The Wilderness ARC
A Class Apart
Rob Howard / 01.06.2006
Aberdeen Asset Management crossed the finish line at 10.57 to win the second Wilderness ARC and defend the title they won last year. They also retained their British Championship and won a free place in the World Championship in Sweden in August.Their performance was a class apart from the rest of the teams, a world class performance for a World Series race, yet the team said they could have pushed much harder. They were not taking it easy, but were comfortably within their limits and when they crossed the finish line stood chatting to the Course Planner and race Director clutching bottles of champagne and eating chocolate éclairs.
They seemed in no hurry to sit down or change, in fact nearly an hour later Warren Bates was still in HQ looking at the course map and still wearing his rucksack on his back.
The spectators gathered at the finish first spotted the team as tiny dots on top of Cow Hill high above the town, and it was half an hour later when they crossed the line to be sprayed with champagne by Race Director Phil Humphreys and interviewed by the T.V. crew.
The reaction of all four to the course they’d spent the last 3 days on was overwhelmingly positive. “What a fantastic course,� said Helen Jackson, “and it was a superb finish along the Grey Corries ridge this morning. It couldn’t have been better!�
They all had different opinions on the most outstanding sections. “The mountain biking was superb,� said Jackson. Bates agreed. “Even that last ride was fun ... in a strange way!�See All Event Posts
