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Against all odds - Ragnarok 2018

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Toby
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Against all odds - Ragnarok 2018

Postby Toby » Thu Apr 19, 2018 10:03 pm

Nobile News:

Dawn of the new gods - Ragnarök 2018

Ragnarök in Scandinavian mythology means „destination of gods“ („ragna“ – „gods“, „rök“ – „fate, destination“). It is also often translated as the twilight of gods“. Really? After all, in 2018 the new gods were born.

nobile.png

This ain’t no competition for rookies. You gotta have tons of skills. You must be persistent, tough and in a good shape. These are five hours of fight and 100 kilometres to ride on snowboard or skis. You don’t have to be the fastest though – maybe apart from the first gate during the starting round which looks almost like the busy intersection in Tokyo’s Shibuya – but you must observe what’s happening along the track, of course if the visibility will let you so. You have to be good at map studying as well, even if GPS devices are already allowed, which significantly facilitates the task, provided we enter the right coordinates. And now the sports know-how. The wind plays tricks – it can blow 40-50 knots strong, and then – in just few seconds – almost die. If it don’t get up again, there’s a long walk ahead of us – sometimes few kilometres in deep snow. The area where the contest is being held is a snow desert, while in summer it turns into beautiful lakes with canoes, rocks and lush vegetation. Unbelievable. What else do you need to complete the 11th edition of Red Bull Ragnarok in Haugastol, central Norway? When observing the competition as a spectator, I think you need some luck. You can be winning all the way, and then – running with full speed – come across the group of competitors moving at slower pace. Either you will pass them, raise the kite and fly spectacularly like the Nobile’s rider Artem Garashchenko (Russia) this year (check out the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3F_v3iH_ESA) or loose your position. Here just anything can happen.

Against all odds

When we pass the reception of Haugastol station, being a hotel and competition headquarters, located at 1000 metres above sea level, there’s a Nobile board hanging on the wall. Not without a reason. It’s the board Remi Moum won the first contest on. He was the one who invented this competition, together with Bjorn Kaupang. Now, every year, almost 300 contesters from around the world meet here as one big family to begin the fight for survival. Just like in mythology – the God must be born to give continuity to snowboard family. Nobile is one of the royal insignias.

This year’s race began as early as on Friday (usually there are three days to run the competition – Friday, Saturday or Sunday). The wind was blowing, the sun was shining, the freeze wasn’t that dangerous (only -3 °C), so the „gang“ started at 11.30. However, after 3.5 hours the wind began to slow down and finally spoilt the fun. Many contesters walked over 5 kilometres in snow to reach the gate, from where they were taken by snow scooters to the finish line. That’s how it is – the sport 100-percent dependent on the weather. But at the end of the day we had great reasons to celebrate.

Nobile gods and goddesses

This year the Goddess was the 16-year-old Nobile rider from Russia – Valeria Garashchenko. Her brother Artem – the current snowkite world’s champion in Freestyle category – finished 3rd among men! Christian Labbe – brilliant Canadian who took the competition like a professor – almost climbed the podium as well. Another Nobile rider – Gehrer “Fly Fish“ Reinhold (Austria), the world‘s snowkite champion in Race category finished the race at high 7th rank, despite an injury (prolapsed disc)! Justyna Sierpińska also had bad luck – we have already informed about it – and if she reached another gate, she would find herself in Top 10. Unfortunately she was classified right in the middle of the ranking – at 14th position.

Nobile boards are the best in the world. This year our riders won the IKA World Championships in both categories – Race and Freestyle. We also won prestigious Red Bull Ragnarok, and our boards have been unbeatable in national contests as well – from Russia, through Austria and Germany, to Canada. Next year we’ll prepare a nice surprise – something our riders are already working on, together with the R&D Team of Nobile factory – NBL Sport.
Stay tuned for more info!

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Re: Against all odds - Ragnarök 2018

Postby downunder » Fri Apr 20, 2018 4:34 am


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Re: Against all odds - Ragnarok 2018

Postby SaulOhio » Wed Apr 25, 2018 1:08 pm

I managed to finish 2.2 laps. You really need to get ahead of the pack before the 1st gate. This is what it looks like if you get stuck in the middle and have to wait:
RagnarokGate1.jpg
Ragnarokgat1.jpg
Then you need to pick your course carefully so you don't get into any wind shadows, or get stuck behind someone else who dropped his kite and end up dropping yours because you have to go too far downwind or upwind to avoid them in light winds.

At one point, going downhill on my 2nd lap after Gate 4, another kiter made a turn right in front of me in light winds, forcing me to slow down and causing me to crash the kite. I managed to get it flying again, and going downhill I was doing fine so long as I could keep moving downhill. As long as I had forward speed, I could maintain enough apparent wind. But another kiter DID IT TO ME AGAIN! I relaunched, got going, and AAAGHHH!!! Someone else did it to me AGAIN! THREE TIMES!

I think that one of my problems was that I had short racing lines, only 18M with 5' extensions. If I had 30M lines I would have been able to loop the kite more to keep it flying.

On my 2nd lap, I knew I wouldn't have time to finish the race, but I was determined to keep going as long as I could. I was thinking they were going to have to drag me off the plateau. But then during my 2nd lap before the 2nd gate, just as I was starting the steepest climb of the course, the wind shut down completely.

I did not quit. The wind quit on me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGzMvefV7x8&t=1057s

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Re: Against all odds - Ragnarok 2018

Postby Toby » Wed Apr 25, 2018 5:11 pm

too bad about the wind!
in your video you really got great speed...taking one after one!

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Toby
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Re: Against all odds - Ragnarök 2018

Postby Toby » Wed Apr 25, 2018 5:12 pm

downunder wrote:
Fri Apr 20, 2018 4:34 am
Spectacular !

What a jump, oups, a flight: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3F_v3iH_ESA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3F_v3iH_ESA
yeah, sweet flight! :thumb:


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