Patagonia Expedition Race

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Allier Aventure Crash Out

Jacqueline Windh / 15.02.2005

I am writing from the Rio Verde Municipality – the town office for the Rio Verde community, which actually is not much of a town, but rather a collection of grand ranches, or “estancias�. We are here, about halfway between PC5 and PC6, as the teams are on their way to PC5, Estancia Skyring.

The trek that they are doing now was meant to be “the first big test�, 76 km trudging through extensive peat bog and pushing their way through dense and tangled forest. However, all of the previous sections have already proven to test the teams, with one team disqualified on each section:

Start to PC2, 95 km mountain biking, Jean Mermoz Argentina disqualified for not arriving at PC2 before cut-off, after getting lost and having to loop around an extra 30 km,

PC2 to PC3, 90 km kayaking on river and ocean, Salomon Russia disqualified for breaking kayak safety guidelines, which lead to a midnight rescue situation

PC3 to PC4, 91 km mountain biking on rough gravel roads, Allier Aventure (France) for requiring assistance after Sandrine Tonneau injured her shoulder in a bad fall from her bike.

Sandrine’s injury is a big blow to Allier Aventure, who were in second place (very closely followed by the Canadian’s King’s Own Calgary Regiment). She was injured very close to PC4, where the 100 m rope ascent of a bare rockface leads to the 76 km trek, and was transported there while her team-mates continued the ride in.

Sandrine was very dejected and determined to continue, even though the team was already disqualified, and even though she could barely move her right arm. The team hoped to sleep on it and make a final decision in the morning, but the organizers could not delay the 11:00 p.m. cut-off at the PC; any later departure than that meant that the organizers could not be sure they would still have people stationed at the next PC when the team arrived in. See All Event Posts