AR World Championships 2017
Storm Battered Racers Head to the Finish Line in Casper
Rob Howard / 16.08.2017
It’s a bright sunny morning in Casper and team Silent Chasers have just crossed the finish line to a great reception. The team are part of the ‘Cowboy Tough family’ with Phil Nicolas & Kevin Poirier having raced every Cowboy Tough, and their team mates Sarah Goldman and Glen Gibson regulars on the Adventure Enablers team. (Glen’s father Bob Gibson has been working on logistics all week too.)
Glen Gibson, who raced ARWC in Australia last year told me, “We got over Casper Mountain but it was so muddy in the clay after the heavy rains. It took us 5 hours pushing our bikes to cover 14km and when we were coming down the paved road on the other side we met teams going up who had chosen to go round.”
He added, “When last night’s storm hit we were on Pathfinder in the rafts and there were big waves and winds but we managed to surf into the shore to an area with some caves and sheltered under the rafts for about 45 minutes until it passed. The previous nights storm we sheltered in Ferris with 5 other teams all huddled together in an abandoned house.”
By the time they arrived at Pathfinder Dam the race had decided to close the Fremont Canyon section. Race Director Mark Harris explained,” The water rose by about a foot and a half in no time and we had to be concerned for the team’s safety. It was a difficult situation last night with the intensity of the storm as we were telling the teams one thing and then the situation changed and we’d tell them another, so in the end we had no option but to gather the back 6 teams up and move them forward to the start of the final bike ride. It made no sense to put them back on the river paddle as everyone was already very cold.
He added, “It’s not ideal as we’ll have to work out time credits, but it was a safety issue. We did look at putting teams in elsewhere but our vehicles could not get in there to drop teams off anyway!”
Gibson was ambivalent about the shuttle. “Well, we really wanted to do everything of course, but on the other hand we were tired and hungry and cold and were not going to protest too much. You have to keep everyone safe so it’s fair enough.”
Bob Gibson was with us at the time and he commented, “I think they’ve done a good job with the course. It challenged the fastest teams, they didn’t just stroll through it, but gave you a good chance of finishing the full course as well.”
Now all the remaining teams are on the final Casper Mountain stage, with Team Vignette having made it across the mud mountain, and the others taken the much longer distance and ridden around to avoid the mud. It’s made for a very tough finish for the teams towards the back of the race who have been hit hardest by the storms.
Harris told me, “When I planned that part of the course it wasn’t really a consideration teams wouldn’t be able to make it up that trail. It’s normally a good track so the fact the mud has been so bad that they’ve had to go so far round was a surprise.”
The course will close officially at 13.00 today so all the remaining teams should reach the finish line. These are Vignette, Uruguay Ultra Sports, Freemind Italy, Orion and Tumbleweeds, who also include two racers who’ve competed in all 5 Cowboy Tough events (Adrian Gerrits and Paul Hladky).
When they all cross the line it will bring the total of full course finishers to 36 out of the 58 starters.
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