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Swiss O week: Stage 6

The final day was always going to be hectic.  Most of our packing was done the evening before and our hostess kindly gave us a lift to the station with all our luggage before 7am.  We had races to run and then a second race from the event to the railway to be certain of making our connections to Munich where we would be spending the next month.
Near the end of Eric's course

Leaving our bags in storage at Saarnen (the amazing organisers set up a luggage store at the station for all those with early checkout and departure) we hiked to the event in a light drizzle that promised to get heavier.  While Elise and Samuel could start right at 9am, Eric was facing a race against time to make our train.  From his start just after 10.30 he had exactly 92 minutes to run the race, run 2km from the finish down the mountain to the assembly area and check in then run another 1.3km back to the station.   He also faced freezing to death on the chairlift in the rain wearing his flimsy o suit as there wouldn't be time to collect clothes from the clothing return after the race.

Elise and Samuel rugged up and ready to take the chairlift to the start in the rain



Samuel looking happy at the start


Like the previous day there was mud everywhere.  The courses for the most part crossed a steep hillside which was a mix of pasture and forest with many streams carrying the previous nights rain down to the river.  Not surprisingly with 3000 people running around things soon got dirty especially the are around the last control and the finish run in which was one giant pigsty.
The last part of Samuels course - super slippery downhill

In the end Eric managed ok.  The rain relented slightly which meant a bit of pre race shivering but no hypothermia.  A good run and a jog down from the finish got him to the station with a bit over 5 minutes to spare and even allowed time for a quick wade in the valley river on the way to wash off much of the mud.  He couldn't change out of his wet o gear until our first change of trains back at Zweisimmen but at least there was just enough time to change from spikes to normal runners!
At the station repacking with all our worldly possessions

The fun wasn't quite over.  At Zurich we had to transfer from train to rail bus for the trip to Munich (trackwork) and we had a few scary moments when we couldn't find the right bus at a bus station that was chaotic in a very un-Swisslike way.  In fact it was more like something you would find in SE Asia.  Eventually we got sorted and on board with a minute or 2 to spare and we were off.  Arriving in Munich we had more trackwork to deal with and a bike race that shut down the roads around the bus station.  After an exhausting walk to the nearest open S-Bahn station with piles of luggage, we caught a local train to the end of the line at Wolfratshausen, then a taxi and arrived at our home for the next month at about 9.45pm.  A huge day and a sleep in tomorrow morning awaits.


Video Day 6

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