Murphy’s trip to RedBull’s RAGNAROK in Norway
Switch: Hi Murph, where are you now?
Murphy: I’m at the airport in Norway waiting for clearance to take-off. I’m taking the Zephyr and flying home :)))
Switch: I’ve hard you had some problems at the airport after arrival there.
Murphy: Yep :) The drug sniffing dog fell head over paws in love with me and fawned upon me so much that the pretty security girls had to search me. The first question I got was whether I had any drugs on me. So grinning I told them that I hope not, and that I’m coming from a country where pot is now legal and that I like a smoke every now and then. The security lady said that it doesn’t bother her but that in Norway it was illegal (she herself looked as if she wouldn’t have anything against it). Naturally they didn’t find anything apart from the 50 euros I lost 3 months ago ;). So I thanked them, happy that I now had the entrance fee, and I went off to look for some transport to the competition.
Switch: I remember that on one competition you had no idea where you would be sleeping so you buried your gear in the snow and went off looking for a place to stay. How was it this time? Any problems?
Murphy: Yeah, I remember that :) Now I had a place waiting for me thanks to my Norwegian buddies but unfortunately their car broke down and they couldn’t pick me up. So I went off punk style looking for a lift to Geilo, a town 30 minutes drive from the hotel where all the competitors were staying. I caught a bus and 4,5 hours later I was in Geilo at 1 am. I was on the verge of turning my kite into a tent for the night not to freeze to death but luckily the crew got a blond girl to pick me up and take me up for the night.
Switch: On the first day you had a session with Ruben and Aaron, how did that go?
Murphy: Ruben was at the hotel and Aaron was getting some shots from the RedBull helicopter. In the beginning they didn’t want to film me but after a few 50m flights over Aaron from a cliff where only I was jumping they started to shoot me as well. :)
Switch: Did Aaron do any of his tricks from the water or was he scared shitless? :)))
Murphy: First we tried the small kicker and it looked like he had respect for me. I couldn’t totally show off my skills because of my arm injury three months ago, I just started riding unhooked again. But after a few mobes and one-hand flat 3 osmozis’ even Aaron started smiling at me. :) Unfortunately I didn’t see him the last day, he landed fs mobes to toeside etc. Obviously muscle memory works everywhere but you just can’t let fear get the best of you.
Switch: Ok, let’s talk about the race. You came in second with competition like that – respect! Could you describe what was the race like?
Murphy: First we waited for the helicopter that didn’t come because of the incoming storm. Nobody knew that so at the starting line you could find kites from 3m2 to 17m2. I was sitting at the starting line with Aaron who had the same size as me - 11 m2. When Matias (French guy), the Race Coordinator, said that we’ll be starting in a minute the storm came as if he had ordered it, then the horn, green flag and we were off in the most hardcore race in the world! At the bottom it was about 30knt and nobody knew that as soon as we would reach the top of the first hill it was gonna pick up to 50knt. To a place where you could barely fit 5 riders 160 went in - stones, rocks, ice and super-gusty wind. Right after the start I was in first place because I knew that I had to go past this nasty spot before it would get too crammed and somehow I managed. A second later I looked back and couldn’t see anyone so I thought that maybe I was going the wrong way. It turned out later that ¾ of the competitors, including Aaron, Suzi, and Ruben, who said he didn’t want to die there, turned back. It really sounded funny coming from a guy like Ruben :)))
Orientation on the Norwegian moon-like landscape with 50knt of snow hitting your face can be very difficult. Luckily I noticed one competitor on skies in front of me. I followed him and found the next waypoint. Going upwind was incredibly exhausting. I found a way to rest my legs by keeping the kite almost at 12 and just slightly leaning towards the direction I was going. I had my Santiproduct seating system connected to my harness so that allowed at least a moment’s rest during the ride. The coolest bit was riding downwind, a few kiteloops and I was going about 80km/h easy ;) There were a few cliffs on the way which I had to jump hehe. Can you imagine that?! You’re going 80km/h downwind and all of a sudden in from of you there’s a 6 meter deep hole filled with ice and rocks?
Sitting now is a bit uncomfortable cause of a stone I met with on the way :) The next problem I had after the first 50km where cramps. I was getting them all over so I wasn’t able to control the kite. I pulled a bit more on the bar and my whole arm started cramping… and I’m not even gonna talk about my legs. The Czech Olympic team ointment and the 3 litres of vitamin water the Polish Ozone reps mixed up for me saved my ass. Thanks a lot guys!
Switch: How many people finished the race?
Murphy: Officially we were supposed to do 5 laps but only a few skiers did all of them. As far as snowboarders go, only Sigve who is a local and had a lot of training in the Norwegian mountains completed all of them. After a three month rehab of my arm I’m pretty satisfied with my result. I was second out of 5 snowboarders who were left – the judges stopped the race after the fourth lap.
Switch: Wicked, Murphy! So how’re you feeling now, few days after the event sitting at the airport?
Murphy: Today I’m only aching where I hit the rocks ;)…and my back hurts too.
Switch: You’re also quite the wakeboarder so did you try your chances in the mini snow competition on the 2.0 System? Did you go wild?
Murphy: Remi shaped up a massive kicker about 2m high with a 5m long table :) You could tell right away that we’d be flying over the whole thing and that’s also the reason why my ribs are now hurting. Next to it there was a couple of sliders and a nicely thought out box. Wakeboarding landings on snow are a bit harder and that’s why two people ended up in hospital. Nothing serious thought, just a shoulder and a cut Chin on the slider by the toughest girl at the event. She also finished the race, I don’t know how many laps she did, but Suzi Mai didn’t even do the first hill :)
Thanks to Remmy for a super organised event and to all the organisers, to Björn and all his family for help and support during the contest, to the blond girl who picked me up, got me a place to sleep and fed me ;) And to all my sponsors for their support because without them I’d be sitting at home watching “Nemocnice na kraji města” on TV.
Switch: So what are your plans now?
Murphy: If they finally let me out of Norway I’m planning to go to the Czech lakes to show the people how others ride around the word and then to you guys to the Hel Peninsula to build some slider parks, train young riders and maybe I’ll have some time left for fun ;) RIDE FOR LIFE! MURPHY
Ozone int. , Mushow, santiproduct, skateshop.cz, nashgrowshop.cz, bern, flou , NPX, jovitravel.pl ,aktera-fizio.cz, redseazone.com, spy optics,
translated by Mateusz Woźniakiewicz
