Xtremo 6000

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Xtremo6000 XKRace, Argentina

Team Sole / 05.02.2007

Team Sole’s Karen Lundgren, Paul Romero and Petri Forsman offer this report of the 250 km Xtremo6000 Adventure Race (which they took first place at) that took place this weekend in the mountains of central Argentina.

We are writing while in transit from Argentina, licking our wounds and reminiscing on the good times that racing always brings.

We selected to race in the Xtremo6000 because of the always spectacular landscape and challenge that comes with racing in the Andes. It was also billed as a less than full-length expedition that would take us to the very high mountains. This all appealed to us as a good way to launch 2007. Race Director Eduardo Caputo and his enormous, fine staff would not disappoint us.

Thirty hours of flights (50 for Petri of Finland), and a 5 hour washboard, potholed dirt road leads us to the isolated village of 500 people, known as Barreal, situated just 10 km from the foothills of the Andes, the world’s largest mountain range outside of the Himalayas. This tiny town would become the friendly host to 56 teams and media from all over South America.

As usual, pre-race activities begin with ‘acclimatization’ which includes finding our local Hacienda, unpacking gear, build the bikes, and sampling the local bottled spirits.

Gear inspection and rope certification goes without a glitch and we assemble our support team as planned. The organization provided our lead crew guy, Panchi from Buenos Aires. He’s a racer, and studying in school to be an English translator. A big bonus for us. Our old friend, Pablo “The Magic Man� and his girlfriend, Alejandra, also happen to be in the area climbing Aconcogua and so joined us to make the perfect crew with the 1:1 ratio needed for maximum efficiency.
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