The Italian Hurricane Heat was not the first foreign event in my history. I started my path on the dark side of the Spartan Race in Austria during the first edition of the H3X in 2019. A year later I took part in HH in Mallorca and HH12HR in Andorra. As a rule, each event should be conducted in English and in the local language, unless all participants are from the same country. It seems obvious, but the fear of knowing languages other than English has always paralyzed me. After all, it is on mutual understanding that every storm is based. I remember the Hurricane in the French Valmorel. I watched them from the hotel window, followed them even further, despite the winter weather, I wanted to be there with them, but then I didn’t hear a single word of English. After returning to Poland, I asked Kryptei from France, what if I don’t know French, can I participate in their event? The answer was: Absolutely. We mostly speak French, but Krypteia and his team know English well. Anyway, don’t worry, language is not a problem. „You will learn french during the event!„. I thought: another extra stress? The topic died down and I decided to focus on the events in Central Europe. At the beginning it was not easy either, but as the Hurricanes increased on my account, I became convinced that indeed, language is not a barrier. There is always someone who will say something in English, explain by sign, finally show himself and together we will come to a common thread of understanding. I had been planning Italy for 2 years, unfortunately something always fell on the way. Life writes such fates. Fortunately, we finally managed to complete all the elements and deal with the storm over the Adriatic Sea. It’s also not easy to prepare for Hurricanes when you plan to fly by plane. With only hand luggage purchased, you cannot take a knife or other bulky items required for the event on board. It was only thanks to the courtesy of HH’s friends in Misano that he got overwhelmed in this subject.
In addition to the standard equipment, an additional 30l bucket and a small sandbucket were required. I thought that I would cover the latter on the spot, after all, the location is close to a lot of beaches. Unfortunately, our tour of Misano took a while and I panicked when it came to Friday night and I didn’t have a full list of gear. I did not find the bucket in two stores, so I flew closer to the beach and luckily I managed to get it at the bicycle rental 🙂 I breathed a sigh of relief. Without a complete list of required items, it would be impossible to start. Reassured by the fact that I had everything, we returned to the hotel. A quick dinner, one last check on equipment, and a little nap. Wake up at 2 am. I had a small nightly breakfast and headed towards the festival.
The night was very warm, it promised to be a very successful Hurricane. Punctually at 3:30 the event started. The attendance list has been checked. When Carlo Petruzz – Lead Krypteia introduced me as a guest from Poland, I felt nice. Thank you for this distinction. I did not expect it. Due to this fact, the event was run in both Italian and English. We got some theory of what Hurricane is, what Extreme Endurance events are, what to expect and what to look for. It highlights the role of the team as a whole as the key to success. After that, the gear list was checked. Gently, more human than in CEU, we were to lay it out in front of us with our eyes open. After which we were given 30 seconds to hide it back, by the way, the students got an explanation that it is often under time pressure at this type of event, and that knowing where you have what is hidden is very useful – because, for example, during AGOGE, checking the list of gears happens blindfolded and on time. I thought that we already have it as standard, and here it is talked about as something exotic. I laughed inside… 🙂 It was time to warm up, there were squats, planks, jumps, burpees. Perfect for waking up at night.
We turned on the lights on our backpacks and went… Come back! We took off our shoes and socks and just set off into the unknown. We were supposed to feel nature directly through the touch of the ground. This was something new for me. It stayed like that for 3.5 hours. At the exit from the festival area, we were divided into 3 teams (4, 4 and 5 people), and each team took a pallet with them. We went to the seaside. And then straight to the water. And in it a few squats, planks, every now and then wading further into the sea. The water was very nice, warm, I had no resistance to submerge as a whole. It was very enjoyable. Aqua-Burpees rules!
