Orienteering in the Danish forests isn’t considered overly dangerous and a badly twisted ankle is probably about the worst runners can encounter. But when you run around the Canadian forests in British Columbia, things can get hairy. Literally.
The two-time Danish orienteering world champion Søren Bobach was out training with his sister and friend in the forests near Whistler just north of Vancouver when he heard a noise behind him and turned to find a bear chasing him.
“I ran ahead with my sister and a friend some minutes behind me,” Bobach told Ekstra Bladet. “There was something moving behind me, which I thought was odd because I knew the others were further back and shouldn’t have caught up. I then turned to see the bear.”
“I stopped when I saw it. I know I couldn’t outrun it, so I stopped and tried to scare it off while shouting to warn the others. When I looked closer, it seemed like it was more curious than aggressive. But you react instinctively when you discover a bear, which could potentially kill you, following you.”
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A hairy moment
The bear eventually took off in the opposite direction and ran into Bobach’s sister Ida – also a world champion – who also came out of the ordeal with just a scare.
Bobach said he had run into moose and wild boar before during runs in Sweden and elsewhere, but never before a bear.
Next up for the two talented Danes is a big international race in Sweden this weekend and the Danish national championships on October 31.
But unless the race goes through Copenhagen Zoo, they won’t run into any bears.
