X-adventure Raid World Cup 2005
A Long Hot Day
Rob Howard / 23.07.2005
It’s been a long, hot day, and it’s not over yet. Even at 19.00 the temperature is still over 30C and teams are fighting cramp, dehydration and heat exhaustion. At least for the later part of the afternoon they have been in the water hydropspeeding, then canoeing down the Noguera Pallaresa river in Spain.After the tough via ferrata the teams began the long mountain bike ride into Spain, dropping down to 1200m, then climbing back up to 2300m again on rutted and boulder strewn jeep tracks. The route was not very technical, but required care and endurance. During the ride Aigle Sybelles ESF kept their lead, but Saab Salomon slipped back into 4th place behind Ertips and Les Arc Quechua. However, there was less than 10 minutes between the top 4.
“We saw Les Arcs just behind us,� said Jim Davies of Saab Salomon, “and came to a division in the trail. We took one way, they took the other, and they rejoined a minute ahead of us.� There was only 2 minutes separating them at the changeover to hydrospeeding but Les Arc Quechua are generally stronger on the water, and were to prove so again today.
Some teams had gone direct to the changeover and missed out the ride. The London Adventure Team were one of these. “We had a few route finding issues on the run this morning�, said Brendan Howe. “We went down the wrong valley, realised our mistake, and decided to keep going, then got cliffed out and had some climbing and canyoning adventures.�
“So we skipped the ride and the others are now having a play in the river. The hydrospeeding looks a bit of a pastime compared to how extreme everything else is in this race.� It did look benign at the start, where teams strapped on flippers, thick wet suits (6mm) and padding and kicked off down stream. But it was a long paddle/swim and in places the rapids were challenging.
“That was fun,� said Eric Sullivan of Newcastle Ltd/Crested Butte, one of the US teams, who had been the top team from the North American zone on the run early in the day. They’d been passed by Mont Blanc International on the ride who moved up to a high point of 7th, ahead of Newcastle Ltd/Crested Butte who were now in 9th with Montrail Revo back in 13th.See All Event Posts
