Team	Prize money
1	Nokia Adventure	10.000€ + 2x1500€ for winning destination 1&2, and a free entry to the 2005 AR World Championship
2	Team Cross Sportswear	6.000€
3	Seagate	4.000€
4	Maybe	2.000€
5	Buff	1.000€
6	Subaru USA	-
7	IRL - UK	-
8	SOLE	-
9	Subaru CAN	-

The last team, Subaru Canada, has now crossed the finishline in the Explore Sweden Airborne Expedition Race 2004. The total time for Subaru Canada is 106 hours and 29 minutes.

Team Subaru USA crossed the finishline at 05.53.

IRL - UK finishes in the wee hours, 03:23 to be exact.

Tired but happy, Maybe arrives at 02:09 in time to snatch the 4th place from Buff

Buff passed the finish line at 00:24 monday morning. It is still undecided whether they will end up 4th or 5th, since they have 5 hours less penalties than Maybe, roughly one hour behind on the course.

Team SOLE came in to Hampnäst att 23.46

The remains of Supplierpipeline (reinforced with Nigel Aylot) crossed the finish line at 23:03

Team Cross Sportswear and Seagate cross the finish line side by side, but since Seagate has a greater time penalty from earlier sections, Cross gets the second place, and Seagate the third.

Hanna Wikberg and Johan Henriksson from Lundhags are too exhausted to continue, so the team withdraws.

Team Nokia has just won the Explore Sweden Expedition Race 2004. While they bask in the glory of the commending performance the next three teams are fighting it out for second place.

We estimate that the winners arrive to the Finish Line at Hampnäs around 18:20 tonight!

The upcoming orienteering section could make for a dramatic finish. It will be imperative for teams to have pinpoint accuracy to avoid beeing passed or even pushed off the podium.

Nokia seems to have grip on the situation. But the course designer makes a warning. "The last orienteering section is very, very tricky. You can easily loose 5-6 hours".
Behind Nokia, we have a brutal fight for the podium.
Team Seagate pushing hard and moving fast, just minutes in front of the both swedish teams; Team Cross Sportswear and Lundhags. The reports says that both swedish teams looks realy tired.
But remember, that Seagate have 43 minutes from the staggered start in Vindeln. That meens that they have to overtake the concurents with at least 43 minuts.
The race is on!

With fierce headwinds, rain and even a powernap in a busshelter, Team Nokia has powered through this 220 km bikeride. After a quick transition Nokia heads out for the coasteering- and divingleg.

Nokia Adventure has now finished the long bike leg.

The teams have a tough night in front of them. Orienteering, river rafting and then 220 km of cycling! Nokia has already done the trekking and river-rafting and are followed by the mixed team Supplierpipeline (unranked) and Team Cross Sportswear. Cross started 2h 45m after Nokia and has to give 110% if they will be able to compete with Nokia.

The Supplierpipeline team has suffered from some injuries during the course and are now running with a mixed team out of the competition. The team consists of:
1) Robert Miller (Supplierpipeline)
2) Sonya Clark (Supplierpipeline)
3) Nigel Aylot (Aroc)
4) Chris Koch (Team Spirit)

Nokia and the mixed team Supplierpipeline (unranked) started the race at 17.00. Next is Cross at 19.45, then Lundhags at 21.54. After that the remaining teams will start 22.00.

We have arrived at the final destination at Vindeln. Teams are anxious and excited with what lies ahead. As teams got off the buses they were greeted by hundreds of curious spectators,
and more importantly they could see for the first time the class five rafting section. Some teams have decided to exit the race here and will head back to Hampnäs Registration Centre.
The rest of the teams will spend the next few hours packing, sleeping, and dreaming of how they can catch the leaders Nokia Adventure.

Both Seagate and Lundhags have now arrived at the airport in Kiruna.

After twenty-one very demanding hours in the Kebnekaise mountains the teams are starting to arrive to Kiruna airport.
From Nikkaloukta they have done inline skating for 77 km crossing the barren landscape in nortern of Sweden.
Three teams - Nokia, Maybe and Cross Sportswear - have already finished at the airport.
We are now waiting for Seagate and Lundhags, who are both racing against the clock to make it to the airport before the 11.30 deadline

Patric Moris, Team Maybe is now looking forward to a shower, food and some sleep before the plane takes off.
There are now fifteen teams remaining for the start at destination 3. Four have done the entire course at both destination 1 and 2 if Seagate and Lundhags make it to the airport in time.

