Mild Seven Outdoor Quest
Third successive stage win for iRule
Lisa de Speville / 30.10.2004
Hauling up the awesomely steep Ranau Bypass Road, iRule win their third successive stage barely 30-seconds ahead of Nike ACG-Balance Bar.Just before the first team reached Transition (TA) 1 at Ka. Tambatuan – after a downhill 5km run – we received word, “They’re coming. Team #6 is in front�. We were anticipating the arrival of Team Asics Australia…
They’d started out at 06h30 from high up in the mountains, descending into the river valley. A steep downhill run, they took less than 30-minutes to cover the 5km distance on foot. Swimming and wading the 15-m across the shallow river to the transition. Asics Australia had a slight lead; enough time to get across before the hoards arrived. And that they did. The river and the transition area were in chaos and disarray for the next 10-minutes.
Although rafts were on standby, because of the low water level race organisation decided to send the teams down on their sit-on-top plastic doubles. When the water is high, the river pumps and it is possible to raft some serious grade rapids. But, with the water so low and rocks everywhere, the kayaks were definitely the most appropriate selection.
A 20-km stretch, the river could be paddled almost all the way through. A number of channels were tricky and even the front teams were in-and-out of their boats occasionally to portage over rocky parts.
Approaching Adventure Skill 1, with not other boat in sight – a distance of at least 300-meters back – iRule had assumed their position at the front. The Adventure Skill required that the teams climb a cargo net suspended over the river from a vehicular bridge. About 8-m high (my vertical distance judgement is not to be trusted), iRule were at the top by the time Montrail arrived.
In quick succession Seagate, Buff, Nike ACG-Balance Bar and then Nokia Adventure came through, scaling the net and running the short distance to the transition.
It was here, after the paddle that Team Suunto withdrew from the race. Their team member Jukka Hartonen had been battling with illness since their arrival, unable to keep anything down. Elina M-ki-Rautila, waiting at the finish line, was concerned about Jukka and also disappointed. “If Jukka is feeling better on Monday, I hope we can continue unofficially for Stage 4. But, we are out now. It just happens.�See All Event Posts
