Sergio Minoggio from Italy reached our finish line at the Grand Arctic Resort in Överkalix at 18:29 yesterday. That means it took him 56 hours and 54 minutes to win the 185 km distance of the Montane Lapland Arctic Ultra 2023. Congratulations!
We are currently waiting for Alla Bova (USA) and Alexander Davydov (Germany) who will be our next finishers. Alexander’s inReach has not updated in quite a while. So, it’s impossible to know where exactly he is but we expect him either with or slightly in front of Alla.
Alvaro, our leading athlete in the 500 km race has been struggling on his way to Lansjaerv last night. Wind and fresh snow made for a tough trail. Our crew groomed in front of him and had to battle snowdrifts of up to 50 cm. That helped Alvaro but as you can imagine the trail was still very soft in those places when he had to push through. He got to Lansjaerv at 22:39 and was very tired. My crew reported that he also has got some mechanical problems with his bike he needs to try and fix before he heads out again.
Back in Överkalix more 500 km athletes have arrived and Stefan Zahlten already left again late last night. Hopefully, the trail for him will have settled again for him over night. Maximo (Spain) arrived not long after Stefan and he has got a nasty blister on one of his heels. Also, he is complaining about a sore eye. Our medical team recommended that he should see an optometrist before he continues. So, that’s something we need to organize this morning.
Paul Watkins (Australia) is about to head out from our checkpoint at the Villa in Överkalix. He is going strong and no reports on any major issues.
All other athletes are on the move or resting and no reports on bigger problems from our Polar Circle Cabin 1 Checkpoint when they came through. We hope to welcome them all in Överkalix today – either as finishers of the 185 km or on their way through to the next checkpoint in the 500 km distance.
The crew from Polar Circle Cabin 1 will come out to Jockfall today and then, after a well deserved shower, move to one of the checkpoints on loop #2, that will take us north into Gällivare Kommun.