Terra Incognita – East Meets West
Rob Howard / 09.08.2005
With only a few weeks to go until Terra Incognita in Croatia 25 teams from 16 countries are expected to be on the start line of the last World Series Qualifier for this year’s World Championships.The 400km race has attracted another strong entry, with experienced teams from the USA, Canada, Guatamala, Denmark, the Netherlands and France taking part. They be racing against some of the best Eastern European teams from Latvia, Slovenia, Estonia the Czech Republic and of course the teams from Croatia.
Among the strongest teams are Salomon/OpavaNet Czech adventure team lead by Thomas Vanek, who have finished on the podium before, Eafit.com of France, lead by Franck Salgues, and another French team, Total Tentation lead by Yves Masson. The Latvians in VX may be strong contenders too, but they could all be chasing last year’s winners, the local team Osiguranje Zagreb.
The race has a reputation for it’s tough courses and some beautiful, but uncompromising terrain. This year it will take a place in the North Adriatic and Gorski Kotar mountain region. The organisers promise of “trekking over some dry islands and mountains abundant with thick forest†means it will be slow going in places. He’s also said teams will “paddle open seas and white water rapids up to level III, swim across channels and islands and hike up to 1800m in altitude.
Course details will be given out 36 hours before the start, at the race briefing on September 5th, which is set to take place in the town of Delnice, and the race will begin on the 7th, when teams will be transported to the start line. If past races are any guide, many of them will not be able to finish the full course, and the winners 3 to 4 days to reach the finish line.
The winners will claim the final free place in November’s Adventure Racing World Championships in New Zealand, and could add another nationality to the list of participating countries.
[SleepMonsters will be carrying live and exclusive of Terra Incognita throughout the race.]