The first main task was to fill large, 30l buckets of water with small sand buckets, but the task had to be performed by 2 people, so that one person would only use their hands and the other only use their legs. The buckets were set up at the beginning of the beach so there was a bit of a hard work out into the sea. We did it in 3 ways (turning in pairs), first the person walked on their hands in the plank position and their legs were held by the other person (a bucket in their teeth), then by the piggyback, and finally by sitting down. A typical strength task, because pulling a person down / up the sand required some strength.
Then we poured the obtained water and packed all our things on the pallets. We started walking, and then we ran with these pallets along the sea, over the breakwaters of stones, to the other beach. There we took out 10l waterproof bags and we were to make them into air-filled buoys so that they would lift our pallets on the water, while we held on to them, marching up to the neck in the water. We crossed another breakwater and poured sand into the bags. We installed everything on pallets and it got really hard from then on. I was in a team with 2 girls, but with 5, which drastically increased the weight of the pallet. I think that from that moment on, our team was perfectly integrated into one organism. We twisted this weight here and there, ran and came to sunrise under the Spartan rope that stood right on the beach. There we got a team task, but consisting of individual sections. It was mentioned that HH is not only physical work, but also mental work. And so we had 5 logic puzzles for each team in the form of tangled two pieces of metal, which had to be untangled without using force – but only after making the loops. The loop consisted of the ringing of a rope bell with a backpack, then a crab walk on the beach with a sandbag and a backpack, and returning the bear walk with the same load, which had to be carried, not dragged on the sand. I don’t know why Luca shouted that it was my competition, apparently he was talking to someone from Krypteia from CEU, Spain or Austria 🙂 Anyway, I set off at my own pace, overtaking everyone, I made 3 circles in no time to untangle the puzzles (there was a minute for that) while the others were finishing the first circles. On the fourth attempt I didn’t untangle the wires, but luckily I still had 4 persons in my team. Someone solved the last 2 and that’s how we finished the task as a team. All this against the backdrop of a wonderfully rising sun.
Some time has passed, seconds are popping quickly during such competitions. We installed ourselves on the pallets again, receiving a hint that we have to do it very tightly, and why – we will find out soon. We put on our shoes and set off with the pallets, going down into the sea three times, circling the stone breakwaters. During the last one, others had to help us – taller colleagues from the other teams, because the girls were too low and the water level covered them. I swam on the bend with the weight pulling down strongly, but I survived. Then we went to the town shouting We are the Storm, Hurricane Heat. It was a time when volunteers went out in the field and the first elite warmed up at the festival. Believe me, there is nothing more shivering than the common cry of We are the Storm. For me, it is proof of team harmony, understanding what we are here for and what we have learned. This common force was to be useful in the last task. And it was going through a large Cargo A with the heaviest pallet. My head didn’t grasp it. I was wondering how such a net could support 15 people + such a heavy pallet, which – here was basically placed vertically. It took half an hour, but we did it as one team. The power of HH has been unleashed. There is strength in the team!
We walked through the fire together and stopped in front of the stage, lining up in a circle, where the main Krypteia began to tell everyone what we were doing. Then we made the symbolic „10 burpees for HH„, which was previously announced on social media. The Spartans, who were warming up before the race, started joining us. It was terribly touching. I will not say, I fell apart. Emotions let go. But positive. I was counting on such an ending.
This is not the end of the Italian adventure, I know I can come back here and fight for more extreme memories. Certainly it will. Sooner or later.
Carlo, Luca, Massimiliano, Giuseppe – thank you for the party and a great event.
3 komentarze
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Stupendo racconto con bellissima raccolta fotografica di una meravigliosa esperienza. Mi sono emozionato a leggere e rivedere la storia di quella mitica avventura. Grazie
È stato un onore farla con un grande atleta come te, sei stato il nostro pilastro ?
HURRICANE HEAT
WE ARE THE STORM ?
Paolo ??
Paolo! Ringrazio anche te per la bella accoglienza e l’accoglienza nel gruppo. Ricorderò questo uragano con un sorriso. E ci vediamo nelle prossime tempeste!