The Wilderness ARC
A Strong Lead at Transition 4
Rob Howard / 30.05.2006
Aberdeen Asset Management were the first team to arrive at Transition 4, a large farm barn at Ardtornish. They’d stopped for 2 hours, sleeping for 90 minutes at the tent set up at CP12, but had not been caught by any other teams while they rested.“We thought we might be caught,� said Warren Bates, “but figured the other teams have to sleep sometime and made use of the tent during the hours of darkness when navigation was tougher.� The tent is the one being used for other teams to serve out their prologue penalties, but as the winners of that stage Aberdeen had none to serve. Gary Tompsett, the course planner, did say, “I wondered if we should allow you to use the tent as you had no penalty, but thought it would be harsh to deny you something for winning the prologue!�
“We had a tough time after sleeping,� said Tom Gibbs, “and walked for a fair way, but now the sun is up and it’s a bit warmer it’s better.�
“The weather was OK, but the wind on top was cold,� said Helen Jackson, “if we’d had to search for checkpoints in the dark it would have been bad, but Tom’s navigation was spot on every time. He’s fantastic, the best I’ve ever raced with.� (She has raced with a lot of the world’s top racers.) “The jumar was nice and clean, not trees or bushes, and we looked back out to sea for other team’s kayaks but saw none.�
“Its good to get off our feet now,� added Warren, “I’ve picked up a small blister and am looking forward to getting on the bike. Mind you, I’ll probably be fed up of that soon!�See All Event Posts
