HUAIRASINCHI
The Race of the Hidden Lakes
Jessica G. Cedeno / 01.05.2017
After a long day of registering, packing bikes and bags, and meeting team members from around the world, the organization gathered all the teams for the official race inauguration and briefing. This year’s race, ARWS Huairasinchi Movistar 2017, can also be called the Race of the Hidden Lakes, and it will take teams around Ecuador’s highland region visiting some of the most beautiful and most isolated lakes.
Many of the areas that will be visited throughout the race are so isolated that they are very well protected and virtually untouched by the human hand. Due to this, teams will be able to experience extreme mega-diversity in flora and fauna, perhaps even having the opportunity to encounter the gentle Spectacled Bears, deer, Danta (Tapir), and the Condor, one of the most symbolic Andean birds.
Beginning in the community of Zuleta, country home to two former Ecuadorian presidents, this race will go from 2,886 metres above sea level to 2,272 masl, with the highest altitude peaking at 3,987 masl. Due to the nature of the race, and the current climate conditions teams were provided with all of the maps for the entirety of the route during the race briefing and were given 30 minutes to review the maps and ask questions. Teams were especially concerned with the tricky first leg of 62kms of trekking with approximately 3,000 metres of positive elevation gain.
This first leg also has a 4km section of coastering in one of the most inaccessible lakes in the country. Teams will have to make the choice between getting wet in very cold weather or bushwacking through extremely dense Andean vegetation. As a result of this demanding first section of the race, organisers are not expecting teams to arrive to the first transition zone in fewer than 15 hours.
The registration and briefing were held in Quito’s renovated old hospital, Eugenio Espejo, now a beautiful convention centre. Teams from Ecuador, Great Britain, the United States, France, the Czech Republic, Brazil, Colombia, and Argentina gathered to prepare for the 14th edition of this race. After a long day, teams headed back home and to their hotels to prepare for their 3am transfers to the departure point, or for the two-hour drive from Quito. The anticipation and enthusiasm for the race was shared by all, promising an exciting and diverse race in the days ahead.
SleepMonsters
