STAGE 5 | The Sami Sprint and The Finish Line
They’re all over the line. What an incredible achievement from all of our amazing runners.
They’ve all had to dig really deep to push through the Arctic weather that blighted mile after mile of snow, ice and slush.
Temperatures were exceptionally low but spirits were high at the start line this morning and all the runners set off at the same time. The icy cold made for a better running surface and for a relatively uneventful, snow-shoe free run through to the finish line.
We can only imagine what emotions they all went through as they crossed that line in Jokkmokk whilst local people and the race team cheered them through.
All the runners have since been reunited with their travelling bags full of warm dry clothes and shown to their hotel rooms for some well-earned rest ahead of tonight’s awards ceremony and celebrations. The hotel will be laying on an ‘all you can eat’ buffet at 6pm and there is genuine concern among the race team that the other hotel guests will be left hungry when our runners get to the table.
Everyone is gathered under one roof tonight; the medics, the race team and the runners are all gathered together to receive their medals, tell stories and celebrate their incredible achievement. They’ve all earned a celebration.
BTU would like to congratulate our runners on the tremendous effort they’ve made over the last few days. We are immensely proud of them all and it’s been an honour to help them through this adventure.
We would also like to say a MASSIVE thank you to our medical team from Exile Medics, our sponsors from Nordisk and Yeti who kept our runners warm and sheltered through the frozen landscape and to the local Sami support crew whose hard work, invincible sense of humour and priceless knowledge of the area was invaluable.
On a personal note; It’s been a particularly emotional experience watching this race unfold as next year I will be running it myself. I’ve never done anything like this before, I have only covered the last 2 BTU races remotely and seen what these runners are going through. I have been overwhelmed by the ability of these runners to push beyond what seems possible and have developed a huge respect for them.
Beyond the Ultimate are supporting me all the way to the end, we’ll work on turning the experience into a documentary and I’ll have the benefit of the expert training their experienced network of elite fitness coaches can offer me.
Having seen the difficult conditions runners are required to endure and learned more about the incredible achievements our current crop of runners have accumulated before stepping up to the start line of the Ice Ultra I realise how lucky I am to be joining them. I also see, clearer than ever, just how high a mountain I have to climb in terms of the training required to take on this type of event.
You can follow my progress at www.facebook.com/baldlygo
It’s been an absolute pleasure covering this event and, on behalf of myself, the runners and the Race Team out in Sweden, I’d like to thank everyone who has been tracking the runners, reading our posts and supporting our amazing adventurers through their epic journey!
Baldlygo @ BTU UK
[arve url=”https://youtu.be/CsfCg1sEYZw” title=”Ice Ultra Trailer” /]
