Ecomotion Pro
Surviving to the Finish
Rob Howard & EcoMotion Reporters / 25.10.2004
Ecomotion/Pro drew to a close as it began, with a beach party, and although the international teams had put up a strong fight it was the Brazilian’s who had most to celebrate. The organisers had staged a race testing enough for some of the world’s best teams, the Coast of the Dendê was a magnificent setting and Mitsubishi Salomon Quasar Lontra were the winners and will represent Brazil in the next World Championships.In total 28 teams finished the course, from 49 starters, and of those only 24 completed the full course with all PC’s. Sportzhub.com of New Zealand and Xsupervivencia of Colombia were the last two teams to cross the line, with the kiwis the last team to complete the full course. (The organising team had put in place short cuts, and cut-off at various points on the route)
The top five teams, finished on Thursday, with the Czech and then the two Spanish teams chasing home the winners, who had a 5 hour winning margin. Then came the second Brazilian team Financial Paranaventura Renault, crossing the line just before midnight. There was naturally intense competition among the Brazilian teams. Brazil Telecom Oskalunga finished 6th but were still a little disappointed. “We could have finished higher but for some big mistakes,� said captain Monclair Cammarota. “Trekking between PC 21 and 22 we got lost for 3 hours and we couldn’t find PC25.� The team adopted a strategy of banking sleep early in the race for a strong finish, but it wasn’t to be. Even so Monclair added, "We are happy that we were on equal terms with the international teams and we couldn’t have caught Quasar Lontra, they had deserved the victory."
Behind them the battle for places, and against the SleepMonster, was even tighter. As rain settled in to cool conditions a little on Friday Martim Pescador/Caliandra were approaching the finish. They too had taken a conservative strategy early on and finished strongly. Captain Alexander Carrijo said they were like a pacman – eating teams up on the way! “We passed tired teams who had not slept enough early on, “ he said, “and are happy to be in the top 10. The SleepMonster was the biggest enemy at the end and we had to stop near the finish, but rested in on high ground, so when we saw Eco 2 in the distance we could get up again.� It was a tactic that worked, but only just, as they finished 2 minutes ahead of their rivals.See All Event Posts
