The more you race, the more prepared you get; and the more experience you have, the easier are the problems to solve. In the beginning there are so many things to happen, and after the years of racing there is nothing more. You can always guess what’s gonna happen, you just don’t know for sure.
Photo: Roman Barabonov
Photo: Roman Barabonov
RF: Why do you like multisport? Why don’t choose something more specified? Something… easier and predictable.
Staffan: I guess, it’s the motivation. It’s easier to find motivation for training when you have so many disciplines to choose from. So it’s easier to train. If you’re focused on one sport, you can get bored. And it’s very predictable. I think all the life is predictable as it is: we get born, and we die, and we know pretty much what’s gonna happen in between. Through adventure racing you can go out of your comfort zone and experience yourself.
Photo: Leonid Zhukov
Photo: Leonid Zhukov
RF: Does your experience as a mountain guide help you during the races?
Staffan: I think it helps a lot. When I’m guiding I have clients, which I have to take care of, and climb with them; sometimes I’m out climbing by myself or with my girlfriend. We’re playing with nature and that’s the same thing here. A lot of skills you get from the mountains you can bring into adventure racing. Sometimes it takes you a lot of time to climb the mountain, 20-30 hours to reach the summit and then you go back. Same thing with adventure racing: it takes you long days, you don’t sleep, you have to push yourself through, it takes a lot of skills with the ropes which could be brought from mountaineering to adventure racing.
Photo: Roman Barabonov
Photo: Roman Barabonov
Photo: Roman Barabonov
RF: How did you come to this kind of sport?
Staffan: I don’t know. =) I finished school and started doing this after school.
I was playing ice hockey in a professional level at school. After the hockey I did running. Then I got to know adventure racing and now I’m here. So… =)
Photo: Roman Barabonov
Photo: Leonid Zhukov
Photo: Roman Reutov
Photo: Roman Barabonov
Photo: Roman Barabonov
