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Ready for an Alpine X-adventure

Rob / 11.07.2003

The second stage of the X-adventure Raid Series is ready to roll. Two months after the first stage in the Scottish Highlands, and a only a few weeks after the 2003 Raid Gauloises held in Kyrgyzstan, another 42 teams from 12 countries will race a cross-border X-adventure in the French and Italian Alps. This may not be the longest race in 2003 at 186km, but it could be the most demanding. The organisers, Saga d’Aventures, come from the area, and have prepared an imposing course to test teams to the full.

From the start at Les Arcs at 1800m, one of the most famous winter sports resorts in France, the teams will traverse the flanks of Mont Blanc, in the heart of the Alps. They finish in Courmayeur, at the foot of the Grand Jorasses in Italy, after tackling the redoubtable Bellecôte and imposing Beaufortain Massifs. High altitudes and mountaineering skills will play their part in this second stage of the World Series.

The competitors, starting at 06:00 on Saturday July 12, will hardly have the time to warm up before taking on an awe inspiring steep climb, which will culminate at the highest point of the course, the summit of Bellecôte (3,400m). Then they will descend for a couple of “fun” sessions on the white-water and inline skating, before once again scaling the daunting mass of the Haute Tarentaise, across a series of uncompromising saw-tooth ridges.

The racers will be called upon to juggle 8 disciplines over the course of the two-day competition, including the only white-water swimming of the series and a Via Ferrata around the beautiful Lake Roseland. There will be a canoeing stage, on a class IV river which is more technically demanding and longer than any held last year, 5 MTB stages and 5 cross-orienteering stages, including glacier trekking, plus a stint of fast inline skating.

It’s a gruelling course profile which should suit the members of QUECHUA-LES ARCS (FR), already with one victory from the first stage in Scotland under their belts. Excellent mountaineers, Helene Rochas and her team mates will not have the exhaustion of the recent Raid Gauloises to deal with and are starting in their ‘home town’.

14 teams of the teams taking part were at the Raid Gauloises which finished in mid-June, including SAAB SALOMON (GB), HUMAN LINK (SE), ERTIPS (FR), EQUILIBRE ATTITUDE (FR), SALOMON SUISSE (CH), and SALOMON CARINTHIAN ADVENTURE (AU). Coming so soon from one event to the other could prove tough for them, unless they are able to rotate squad members. Saab Salomon for example have two racers who were at the Raid Gauloises. The Americans of TRAVELOCITY certainly won’t be making the trip from the USA simply for the pleasure of climbing the either.

By Sunday PM all 17 stages will be complete, teams will have climbed an energy sapping 10,000m, and with 2 of 5 World Series events over we’ll know which teams are going to contest the top places for 2003.

[You can follow the race on www.raidseries.com and we\'ll have a full report from Team Saab Salomon next week.]