The 2007 Adventure Race World Championship

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A Glorious Day in the Hills

Robyn Ferrar / 26.05.2007

After all the anxiety about the rather inconclusive weather forecast, combined with leaving a cold and wet Fort William behind early this morning, the teams arrived on Rum to glorious sunshine. The threatening rain clouds showed uncharacteristic mercy and abstinence, treating everyone to a magnificent day in the hills of this beautiful island.

After the swim across the bay of Kinloch, the teams wasted no time getting started on the trek. The first teams to arrive at the micro-nav section were Team Balance Vector, followed closely by Team OrionHealth.com. During the next half hour the remainder of the field streamed past, looking as though there was nowhere else they’d rather be.

Clock-work O
The format of the trek was to collect 9 checkpoints, the first 5 being a cluster of micro-nav (aka Orienteering) CPs. These could be collected in any order but most chose the same anti-clockwise route before rejoining the coastal path. Here they settled into a comfortable – but fairly fast – pace to collect the remaining 4 CPs.

Getting to the first of these took the teams right down to the south side of the island. They had to pass Papadil Lodge at the end of the coastal path before turning northwest for their first major climb up to CP 6. From there they could follow a rollercoaster ridge line (dropping and climbing substantially between peaks) to bag the remaining 3 CPs.

The racers were promised a longer and much more mountainous prologue than previous years and they weren’t disappointed. Covering around 25kms and bagging three 700ft+ peaks it was more than just a warm-up. It gave teams a chance to size up the terrain, and each other.See All Event Posts