The Wilderness ARC
Prologue at the Fort
Rob Howard / 28.05.2006
After leaving their bikes by the local swimming pool all the teams assembled on Fort William High Street at 19.00 Saturday evening for the prologue. A stage had been assembled in Cameron Square and one by one the teams came up an introduced themselves to the spectators. First came Mike Poole from ‘Spirit of Adventure’ who stepped up to the microphone and yelled, “Helloooo Fort William!� He then added with a broad smile, “I’ve always wanted to do that!� Others were not quite so extrovert and as the teams came up one by one heavy rain began to fall, driving the spectators into the cover of nearby shop doorways. World Series organiser Geoff Hunt, who had just arrived, was watching from a bank entrance across the square with Aberdeen Asset Management.
After a mass start teams collected the map and instructions from marshals positioned further down the road and made their plans for the next two hours of racing. Course planner Gary Tompsett had promised all the tasks around the course would only take a minute and would each involve more skill than luck.
Teams also knew that although the prologue was a fun activity and a chance for the people of the town to see some of the competition, the results would be carried forward into a time penalty they would have to serve out at CP12. The length of this would be determined by their prologue performance.
For the first 30 minutes teams had to run to 7 checkpoints in the town and most went to CP4, a 50m jog along a rocky shoreline of Loch Linnhe first. Other challenges included shooting a few hoops at an outdoor basketball court, and the marshal here was an ex-Scotland basketball international player. Asked if he offered any pointers he said, “They were all beyond help!�See All Event Posts
