Appalachian Extreme Adventure Race 2005
Teams Complete First Leg
Tracyn Thayer / 21.05.2005
As the support crews settled into a local park along the riverbank in Stratford, NH, TA1 (CP2), the local Snowmobile/ATV CLub set up a sweet spread of hamburgers, cheeseburgers, hot dogs, hot drinks, and other North Country ATV Club\'s 2-tent spread, and anxiously awaited the news from CP1.The contrast was almost comical, as crews set up thousands of dollars of bike gear, while local pick up basketball games went on in the middle of the \'organized chaos\'. A group of 10 or so men came \'parading\' by the Transition Area, looking a little confused at the sudden influx of vans, Uhauls, and SUVs.
Around 11:30AM, news came from CP1 (23 miles into the 26-mile paddle) where the largest rapid that had to be negotiated by the teams, that the first team had passed through. That meant only about another 1/2 hour before teams would start arriving at TA1. Within minutes, 13 teams had passed through.
As support crews, staff and local folks gathered along the eastern bank of the Connecticut River, the first team came into site to arrive at TA1. Team #40, Team GTA, a 3-person team made an impressive arrival at the TA, and hurriedly pulled their boat up to the TA, and checked in, at 11:53. Right on their tails, and the first team vying for the WOrld Championship spot was team #16 Simon River Sports, arriving at 11:55AM, slightly ahead of the Race Director\'s predicted time for the section. (details for arrival/departure of all teams can be found at http://www.dnet.net/racingahead/aearleaderboard.1?
As of 1:15PM all teams had arrived to TA1/CP2, and only Team NEMO was left to check out.
The report from CP1 was that all teams made it through the toughest rapid without incident, However, team #4 (1 member), and team #41(3 members) neglected to have their helmets on for the whitewater. Their penalties will be assessed and served at TA2. More info coming on this from TA2!
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