Montrail off to a winning (and lucrative) start to 2003
Rob / 19.03.2003
Team Montrail of the USA have started the racing season with two consecutive victories, boosted the team’s bank account, and posted a warning of intent to other teams who will be taking them on at the big international races this year.Rebecca Rusch, Patrick Harper and Novak Thompson won Extreme Adventure Hidalgo in Mexico recently and followed that up with a comfortable win at the first Cal-Eco.
Extreme Adventure Hidalgo is a three-day race, set in the searing desert heat of south-central Mexico, and is considered to be the kick-off to the adventure racing season in the Americas. With big prizes on offer the competition drew an international field of 24 teams including defending World Champions Nokia (Finland), Buff (Spain), Elite Adventure (USA) and Cepos (Spain).
As a stage race EAH presented three discrete challenges, with a nine-hour first day featuring an arduous mountain bike leg. Day Two was even more extreme as racers continued on their mountain bikes before going on a long paddle and trek and Montrail won its second consecutive stage in just under 22 hours.
The final day was a bit of a lark for the Idaho-based team, as the three competitors faced only a five-hour course, featuring mostly trekking and a short rappel. Placing fourth on the day, the team comfortably retained the overall lead and captured the first prize of US $25,000. With bonuses for winning the first two stages they banked a total prize purse of US $29,000.
A week later Patrick Harper and Rebecca Rusch were racing again, this time with Matthew Weatherly-White and Shane Sigle at the first Cal-Eco race of the season. This is the most popular series of 24-hour races in the US, with strong California teams as well as elite teams from across the US. After flying home from Mexico and driving to California from Idaho, Montrail arrived at Lake San Antonio, in Monterey County, the day before the race. Facing them was an 80-mile course and 50 other teams looking to beat them.
Montrail were scarcely challenged, taking home their second win in a week and beating runners-up Team Earthlink by over an hour. They finished the course in just under fifteen hours, launching from the midnight start into a long kayak section that was interspersed with a highly difficult orienteering section. After a long, cold night and day of running, paddling and biking, the team took pole position in the season-long Cal-Eco series standings. Winners of the series win $9,000 plus a chance at the Hard Driver award, a solid gold carabiner given to teams that finish each race in the four-race series.
Over the remainder of the year, Montrail plan to compete in the Subaru Primal Quest in California, the Raid Gauloises, more Cal-Eco races and other highly rated events. Already they are marked down as the team to beat.
Read more about the team here
