Sports News

Werewolf Sven Svenson, two-time triathlon winner at the shadow winter Olympics looks set to make it a triple toothed affair later this year.

Yesterday on his home turf in Denhaven he came close to the world record for the twenty-seven mile lope and sprint, the first discipline of the Triathlon.

As you know the running discipline of the triathlon is made up of two parts, one in wolf form, and one in human form, the twenty-four mile lope, and the three mile sprint.

Swenson’s impressive speed of change between the two forms no doubt made a difference as it has in the past, in fact he came close to his personal best, a world record that he already holds.

The lope and sprint was held over the bare rugged slope of Blackthorn Pike an extremely high, and wide based mountain, requiring a steady, strong pace to avoid exhaustion on the up-hill climb and across the flank of the mountain, navigating loose snow and scree, yeti traps, ice cliffs, and crevasses while exposed to the harsh weather.

The course took the contestants up onto the wide flank of the mountain then around a third of its exposed girth before taking them up and over the top and down a winding path to the smoother, lower southern slope, where the contestants were required to change into human form and sprint three miles alone a rough loggers road. The combined times, for the whole course are taken as one of the stages of the triathlon.

Transylvanian werewolf Black Dog Magroo, and Swenson’s chief rival was unlucky enough to be caught in a scree slide started by relative newcomer, Paddy Clawface from Ireland and sustained an injury that took him out of the competition.

Paddy apologised for the incident but pointed out that he was the legal one hundred yards uphill from Magroo and that it was the nature of the race.

The second discipline, the mannequin hunt was held on the lower slopes of a sister mountain to Blackthorn Pike in a wild stretch of forest covering one thousand acres.

The age-old argument was brought up yet again that for the Olympics a live human should be used, specifically one with survival skills, for greater authenticity and challenge, and yet again the werewolf proponents of live humans in the hunt were reminded of the accord against biting victims (presently in a rather shaky state) and the thoughtless frenzy that can result from a good long hunt when the target is brought to bay. The specially scented and spelled mannequin reacts as any organic would and keeps the accord.

Despite Olympic hunters being trained to capture and not claim a hunt target with a specific scent it is considered a risk to use a live human, as heightened instincts in the competition tend to rouse the blood frenzy.

Cordwood Longtooth of England won this stage, with Svenson coming in a very close second.

The last part of the triathlon was the agility course. As usual this consisted of balancing, swinging, tree climbing, tunnelling, pole weaving and jumping. It was up to the contestants as to which sections they took in human form or which in werewolf form.

Here the speed of shape-changing can be paramount as some sections are deliberately geared more towards one form or the other. Svenson’s speed of shift has always certainly helped him but he came in second for this stage, and Irish newcomer Paddy Clawface surprised the field by coming in first.

For the overall triathlon Svenson won, but we will have to keep our eyes on Paddy Clawface. It seems he is very much an up and coming member of the Irish team.

Quothe, the raven