Fulda Tyres Arctic Challenge
UK Team Out After Crash
03.02.2005
Following a successful second day and a climb up the Fulda Challenge overall placings, the British team of Emmie Gribble and Richard Jackson were involved in a car accident on the Alaska Highway. Travelling back to their base in Whitehorse from the Kanu-Downhill event in the snow-covered Carcross Desert, their Toyota RAV4 was involved in a collision with another vehicle.
After being taken to hospital Richard was released after a check up. Emmie however was less fortunate. She remains in hospital with a broken arm and rib, and a lacerated lung. Doctors say she is doing fine.
Event 4: Biathlon, Grey Mountain
Richard was advised by the Fulda medical team to sit-out the fourth day’s initial event, a tough biathlon race at Grey Mountain in Whitehorse - a site not to be missed by visitors to the capital of the Yukon. Grey Mountain’s view encompasses the entire Whitehorse area, including Lake Laberge to the north and Marsh Lake to the south.
The competition consisted of a tough and undulating 16.8km (four laps of a 4.2km) ski course - which will be used for the Winter Games of 2007 - with three rounds of archery instead of the usual shooting. With temperatures of around minus 20°C, and th wind chill factor, the conditions were harsh and the snow continued to fall.
After a group start each competitor had to ski cross-country for the first 50 metres and then it was freestyle. After each lap, team members picked up their bows and had to fire two arrows at the target. Penalties were incurred for inaccuracy.
In the men’s competition, Werner Haller from Italy finished in one hour 52 minutes (including penalties) to claim ten points. Thomas Tetz of Canada who finished in just over two hours and collected nine points closely followed him. In the women’s section, an impressive race in two hours five minutes by Austrian Anita Krenn meant that she was awarded maximum points. Once again it was the Canadian team member Tamara Goppel who finished in second place.
Sad to have missed out on the race, 33-year-old Richard Jackson said: “I was unable to compete in this event because of back pain. However, if myself, and of course Emmie, were competing I think we would have been in contention for some high points. We are both well practised at running in cross-country skis - the technique used by most of the athletes today. We both have high stamina and have put in a lot of practice in the build up to the challenge. It looked a very tough and challenging course.�See All Event Posts
