SUMMARY OF THE ARCTIC TEAM CHALLENGE 2002

Race Pictures of ATC 2002 - click here!

Over five days, the teams competed over 200 kilometres which included running, glacier hiking, mountain-biking and canoeing. 1st prize was 100.000 DKr. sponsored by Pilersuisoq.

This second race started with a huge blast from a 19th century cannon and shook some of the racers out of their socks at the race start of Arctic Team Challenge Sunday morning at 9 AM. A good beginning.
On Race Day 1, the teams set out for a mountain bike trip of 35 kilometres in a very hilly terrain before scaling three summits, all of which are between 600 and 900 m. All in all, they were about to put 55 km behind them on this first day.

Crossing the starting line were seven enthusiastic teams from Australia, Austria, Canada, Denmark and Greenland. The teams this year are Team Streets to the Arctic from Australia, Team Escape from Canada, Team KTM Generali from Austria, Team Peak Performance from Denmark, Team Harboe SAS Institute from Denmark, the local Team Tasiilaq from Greenland and Team Greenland Icegirls of, well, Greenland.

Results of race day 1: Team Peak Performance 6:41:49 Team Harboe 7:27:11 Team KTM 6:57:34 Team Escape 9:59:38 Team Greenland Icegirls 10:41:15 Team Streets to the Arctic 12:48:14 Team Tasiilaq 9:04:37

Race day 2
Combination of canoeing and an assent on Polheimsfjeldet, one of the areas most beautiful and steepest mountains.
At 9 this morning, the 7 teams were all ready at the starting line. After inflating the canoes, they all ran down to the harbour and set out for the Polheim Mountain across the bay from Tasiilaq. To all teams, the second race day was easier than yesterday's, even though some of the girls had to overcome a huge fear of heights. They did, though, and all teams came back to Tasiilaq happy to have made it through the day.

Results of the 2nd Day
1. Team Peak Performance: 3 hours, 20 minutes and 31 seconds
2. KTM Generali: 3 hours, 20 minutes and 56 seconds
3. Team Harboe SAS Institute: 3 hours, 25 minutes and 32 seconds
4. Team Tasiilaq: 3 hours, 49 minutes and 55 seconds
5. Team Escape: 3 hours, 58 minutes and 45 seconds
6. Greenland Icegirls: 4 hours, 40 minutes and 56 seconds
7. Streets to the Arctic: 5 hours, 1 minute and 43 seconds.

Race day 3
All seven teams started at 9 o’clock from Tasiilaq. The days course included glaciertrekking on Mittivakkat, Ammassalik Islands biggest glacier on which 3 checkpoints were to be found. Third day was not very physically demanding, but entering the glacier and finding the first checkpoint was a challenge to the teams navigation skills. Arriving at basecamp, many teams looked tired. Yet they all looked happy too. At basecamp, the teams got a chance to relax, enjoy a real Greenlandic Barbecue and played beach volley.

Results for 3rd race day Team Peak Performance 5:12:13 Team Harboe SAS Institute 5:20:47 Team Tasiilaq 8:26:12 Team ESCAPE 9:58:20 Team Greenland Icegirls 10:32:50 Team KTM Generali 7:21:57 Team Streets to The Arctic 11:29:34

Race dayS 4-5
At noon all teams after inflating their canoes started out on the 35 km. paddle up the Sermilik Fjord in rain, fog and among huge icebergs. Due to the bad visibility the 18 km. trekking on the Tinit. Glacier was dropped. It would be too dangerous to send the teams up on the 900 meter high and sometimes steep glacier. Instead, the teams raced along below the north edge of the glacier, a route easier and faster than the one originally planned. After This another 12 kilometres of canoeing and 25 kilometres of glacier and mountain trekking had to be put behind before the finishing line in Tasiilaq was reached. During canoe course on the Sermilik two team went out of competition: Team Streets to the Arctic and KTM Generali.

Results for 4th and 5th race day Team Peak Performance 15:02:16 Team Harboe SAS Institute 15:51:02 Team Tasiilaq 17:08:42 Team ESCAPE 16:44:25 Team Greenland Icegirls 21:49:46 Team KTM Generali Out of ranking Team Streets to The Arctic Out of ranking

Total ranking
1.Team Peak Performance 30:16:49
2.Team Harboe SAS Institute 32:04:32
3.Team Tasiilaq 38:29:26
4.Team ESCAPE 40:26:08
5.Team Greenland Icegirls 47:44:47
Team KTM Generali OUT OF RANKING
Team Streets to The Arctic OUT OF RANKING