Day 1 proved pretty eventful for the british contingent of Martin Williams, Ben Tickner and myself at this 5 day stage race. After a late arrival last night (Bornholm harbour left) we are staying in a lovely little cottage in the north of the island and the other invited runners are spread out around the village.
Stage 1 was a 10k race starting on the road before following the shoreline for a few kms in the forest. It was still a pretty quick course though. First to show were Ben and Martin along with last years runner up, David Nilsson from Sweden and 62 minute man Jussi Utrainen of Finland. I was tucked nicely into the second group and trying to keep out of trouble...
By half way Jussi had a made a break and Martin was placed a handy third with Ben somewhere in the forest taking a comfort break. Meanwhile I had taken on the pace in the second group only to get tripped from behind at 4k as folks went head down to check their garmins. I did a 'Wiggins' and hit the tarmac hard. After surveying the damage (cuts and bruises but nothing out of place) I got going again and managed to reel in half the group by the finish before getting patched by the Danish para-medics.
Ben ticked along in 4th but GB honours and our in house green jersey went to Martin for a strong 3rd place in 30.39. This morning watching the tv highlights he was finishing better than anyone in the Top 10 which bodes well for the rest of the week. As for Ben and me, well weve got some hard work to do to climb back up the GC, starting in this evenings 6k beach race.
| 1 | 819 | Jussi Utriainen | Lahden Ahkera | FIN | ||||
| 2 | 783 | David Nilsson | Högby IF | SWE | ||||
| 3 | 1984 | Martin Mccallum Williams | Tipton Harriers | GBR | ||||
| 4 | 1982 | Ben Tickner | Wells City Harriers | GBR |
More tomorrow.
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