Patagonia Expedition Race
What to Expect in the Early Stages
Jacqueline Windh / 12.02.2005
The first section is by mountain bike, 40 kilometers to the first PC1 at the entrance to the National Park. Racing is not permitted in the park so the clock stops at PC1. Teams have four hours to travel the next 54 km by bike to PC2 (Lake Grey), where they move to a 90 km kayak segment. The Grey Glacier sheds icebergs into the lake, which tend to pile up at the lake’s south end, at the entrance into the Grey River. We have experienced unusually warm weather here in Patagonia over the last week. However, over the northern part of the race course, this means that river levels will be high, due to the increased meltwater. Depending upon the level of Grey Lake tomorrow morning, the teams may have to carry their boats up to a kilometer from this transition point to the beach – a tough start for a long section on the water!
Most of the 90 km kayak section is downstream – following Grey River to its confluence with the Serrano River and then down to the sea. High river levels should give a good boost for the speed for the first 55 km, but the final 35 km are by sea along the Ultima Esperanza Sound to PC3.
Speed over the entire kayak section will be critical for racers because of the “dark zone� – if paddlers don’t reach PC3 before 10:00 p.m., they are required to get off the water. Any teams who don’t make PC3 by nightfall will find themselves well behind the rest of the pack.
From PC3 they return to their bikes. We are holding our breathe, hoping that the organizers will be able to get all of the bikes from PC2 to PC3 in time. The first paddlers could arrive at PC3 by late afternoon, and for support crews it is a long, circuitous drive around between the PCs on rough gravel roads.
Daylight hours are long here – there is good light until 10:00 p.m. In the best circumstances, a late afternoon departure from PC3 would have the first teams arriving to PC4, where they must do a fixed-rope ascent to start the next trekking section, around nightfall. More likely, most of the teams will probably be departing PC3 around nightfall, and arriving to the ropes in the middle of the night.
These first four sections – all either mountain bike or sea-kayaking – total 275 km, nearly half of the race. The fastest teams could possibly cover this entire distance by nightfall on the first day, and even those caught by the “dark zone� closure on the kayaking section should make it here the following morning.
From here on things slow down, as they set out on the first long and gruelling cross-country traverse.
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