The teams are now starting to drop in at CP9 at Nikkaluokta. Team Nokia, the race leaders, are going strong and it is hard for the other teams to catch up at this second destination that has taken place in a very alpine environment.
Team FJS, Cross Sportswear and Seagate are close behind when they now are heading out on the long inline section towards Kiruna where the aircraft will departure at noon.
The short comment on the course from team Nokias team captain Petri Forsman was simply "The mountaineering section was long and hard".

Cross, Nokia, FJS, Seagate and Subaru USA have now reached CP8 for the spectacular repel down from Tuolpagorni into the crater shaped snow field fifty metres below.
Later on awaits a gruelling 77 kilometres of inline skating, hopefully avoiding the numerous reindeer on the Kiruna road.

Reebok Adventure is forced to withdraw at Björlings Glacier due to stomach problems.

The leading team at destination 2, Cross Sportswear, has now "bagged" Sweden's highest peak - CP7 located at Mount Kebnekaise, 2114 meters in elevation.
They are closely followed by Seagate, Nokia, FJS, Subaru USA and Arkitektkopia (unranked).
Between CP5 and CP6 the teams have done a Via Ferrata.
The weather is changing and the fog is sweeping in over the peaks encapsulating them in clouds.
The sun is gone and so is the good sight. The teams will have a harder time navigating. Many of the teams are racing close together due to the large amount of snow.
They are taking advantage of the tracks forming, following in each others steps. According to race director Michael Nordström, the teams think the course on destination 2 is "awesome".

The first seven teams have reached CP4, located on the Isfallsglacier. Team Cross was the first one to check into the CP, and within a few minutes teams Maybe, Seagate and Sole Custom Footbeds also checked in. Team Subaru USA and team FJS arrived close behind. From CP4 teams will be traversing the Storglacier.

Six of the teams have now passed CP3, which is located nearby the Glacier research centre at Tarfala.
From here the course takes the athletes into the harshest alpine environment that Sweden has to offer.
The first team to CP3 was Maybe followed closely by Arkitektkopia, Seagate, Sole Custom Footbeds, Cross and race leader Nokia.

Explore Sweden is now on to the second destination in Kiruna.
This beautiful alpine region is located 150 km north of the Article circle in the land of the midnight sun.
The aircraft arrived at Kiruna airport this morning with racers who were very sleepy after 27 hours+ of competition.
The preparations were very haistily done in Nikkaloukta.
At the startline, all the racers got a brief lesson in the local history by Lisa Sarri who also sang to everyone in a technique called "jojk" which is a traditional way of sami singing.
The racers were sent off at 12.40 to start their journe, and their first task at this destination will be to reach the top of Kåge, 1162 meters above sea level.
The weather is a bit colder than it was yesterday in the High coast area. The mountains surrounding us are partly covered by snow.
All the teams have a very demanding course ahead of them and the question remains, will the Finnish team Nokia be able to hold on to the lead or will team Cross Sportswear, Lundhags or Seagate catch up?

The Explore Sweden race has now moved north to its second destination, Kiruna, in the land of the midnight sun.

We can report that Team Spirit are on the plane that will take the racers to destination 2.

The teams that have completed the entire course, including the shortened version are now boarding the plane headed towards destination two. Nokia, Cross Sportswear, Lundhags and Seagate are the only teams to have done all the disciplines and checked all the CPs.
They have all gotten a few hours of sleep and will have new energy at destination 2. 17 teams have made their way to the airport in time. Some of them are out of the competition, but continue to race with two or three people. One minute after the deadline, team Spirit arrived at the airport, if they are ready with all of their gear packed at 7.45 they will be on the plane.
The other teams arenow clapping hands to speed them up in the hope that they will not miss the deadline. Otherwise

Photo by: Stefan Andersson

15 teams have managed to make it to the hangar at Kramfors Airport. Some of them went directly from CP23 . The first four
teams, have fully completed stage one,
1.Nokia Adventure
2.Team Cross Sportswear
3.Lundhags
4.Seagate

The first four teams are now done abseiling from the High Coast Bridge. The sunrise was beautiful when team Lundhags (swe) went down into the water, their reaction "that is cold" , understandable. One of the guys got cramps in both his legs when they were swimming to the beach. Hanna Wikberg, the girl in the team, helped towing him in the water for a while. She is a really strong girl, probaly one of the strongest in the competion. This is not the first time she has helped carrying her teammates packs or helped towing them along the course in
this competition..

