During their first edition of Offroad Finnmark Ramses Bekkenk and Bram Rood showed their fysical and mental skills. Tuesday evening at six they started in Alta fort heir race over seven hundred kilometers crossing Finnmark. Almost three days later on Friday afternoon their mission ended as both exhausted riders crossed the finish line in Alta.
Photo: Steinar Vik
During the race they used both obligatory stops in Kautakeino and Karasjok of four and an half hour to have a good meal and sleep for a while. Also at the other stops they used more than the obliged five minutes. Due to the rain before and after the event this year’s race was one of the hardest and almost nowhere it was possible get a good pace. Both men were really down arriving at Soussjavri. A warm sauna and reindeer soup got them back on track and after half an hour stop they disappeared in the night heading to Karasjok.
‘It was a really hard race as there was no flow in the tracks which made it mental very tough as well. Normally you get rewarded with a nice descend or a fast track after you have struggled, hiked and climbed.’, stated Bekkenk. Rood continues: ‘Everybody has to deal with fysical problems during this race as well. Ramses his foot got stuck between stones crossing a river and I hurt my knee in a very bad way when hiking up. We have never been more happy to see the finish line in a race than this time. It says a lot as we both have meanwhile ridden some race.’, stated Rood.