Ecomotion Pro
Quasar Lontra First on the Beach
Rob Howard & EcoMotion Reporters / 21.10.2004
Mitsubishi Salomon Quasar Lontra duly won the second Ecomotion/Pro, crossing the finish line on the Beach of Rezende, in the Bahian city of Itacaré, at 13.05. The delighted team of Rafael Reyes de Campos, Marina Bianca Verdini, Luiz Antonio Barbosa and Vinicius Mori da Cruz carried their national flag across the line after 77 hours and 45 minutes of competition. (3 days 5 hours 45 mintues)"It’s extremely satisfying to win a race as hotly contested as this one, working with such efficient and intelligent team mates", said Rafael. He is now the first Brazilian athlete to win two international races in Brazil. The first was the Expedition Mata Atlantica (EMA) in 2000. At that time he was in the Quasar team which later joined with Lontra to form this great team, who will now go to New Zealand in November next year for the World Adventure Racing Championship.
The team looked strong as they climbed the podium on the beach and sprayed champagne over their support crew, who had helped them to achieve such fast transitions. The first was only 6 minutes and the team generally made a gain of 15 to 20 minutes at each transition.
"We had a good strategy", said VinÃcius Mori Da Cruz, whose hands were covered in blisters from the paddling in double kayaks, ducks, canoe caiçara and small rafts. "Our time asleep was minutely planned, and kept to a minimum", continued Luiz Antonio Barbosa. “We slept about one hour on each of the two first nights and tried to stay strong to the finish.â€?
They were also spurred on by a bad start, a navigational error on the first night, that made them realise how much they wanted to win. "It shook us as we realised we were more worried about how close other teams were and not our own navigation", said VinÃcius Mori Da Cruz. "We had a serious talk and decided to concentrate more on oursleves", said Verdini Marina.
The incident was a particular shock as this team is known for having 3 strong navigators. They decided to make sure the navigation was passed over if anyone felt too tired and to check on each other more. "This year we had more pressure from the foreign competitors", Rafael said, reflecting on their win. It made their big winning margin over Salomon/Opavanet Ad, of the Republic Czech, even more impressive.
One of the teams who looked like pushing them hardest was Epinephrine who retired today after struggling with illness, as several other teams have. As they get back some of their stories are coming out and it seems Epinephrine lost a lot of time on the first night’s trek as they forgot their route instructions. Then when they got on the bikes the local support crew had over inflated a tyre which exploded!See All Event Posts
