Impressive performances in the 2008 FULDA Challenge

30th January 2008

This Sunday, Isolde Holderied returned to Germany following her trip to Canada’s Yukon Territory for the 2008 FULDA Challenge. For six days, the former World Rally Champion accompanied the arctic multi-discipline event as instructor for the competitors.

At the end of ten exhausting disciplines, the winners of the eighth FULDA Challenge were found: former decathlete Frank Busemann and his partner, Daniela Martens, prevailed in both the single and the team rankings. While Martens – in the Ladies’ rankings – and Team Busemann held a massive lead over their competitors already at the beginning of the final day, Frank Busemann had to fight to the very end to prevail in the men’s rankings. 

Still, he did so successfully: In the final round, an ATV race, finishing third was enough for the Olympic Silver Medallist – in the 1996 Summer games held at Atlanta – to secure the men’s title. As prize, both Martens and Busemann received a gold nugget and cheques for Canadian $3,000.
During the event, the teams had to complete two disciplines per day, with one of these disciplines being a technical one while the other represented a challenge for the athletes’ power and stamina. The competitors had to battle it out with each other in disciplines such as mountain jog, biathlon, buggy race or on the RAV4 course. 

”Everybody had to fathom the very limits of his own toughness,” says Isolde who attended to the athletes together with Hans-Joachim Stuck. She provided them with valuable tips and tricks when it came to dealing with the vehicles and was responsible for the layout of the courses. “Everything went truly fine and all the competitors acted like professionals. And I was particularly delighted with seeing the women really going for it and giving the men a hard time. Kudos to the FULDA Challenge participants.”

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