Nokia have been in the lead almost the whole race. They have had a great tempo and really gave it their best. Nokia came in first place at Kramfors Airport, which was the finish at Destination 1. Nokia is now resting and
waiting for the plane to take them to the second secret Destination.

After 20 hours of racing Nokia still has the
lead, one hour ahead of the second team, Team Cross Sportswear, who picked up half an hour to the leaders between CP17 and CP 25. Seagate, who earlier today was fighting for the lead with Nokia lost a lot of time on the inline/trekking section.
At CP 23 they were more than two hours behind. Four of the top six teams are Swedish. Rising star Lundhags is in fifth place, half an hour ahead of Reebok. The young team is having a really good race so far. The race organisation is now waiting for Nokia at CP 27 near the High Coast Bridge.

The race continues at a high speed . Most of the teams are doing well
and are fighting hard. We have two teams that have dropped out, the Canadian team Supplier Pipeline and the Danish Tscheren-Löberen. The injuries were sprained ankles and both of the teams continue outside of the competition. Nokia Adventure is leading the race, with quite some time over the Swedish Teams, Cross Sportswear and Team Maybe.

Click here to go the to the video page

The teams have now been racing for 12 very
demanding hours, but most of them look very fit and don't seem to be tired at all. Its very warm and the racers do not need to wear alot of clothes. Seagate and Nokia are fighting for the lead in the race. If they keep this pace they will be more than two hours ahead of the schedule. Experienced racers, such as Nokia clearly had a
better technique on inlines, but so far none of the teams have reached cp 17.
Another team, Supplier Pipeline, has withdrawn due to an sprained ankle.

Click here to go the to the video page

The race has now been on for seven hours. New Zealand's Seagate took the lead right from the start. After the swimming and Coasteering teams made their way to the CP6/Bike TA.
The teams were very cold, with 6 degree water temperature but thought it was great to finally be on the course. At CP 11 the Danish team, Tscherning-Löberen, had to withdraw because they had a badly damaged foot.
The rest of the team will complete the course outside competition. The weather is stunning and Seagate have just passed CP 13 and are now canoeing with Nokia Adventure right behind them.

One of the team members on Team Tscherning-Löberen has injured
his ankle and is therefore forced to withdraw from the race. The remaining part of the team will continue on the course unranked.

Team Silva have been forced to get new maps since they had forgotten
to close the mapcase before jumping in the water. Therefore, they received a 30 minute penalty. This is the first penalty awarded at the race. Seagate seems to be in a really good shape and have passed CP8.

The High Coast racers were doing their last minute preparations stuffing themselves with hotdogs and wraps while enjoying a beautiful sunset. From now on and five days ahead they will have limited access to food. Right before the race Dave Hitchon, Team Subaru Canada, was anxious to get in the water "The most crucial part will be
to make the plane in time" he said. One minute past midnight the race started at the H\'f6gbonden Island, just outside Kramfors. Even at the start the teams didn't know where they were heading, torches lead them to checkpoint one and it was not until then that the racers got their maps and roadbook. The Swedish Team
Maybe was the fastest team down to CP 1. Coasteering around the Island with the sea below and safety kayakers, they threw themselves into the water swimming the 400 meters to the next island, the first of 3 swims. The sea was about six degrees but the racers didn't think twice. Helena Lind and Mikael Nordström, the
racedirectors, were really excited to see the racers take off "We have worked our butts off these last days, so now we feel really good" Nordström says "Everything can happen and it's crucial that the logistics are working" Helena says and she also thinks that it's great that the teams are so positive.

Two big buses have picked the teams up at Hampnäs and are now going to transport them to the secret startpoint. It's silent on the buses while the racers try to prepare for the unknown.

Live site has now opened. The leaderboard will appear when the race has started tonight at one minute past midnight.