Team Sole wins Raid the North Extreme
Jacqueline Windh / 30.06.2007
(I am not on site - this report is compiled from info available on the internet, and two emails sent to me by Paul Romero)Team Sole’s core partnership, California-based Karen Lundgren and Paul Romero, were racing in Haida Gwaii and Prince Rupert regions of British Columbia with New Zealand’s Marcel Hagener (ex-GoliteTimberland) and Australia’s Darren Clarke (ex-Spyder).
Flooding throughout northern BC, due to high snow-melt this year, caused endless headaches for organizers with last-minute route changes. The race, originally programmed to take place on the mainland around Prince Rupert, ended up being switched to a two-stage competition. Stage 1 was moved across the straight, right out to Haida Gwaii (formerly known as the Queen Charlotte Islands) for three days of paddling, trekking and biking. Teams were then ferried back to the mainland to start Stage 2 on foot, on Friday June 29th.
All of these last-minute route changes have disrupted many of the communications plans, so reporting from the field has been sparse.
Paul Romero explains how SOLE managed to overtake YukonWild, who led the competition for the first two days:
YukonWild started out leading the race, with their phenomenal athleticism, in a steep alpine area that took teams into dicey cliff bands, with absolutely zero trails
They stretched their lead through the 230 km mtn bike section up to over 3 hours. The race took teams to the south island, Moresby, and from ocean paddling to giant snow peaks.
It was approaching 48 hours into the race that the course went into maze-like navigation and steep snowy terrain. It was perhaps sleep strategy that led to a whole mix-up of the leaderboard rankings. YukonWild, amongst other teams, spent hours searching for the right route up to Mt Moresby.
Team SOLE passed the descending YukonWild just 10 minutes from the summit, then overtook them on the approach to the monstrous 10-12 hour ocean paddle.
Lead teams had the option of taking a longer, “advanced†course option. By the end of Stage 1, only three teams were in the advanced category: SOLE, dart-Nuun and YukonWild, with SOLE in first place.
SOLE crossed the Finish Line in Prince Rupert this morning, and they are exuberant. “We smashed it!†says Paul.
In the “regular†ranking, team SSS have also crossed the Finish, along with unranked team Intrepid Travel. The most recent information available right now shows that, of the 23 teams who started, two more remain in the advanced category (dart-NUUN and YukonWild); and eleven more in the regular category. Five more teams continue unranked, and two have withdrawn.
Keep an eye on SleepMonsters Canadian site for more current race information: www.sleepmonsters.ca
