Portugal XPD Race

---

Bad Weather and Bad Luck

Rob Howard / 08.10.2004

Storms and heavy rain hit the race on day two and the leading Scandinavian teams were struck down by illness, probably dehydration as a result of pushing too hard on the first day.

The Finnish team, Gatorade, made the right choices on stage one missing a trekking checkpoint in the heat of the day and collecting all the night time biking CP’s to lead the race. But as they moved onto the second stage of the race the female team member became ill with stomach problems, probably from dehydration, and needed medical assistance. Race Director, Alexandre Guedes da Silva, said, “They made all the right choices, but this was just bad luck.�

At present it’s uncertain if they will continue, but the weather has given them a chance to rest. There were heavy rains and winds during the day and the main canoeing section of the race on Lake Alqueva was cancelled, taking checkpoints 31 to 35 out of the course. The organisers halted the race at CP30, holding teams overnight to resume with a short paddling section once daylight returned. “We had 1.5m waves and 80km/hr winds�, said Alexandre Guedes da Silva. “It wasn’t safe to continue.� He also had to cancel the planned mountain biking on stage 3 as the rains had washed out the tracks.

With sick and retiring teams to cope with, some slower teams still out on stage one, and the bad weather he described the first night as “a nightmare� ... from a Race Director\'s viewpoint. The Swedish team probably felt the same. They’d taken over the lead from Gatorade, only to be struck down by the same problems.

Matthias Carling, the captain of TietoEnator Adventure was pessimistic about their chances of continuing beyond CP30, where they were sitting out the night and Jonas Rappe was getting medical attention. See All Event Posts