Fulda Challenge
Double Victory for UK
02.02.2006
Event five: mountain bikeLocation: Johnson Crossing
With the points from Tuesday’s dog sled competition announced as null and void, UK athletes Kate Balchin and Martin Yardley started the third day of the Fulda Challenge in fourth position overall. They trailed the leading German Lowa team by 16 points with six events remaining.
After packing up their tents at Shwatka Lake, the teams left Whitehorse and headed to the famous Alaska Highway. Two hours later they arrived at Johnson’s Crossing, which is 140km north east of the Yukon capital.
The tough 55km mountain bike course had been designed to test the competitor’s stamina and determination to the absolute limit. In doing so, it led the teams further along the snow and ice-covered highway to the remote community of Teslin.
The freezing temperatures (-20°C) and extreme road conditions made the competition hard work for even the toughest of the 20 world-class competitors. Their challenge was made all the more arduous by oncoming vehicles creating complete white-outs for up to three seconds at a time.
Kate rode a tactical race before a strong finish gave her an impressive joint victory with Germany’s Heike Moller. They rode over the finishing line together to collect a maximum ten points each.
Belgium’s Huybrechts won the male event with a finishing time of two hours and seven seconds. Martin finished in sixth position to take a hard-earned five points. It had been a good morning for the UK duo. See All Event Posts
