National Indoor Adventure Race
The Final Push
Rob / 16.03.2003
The line up for the second Indoor AR Championship final was much as expected, and it was no surprise Saab Salomon and Genetic Potential were paired to race together as they were the two favourites, though One.Tel Hebridean Challenge had outscored both in the heats and any of the teams were capable of a top position.For this third and final day of competition the race was longer, 4 hours this time, with two 90 minute sessions inside divided by an hour outside on the endurance/navigation stage. The indoor stages were still split between the three elements, Speed, Technical and Simulator, with each team doing each stage twice.
Having gained experience of all the challenges in the heats the teams had refined their technique and tactics to shave valuable seconds on each lap. There was no more fumbling on Jacob’s Ladder, fewer hitches on the tent pitching and the climb on the technical stage wasn’t holding anyone up for long. Arriving at the top of the tower competitors clipped onto the automatic belay, literally threw themselves off and climbed back up in less than a minute.
Over on Jacob’s Ladder the improvement was most noticeable and of all the teams Nike ACG were the slickest, largely thanks to the athletic Eero Jappinen. He sprang up from rung to rung, putting his hand onto Anna McCormack’s helmet on the way, and pulled the others up, before bounding up another level. With the ladder right in front of the seating banks he kept the crowds entertained and Nike ACG up with the pace.
They were always on the same ladder of the two available and had realised, as most other teams had, that the other one had a much larger, and harder to deal with, gap at the top! They were competing against ‘Joy of Socks’ and the teams were often side by side under the scramble net or on the climbing tower, and there was some aggressive competition. Nike ACG managed to get both ropes on the climbing wall and keep Joy of Socks waiting several times, and there were a few elbows flying under the net!
All the teams were finding the net tiring and difficult. Fiona Lothian of Genetic Potential commented, “It keeps catching on my helmet and I can’t get through.� She added, “ The ladder is hard too. Yesterday when Marc told Dan to stand up he said he couldn’t he was too scared!� There were some alarms and bangs on the zip wire as well. With two wires side by side there were occasional clashes and Dan Corner even managed to hit a bike, and almost a cameraman. [Taking pictures of this event is hazardous as racers and bikes are coming from all directions! – Ed.] See All Event Posts
