The second and third stages of Ice Ultra 2023 have been totally different. A lesson in how changeable conditions can be in short space of time and dependant on the terrain you’re passing through.

Stage Two would more appropriately be referred to as the Battle of Mount Kabla. The runners endured blizzard conditions throughout the most physically demanding stage of the race. Visibility was barely enough to get from one trail marker to the next, wind speeds were close to our upper limit and the temperature on the highest ground dropped below -40c. Those conditions led to a number of runners being brought off the course by our team. We are once again in the debt of our outstanding local Sami Team whose ability to cope with these treacherous conditions is unsurpassable, and our calm and talented medics. There was a sense of shell-shock around camp last night.

This morning we awoke to slightly milder temperatures, still air and perfect blue skies, and those conditions held throughout the day. As a consequence, every runner who started this morning was able to make it to the finish. In fact, our team cannot recall a year where all runners reached the end of Stage Three so early.

Kristina Madsen continues to assert her dominance over the race. Only Karl Alvarez is able to come close to keeping up at the moment and he still sits 30 minutes behind in the overall standings. Between them and 3rd position though is an unbelievable cushion of more than 5hrs. That 3rd spot is currently held by Jacob Folkestone, though he has a slender lead of 7 minutes over Simon Winchester.

The top 3 women in the race at this point are Kristina Madsen, Veronique Leivin, and Robin Moore. The top 3 men are Karl Alvarez, Jacob Folkestone and Simon Winchester.

Tomorrow is the long stage. At 64km it represents a different but arguably equally tough challenge to Stage Two. They’ll start early at 6:30am local time (5:30am UK Time) and will need to dig deep to grind through to the finish. They are tired and they are in a massive calorie deficit at this point and will need to draw on all their resilience to get through.

OVERALL STANDINGS AFTER STAGE THREE

STAGE THREE

STAGE TWO