X-adventure Raid World Cup 2006
Aix and pains
Jon Brooke / 16.07.2006
Overnight things changed a little. The top five teams pulled a little further away from the rest and Salomon Spain and Wilja Sport exchanged places to lie in fourth and fifth respectively. But there were still only 35 minutes separating those five teams and any of them looked as though they could make the podium by the end of day 2. Nine teams of the 36 starters failed to start the final running stage.After the rigours of Saturday, Sunday looked considerably easier, with only four timed stages; one 20 km bike, two runs of 14 km each and a final 6 km paddle into the beach at Aix-les-Bains - with a total elevation gain of ‘only’ 1,200 meters or so. But if that sounds a little relaxed, there was also the time consuming matter of an un-timed via-ferrata with more than 100 m of climb and the occasional overhang to negotiate which is deemed one of the most difficult in France by experts.
On the first MTB leg things went a little wrong for SAAB Salomon when they made their most significant mistake of the race and took the wrong track, losing something in the order of 10 minutes. Even more significantly, Wilsa Sport (who obviously did have a good night’s rest) won the stage and brought themselves back into contention, still in fourth place but only 4 minutes behind SAAB Salomon in third and only 25 minutes adrift of the leaders.
Next up was the first of the runs, broken in the middle by the via-ferrata section. Getting 36 teams past such an obstacle is a time consuming business and many of the later teams had a long wait before they could get started – maybe they appreciated the rest though, and at least there was a cool cave for them to sit (or lie) in at the start. Clube Millenium BCP from Portugal, a new team to X-Adventure, went to look at the via-ferrata but decided it was not for them and chose to miss the section. Once again Wilsa Sport took the stage, though only because Ertips took a five minute penalty (for something I haven’t yet been able to fathom!) SAAB Salomon also ran well to take third place in the stage, but it was not enough to keep third place over-all which was taken by Wilsa Sport.
The final running stage was basically a plummet, losing more than 1,000 meters over the first 3 km, followed by a more gentle descent across the valley floor to the southern end of Lake Bourget where they would pick up their canoes. Les Arcs Quechua 2 stormed the section, three minutes ahead of Ertips, who caught onto the faster team’s coat-tales as they were passed and gave their all not to lose contact and possibly their over-all first place. SAAB Salomon took some time back from Wilja Sport, but not enough to regain third, and knowing that all three of the teams in front of them were likely to be stronger on the final paddle, barring accidents they probably had to resign themselves to fourth place.
On this occasion, canoeing ability, even though it only made up two small sections, made a big difference to the results given the very small advantages gained by all the top teams over each other on the land based sections. At the start of the section, the lead teams should have started the final section in a chasing start to preserve their overall race positions over the finish line at the water-side in Aix-les-Bains. Ertips did enough to hold on to their lead, but again Wilsa Sport did an amazing time in the canoe. They overtook Les Arc 2 to finish in second place over the line, though perhaps the chasing start didn\'t really reflect the true situation as they still finished in third place. Either way, if you ever hear Karine Baillet say “I’ll be back�, take her seriously.
A slightly downcast SAAB Salomon came in fourth, followed some way back by Salomon Spain, who, cheered on by a large possie of Spanish media actually looked as happy as if they had won. At the very least they must have secured their qualification into the Raid World Cup in Quebec in September.
As I write the last teams are still paddling up to the finish and many of them are enjoying a well earned dip in the warm waters of Lake Bourget. What better way to spend a beautiful warm Savoiard Sunday afternoon?
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