Patagonia Expedition Race
Another long and cold day in the snow
Jacqueline Windh / 25.06.2006
The three leading teams have been fighting hard for position. On Day 1, GNC lead AL AIRE LIBRE/URUGUAY by a half-minute, but since then URUGUAY’s Ruben and Verónica have managed to increase their lead bit by bit each day. They tend to stay around second or third place for the first half of each day, but then finish consistently strong, pushing their way forward over hte latter half of the day. And today was no exception!The day started with a gruelling bike ride – gruelling both because of the bitter cold and because of the 500 m of elevation that they would gain on icy roads over the 30 km. It was another absolutely gorgeous, windless day, and today we made it up above the treeline, surrounded in all directions by mountain peaks jutting sharp against the clear blue sky. I am guessing that temperatures ranged from about –8 to –2 degrees C.
Halfway into the ride I saw URUGUAY in third place, but when we came across them not much further along they had moved up to second. TURISMO ROCKFORD RUNNER were a couple of minutes ahead, and they are pretty intense guys – they are clearly looking to win this race. So there were a few expletives in the air when Juan of ROCKFORD’s chain broke going up a hill, and Ruben and Verónica pedalled past them. But the ROCKFORD boys were not willing to give up, and soon after they again had a few hundred metres advantage over URUGUAY.
At the transition to the hike (an 8 km circuit in snow above the treeline, snowshoes optional), ROCKFORD set out mere minutes before URUGUAY, but the teams returned from the circuit together. Unlike most of the following teams, they both had elected not to use snowshoes. Véronica and Ruben made a faster transition, and left for the final icy 10 km downhill ride a couple of minutes before ROCKFORD.
Meanwhile, other teams had pulled in and started on the trek. GNC has been battling with ROCKFORD for second place – they were only four minutes behind them in total as of yesterday, but today they dropped back. Meanwhile, Chile’s army team ARMADA DE CHILE have been pushing forward. They had dropped down to seventh overall after the two kayak days but now, back in their element, they are gaining again.
We are all camped in the snow at the edge of Lago Despreciado, in far southern Tierra del Fuego – just on the north side of Almirantazgo Sound and close to the Argentinean border. It’s 4:15 pm as I am typing, and the sky is burnished deep orange from the sunset. URUGUAY rolled in from the bike ride well over an hour ago, and ROCKFORD came in ten minutes behind them. The ARMADA DE CHILE were less than an hour behind them, and then shortly after came GNC, TUTRAVESIA INDOMITA and QUETRO. INACAP have just showed up, and we are still waiting on SOIJEN. They are one of only two mixed-sex teams in this race, and they have been working hard, putting in several hours more on the course each day than the leading teams. They must be exhausted. SOIJEN member Natalia Armijo has twice DNF’d in the summer edition of this race, and her goal is simply to just finish. Only one more day now!
I probably won’t be able to get final times for the day before trying to upload this report. The overal ranking will not have changed much, with the exception of GNC moving down the list and the ARMADA DE CHILE moving up.
OK, please send me some warm thoughts... it is not yet 4:30 and it is getting dark. We are all in for a very loooonnnnngggg and frosty night huddled in our little tents here.
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