Desafio de Los Volcanes
Cold Conditions and a Close Race
Wladimir Togumi (Photos Tico Utiyama.) / 01.02.2005
On Sunday morning the race had a symbolic start with 40 pick-ups crossing the AXN arch set up in the centre of San Martin de los Andes. The traditional orchestra of horns was added to the applause of the crowds.The race started on Huechulafken Lake, where the kayaks were already in the water waiting for the competitors. From there, the teams paddled and sailed for 7 hours, passing through 4 PC's to arrive at the first camping ground, located in "El Contra", where they found their support crew and were able to eat and change clothes.
Unlike previous editions of the race, this year, the city GendarmerÃa Nacional, set up a special customs post to allow the teams to cross into Chile easily. Also, for the first time in the history of the challenge, three obligatory stops have to be made (of 5 hours each), so that the participants can rest and recover, and race more safely.
Just two hours into the race, two teams were disqualified. Colombia 2005 (Team 10) and Telexpo Brazil (Team 19), both capsized one of their boats and, worryingly, could not rescue themselves and had to request aid.
Members of team Telexpo Brazil were attended by medics in PC 2, in Cañipul Bay, where they were given something to eat and wrapped in insulating blankets. Rosangela Hoeppner was the one of those affected, but after treatment for mild hypothermia she continued in the race. Rosangela does not have the best of luck in this race, in 2004 she had problems with her jumar and remained hanging for over an hour, delaying her team.
After that, she trained specially in that discipline so that this year it would not happen again, only to suffer a setback in a discipline at which she is normally strong. Luckily, she was able to continue and should be able to demonstrate her technique at jumaring later on.See All Event Posts
