Photo: Irina Kurmanaeva
We are Team Merrell. Our members have changed since last year. Now we have Klaus, who founded the team and three new team members. Usually we are a four-person team but this time it was only Klaus and I. We did about 15 adventure races in Denmark and two races abroad before coming here (Russia). In April we were in China. We'll be going to Canada in September and to Malaysia in October.

Impression
We’re tired but we feel good. It was a tough race for me but the setting, all the lakes and woods, was really beautiful. The mosquitoes weren’t that fun, you could never stop because you would be attacked. Carrying the kayak was hard too. I think we did about six portages. We rented one but it was so heavy.

Photo: Irina Kurmanaeva
Trekking
There are more paths for the trekking loops in Denmark and they’re not so wild and far away from everything. So it was really difficult to navigate. Klaus was doing the navigation and I was just walking behind.

As for difficulty, it was the same here as in other countries. In countries like Ireland, Wales, or China there are more mountains, so the trekking is tougher there because you have to climb so much. And here it was tough for me because the ground was so soft; there were a lot of swamps, and lots of fallen trees.

What did you think about the air crossing?
We didn’t do it because we weren’t fast enough. So we did the ascent instead. I’m glad we didn’t do it. The ascent was quite fast and when we got to the top someone was clinging to the rope in the middle of [the air crossing] and screaming for help. I thought, “Oh, I’m glad that’s not me. (laughs) Poor guy.”

Photo: Konstantin Dykovsky

Photo: Konstantin Dykovsky
Did you sleep during the race?
Yes, we slept three-and-a-half hours between the second and the third loop. At the end of the kayak we wanted to go to the three last checkpoints out there but I was so tired I was falling asleep. We discussed what to do, should we go for them or should we come back here [and rest]. It was a difficult decision and we chose to come back here without those three checkpoints. Then we slept and went on the third loop. We took everything on the third loop yesterday but now we can see that we had time to go for the last three. We were nervous, thinking that if we went for those, we would be so tired that we wouldn’t make it. So we took all the necessary checkpoints and all the extra ones except those three.

Maybe a good thing next year could be to give estimated times for the loops.

Photo: Konstantin Dykovsky
So you’d like to participate again?
Maybe, maybe. If there will be less mosquitoes. (laughs).

Interview by Irina Morozova and Angelika Lebed’ (Red Fox magazine)