The race is named after Juraj Janosik, a famous Robin Hood hero-type from years gone by. He was born near to the race centre in Terchova in Northern Slovakia which is part of a pretty national park with peaks of around 1600m. The organisers have developed a three race ‘Extreme Tour’ series with the original being Orvaraman that has been going for several years and is sponsored by Volkswagen, Goralman (a half distance) and, new for 2016, the full distance Janosik. None of them can be considered flat courses!

This is the first time Janosik has been held and was very much a test event so the field entry was limited to 50 competitors. The race ethos is based on Norseman, Celtman, and Swissman i.e. they are very hard but manageable, and you have to take along your own team who support you on the bike leg and also run with you.

The reasons I chose this race are varied but if I’m going to race it has to be a linear course in beautiful mountain surroundings, and with a sense that you’re exploring somewhere new. Also the race entry fee was very low compared to the Ironman brand. I have done Norseman and Celtman and I heard about this race via a Chris Sterling Facebook post. He did Orvaraman earlier this year.

After scanning the list of entrants I thought there may be an issue as there were a few Poles, a couple of Czechs, a whole bunch of Slovaks, and me. I have to admit my knowledge of East European language is not good but I need not have worried as everyone seems to speak good English and all were very friendly. The Race Director, Peter Pal’a, is a really nice guy and was particularly helpful before the event via Facebook messenger and also on the day itself.

Pre-race

Our team arrived five days before the event and this was really useful to recce the bike and parts of the run route, but also to get used to the temperature which was mid 20s, hot for us based up North! However I probably did over do the recce on a section of the run course as I was out for three to four hours and felt knackered for the following two days. Not a good taper but the knowledge gained did prove useful on race day.

Swim (lake swim 3.8k)

This is by far the most unusual swim I’ve had in a triathlon.

The race starts at midnight on a very dark lake. For safety you are provided with a swim float which has a light inside so the kayakers and other swimmers can see you. Should you get in trouble you are provided with a couple of glow sticks.

Now the original intention was for a boat to collect all the racers and deposit them on an island in the lake and it was to be a straight 3.8k swim to T1. However, the boat company, in the last couple of days, hiked the price massively. This meant a last minute change of plan and a triangular course from the shore was devised using flashing buoys to guide the swimmers.

There were however a couple of problems. The first was the buoy flash was too infrequent so when sighting you were lucky if you saw the buoy! The second was that on the return to shore the flashings buoys merged into the lights from a town. Let’s say it was a bit chaotic! I was in the lead group and we all stopped at the furthest point of the triangle trying to locate the next buoy and then everyone swam in different directions. I heard afterwards someone had swum an extra kilometre having mistaken a light on land for a buoy. I’m sure the race organisers will sort this out for next year.

The night swim was the one part of the race I was dreading most as I hadn’t done one before. In fact I quite enjoyed it knowing you were pretty safe with others around and the water was warm.

I was fourth out of T1 in a time of 1 hour 21 mins which I was happy about as I probably was weaving all over the lake, and I had to change into several layers for the bike leg as the air temperature had dropped to less than 10 degrees.

In terms of what I would do next time it would probably be a few night swims in the local lake as preparation.

T1

Unlike many others I decided against a tri suit as I don’t find them comfortable for 112 miles and besides it was cold. So I went for a full change of clothes including a mandatory reflective vest and ankle reflector.

Time in transition wasn’t recorded so the swim time included time in T1.

Bike (185km and 2100m ascent)

Again an unusual bike leg as you have about 4 to 5 hours in the dark. The good thing is that the support crew follows 10m behind with the lights on. As you would expect the roads are quiet in the early hours and the first part went very quickly on flattish roads. Weapon of choice was the time trial bike with 55/34 plus 11/28 gearing which was good enough to cope with the 9 or 10 hills one of which included 400m at 17%. I felt strong for the most part except for one long gradual hill towards the end. Although I was trying to keep eating I think, once again, I failed to eat enough and was bonking. I made an effort to keep taking on calories in the last 20 miles and was feeling better towards the end. Despite the lack of food towards the end, seeing the sky gradually light up at dawn whilst on the bike was a good feeling.

Time: 6 hours 47mins (third fastest and third into T2). Includes 7 mins for a coffee and sandwich stop at 5am.

T2

Again time in transition was not measured but I decided on a full strip down and change into running shorts. This was awkward as I was being filmed at the time and the camera was only a couple of metres away. There’s a mandatory kit list you have to carry on the run so a running sack was required.

Run/Walk (41km and 2800m of ascent)

I’m not a runner and it’s on the run I expect to be going backwards through the field. The good thing about this race is you run with a supporter(s) which makes for good company. The course is varied with steep rocky ascents with chains and ladders, steep rocky descents, rolling pasture, paths through shady woods, and gradually ascending ridges. Only about 8km is on flat tarmac and due to the searing heat this was the worst bit and other teams caught us up on this section.

All the up hill sections involved walking as a fast as possible. The descents were technical in nature and I managed to grab some time back as I’m not too bad when helped by gravity on loose rocky descents. I felt good all the way round the run. I had a few twinges of cramp which were relieved by Ibruprofen and a constant source of food and drink from supporters Kate and Mike. As time went on it was clear teams were suffering with a supporter from one team having twisted his ankle on a steep descent meaning the supporter and athlete withdrawing (putting us temporarily in second position). Another team who overtook us suffered from severe cramp and slowed allowing us to pass. There were a number of feed stations on the run with the usual energy products but these were hardly touched as the preference were delights such as cheese, salami, and on one occasion pork scratchings.

Things to work on, as always, are running speed on the flat and uphill run/walk speed.

Time: 8 hours 1 min (sixth fastest run time)

Overall time: 16 hours 10 mins (fourth overall and 1:05 behind the winner)

Post-race

Competitors and support attended the prize giving and photograph ceremony the next day. Finishers and supporters got a T-shirt and the winners a Janosik axe. Whereas prize ceremonies in the UK involve a polite clap and the odd cheer, in Slovakia they really go for it with rock music, and really enthusiastic clapping, that goes on………….very refreshing.

Lastly Mike and Kate who supported gave up their time to come along with this, and like me, had no sleep for around 30 hours. It’s amazing that they had the patience to drive the car so slowly whilst following me on the bike, and for such a long time. And then get out for a 40k run. Fantastic!