X-adventure Raid World Cup 2005
The Leaders Arrive Before Nightfall
Rob Howard / 23.07.2005
The top 3 teams arrived at the day one finish before dusk fell. The end of the final 26km running stage was set on a col at Port Del Canto and teams had to climb 1670m through what was described as “aggressive vegetation� to reach it. Navigation was also said to be difficult with many paths to choose from.As darkness began to fall and one or two stars showed faintly in the clear sky, a collection of team vans and minibuses waited on the col. At last the temperature had dropped but it was still close to 20C as they set out tables and prepared food. Given the hard day behind them, and the fact they’d been slower than the predicted race times, no on was expecting the leading teams to arrive before 22.00, but they did.
Les Arcs Quechua ran in first, finishing strongly to record a time of just 3 hours 11 minutes for the stage and to extend their lead. Next came Ertips and then Saab Salomon ran in, having taken 3 hours 17 minutes on the stage. “That was hot and very, very tough,� said Phil Davies. “We took a direct route up wherever we could but the vegetation wasn’t as bad it might have been.�
Although they arrived after Ertips, Saab Salomon finished the day in 2nd place once all the times were calculated. Ertips would have lead, but for a 30 minute penalty for unsafe climbing on the via ferrata, so the times for the top 3 teams were:
Les Arc Quechua - 12.02.39
Saab Salomon - 12.22.25
Ertips -12.30.00
No more teams came in before it was fully dark, and while the leaders eat and moved down to a campsite by Spanish/Andorran border to rest, the remaining teams had to face completing the last difficult section in the dark. They will continue to come in through the night and early morning, and will get little chance to recover before Sunday’s start at 6am.
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