100 miles in Sweden
The second edition of the first 100 mile-race in Scandinavia was a success. The weather was excellent – for a day on the beach. Definitely not for running for a day and a night in 100 % humidity. It was an almost tropical heat which is very unusual for Sweden but the warm temperatures during the day cooled off and made for a perfect night.

Sixteen runners started the gax 100 miles early Saturday morning with some easy and picturesque 26 miles to the first aid station. Then came the woods and trails and when the runners reached the second aid station, at 50 miles, most hills in an otherwise flat province of Scania had been traversed – and now the real fun began. For the next 30 miles the runners ran on the beach for most of the part, and when not slogging around with sand in their shoes there was hard navigation inland trying to find the trails – either on the map or in reality. Many animal sightings were made – last year the talk of the race was a harbour porpoise (albeit dead) and a moose but this year a fox was spotted.

Due to torrential rains and floods the last few weeks the runners did not have to cross any rivers or wait for the beach to get their feet wet. All through the race there were temporary swamps and puddles that were unavoidable. The route was hard to find at some sections – even for those who had scouted out the route on beforehand, including me who even have marked out the difficult sections a bit extra.

When Otto Elmgart blasted through the third and final aid station at 80 miles he almost, just almost, stopped for a cup of warm soup – most other people stayed for almost an hour - before continuing and winning the race in a phenomenal 18:49:18. But this Spartathlon finisher does not have to follow the laws of nature like the rest of us. Perhaps an even bigger sensation was that Adrian Dahlquist came in second in 21:23:50 – this 23-year old runner had never run further than 13 miles – amazing! The race had two other runners who never had run an ultra befor: Constantin Schaaf ran the 100 miles and Nils Pistora finished the 50 miles. Carsten Schneehage from Germany and Ken Fancett, 58 years old, from UK shared third place. Five runners from last years six participants was registered but only three made it to the starting line and two reached the finish line. This race had a cut off of 32 hours. Six of the runners did not reach the finish line due to injuries or fatigue but all were happy anyway.

My own running went just like it was supposed to but after ten hours I sprained my foot and had to walk for 13 hours before I could run again and do the last 21 miles in five hours.

The 50 miler was won by Paul Westesson from Sweden followed by Franklin Wood from USA. The races only female participants came in third. These runners ran all through the night but got to experience a beautiful sunrise and running through sleepy fishing villages when not emptying their shoes from the sand. The 50 mile course was the same as the last 50 miles in the hundred. They started at 21:00 on Saturday evening.

I do not know what has been the hardest, running this race or organizing it. Thanks to all volunteers, both my friends and family and those of the participants, it went very smoothly. All crew was very helpful and enthusiastic. Check out photos and results the race site – http://www.gax100.info.se.

Stefan Samuelsson

Redaksjonen anbefaler årets deltagere og nysgjerrige "nesteårsløpere" til å sjekke
løpets hjemmeside. Der finner vi flere underholdende løpsberetninger (også Gunnar Fæhns beretning som tidligere er lagt ut på kondis) og ikke minst illustrerende bilder som er verdt en titt.