Two countries, two races in one day

A return to Toughest Race, Malmo, Sweden was my first European OCR trip of 2023.
However, unlike last year, we also took on Nordic Race in Copenhagen, Denmark the same day in the afternoon for two races in two countries on the same day.
Whilst both races are based on/near the beach, Nordic race leans much more on the sand dunes and beach (whilst still being a relatively flat course) with at least 30% sand running. Most of Toughest, *all but about 100m) is based on the grass just off the beach and dunes.
You can check out the videos below to see the differences in obstacles, however I would say that Nordic Race seems to be a little more technical and challenging (more rigs) whilst Toughest has faster flowing obstacles. Nordic race also has a double lap option (like Toughest) however for those taking on a second lap of Nordic, some obstacles are “upgraded” to make them more challenging – for example a longer crawl or more distance between rings.
How was this possible?
- This was pretty easy. Although both cities are in different countries, they are only seperated by the Baltic Sea and a 20 minute train ride.
We managed a relatively early morning wave for Toughest – 10am, whilst Nordic Race’s waves went as late as 3pm which we selected. Not sure if Toughest runs that late into the afternoon, however as we were staying in Malmo for the weekend, doing it this way made sense!
Unlike UK races, European races always seem to be close to public transport – although I say “always” I mean the five different races in Europe I have attended… So actually getting from Toughest to Nordic Race was easy.
- Toughest Race to Malmo Central Station is a 20 minute walk or 10 minute electric scooter ride
- Malmo to Copenhagen 20 minutes on the train
- Copenhagen Airport to Øresundsparken was two stops on the metro (Femøren St.)
- From the station to the race village was just 10 minutes walk
Altogether around 1 hour travel time between the two venues
Nordic Race, Copehagen and Toughest Race, Malmo YouTube videos
Some photos from the weekend
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Taking on both races was a really fun experience, but honestly to really do Nordic Race justice, maybe just do that on it’s own. Yes it is just 5km, but running on sand as well as the tougher obstacles meant it was a little more challenging than I expected it to be. The atmosphere at Nordic race was so good – great start pen as well as a live DJ for the main event village too. Just like Malmo, it was very spectator friendly with “The Drop” pretty close to the village with many of the show case obstacles within the village area. The route came through the event village twice, giving spectators plenty of opportunity to see the participants, even if they didnt want to stray too far.
One last thought...
By the way, this weekend also saw Nuclear Races and Tough Mudder running their races which meant it could have been three races, in three countries over the weekend.
Just something to think about for 2024 if the weekends line up….