Reunion d’Aventures
Mistakes Could Lead to a Close Finish
David Ogden / 19.05.2005
Dawn on the fifth day of racing saw support teams and press gathering in Hellbourg to await the teams. This is one of the few races in the world where the racers get the most sleep. The press
travel two hours every morning to the center of the island to find the teams, while the teams cannot leave their overnight stop until 6am.
The story emerged last night regarding the Creole team of BFC Reunion. They disregarded instructions and entered the river, when they reached the fixed ropes even though there was no controller they started to descend and reached a pool above a 90 metre drop. They remained trapped unable to return without Jumars. When the guides realised where they were, one ascended from the bottom and then hoisted them to safety. The team has now abandoned the race.
First news of the morning concerned the Russian team who appeared to have gone missing - they apparently took slightly different route at the end of the mountain bike stage. They will loose their third place in the Adventure class when they serve their penalty incurred yesterday afternoon and likely drop to last place.
The race at the front took a new twist, with the leaders, ‘Sport 2000' limping in as Jerome Laffitte had damaged his knee twice yesterday, once whilst trekking and the second time during a fall from his mountain bike. This morning he twisted his ankle descending the Cirque. The team spent some time in transition and saw their lead eaten away as the women of Wilsa Sport Helly Hansen closed to within 20 minutes. See All Event Posts
