Lythgoes Adrenalin Rush

At the Red Bull Village

Rob / 28.05.2002

Village is bit of grand name for the gear box PC really, the only cover is the big blue Red Bull gazebo, though a few tents have now sprung up as retired teams are brought in and set up home. (It’s raining now and there is little shelter otherwise.) It may be home for a while as the race resources are fully stretched supporting the on-going team so they can’t come and get them yet.

The Red Bull 4x4 is parked nearby, alongside piles of drinks cans and water bottles and like so many vehicles with the Red Bull brand is wired for sound. It’s base for the marshals, where they keep in touch with HQ by radio, and is currently home for your race reporter who is happy to have a dry seat and a power supply!

Scattered around are piles of team gear boxes which arriving teams are now opening up and the bikes of retired teams, although most of these are loaded onto a nearby lorry. Two batches of retirements, teams and individuals, have already arrived on race vehicles. Latest to come in are Apex and Cap Adventure who walked out from PC3, the rope stage after retiring there this morning. “We couldn’t find our way down to PC3 last night in the darkness and settled down to shiver behind a boulder for a while,� said Team captain Rob Collins. “Then when we got to the ropes Steve just couldn’t manage them, he’s got tendonitis brought on after the kayaking. We were all tired and decided to pull out.� (Steve Venton had only joined the team as a novice adventure racer a couple of weeks ago.) They walked out with Cap Adventure, the French racers hadn’t packed enough food and were so cold and shaky there was no chance of them continuing safely, so the 2 teams walked out together.

In at the same time Supplierpipeline of Canada, still in the race in 9th place, but they quickly grabbed their tent and set it up to get an hours sleep. “We definitely needed a bit of sleep now,� said Wendy Simms, “then we’ll get some more when we hit the dark zone and should be OK. We tried to sleep on the trek but it was just too cold and wet.� She is racing with her husband Kevin, while their 2 children are spoilt by both sets of Grandparents!

Although the leaders are now well into the kayak section half a day ahead there are still around 15 teams to arrive at the Red Bull Village before tonight’s 11.00 cut off and it’s more than likely that teams who have had a bit of rest will continue unranked from a point later in the race and those who have lost team members will combine into new teams. The marshals and organisers want to get as many people around as much of the course as possible and this PC will be the staging and regrouping point in the race.