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Buff-Coolmax Now Has 3 Hour Lead

Lynne Oxenham / Team Orion Health / 24.10.2007

SleepMonsters do not have one of our regular international race reporters at Ecomotion, but we will do our best to provide coverage with the help of some friends, competitors and our Brazilian Editor, Wladimir Togumi. If news is a bit sketchy please bear with us!

This report is courtesy of the support crew of New Zealand’s Team Orion Health: www.orionadventure.com

We are now at TA 10 in the centre of the small town of Sao Pedro da Serra having driven from TA 9 which was the end of a trekking leg which included the use of horses.

Buff were still in the lead at TA9 and looking strong ... Running downhill into TA where their support crew had set up at the end of a parked truck trailer ... WHH had the use of the opposite end which made arranging a sheltered area a lot easier. One of the perks of being in the lead is the best TA spot! Their transition was quick and they were out on their bikes at about 1900.

The rain had really set in during the time we were at TA and it was difficult for us to arrange shelter, even as the 3rd team there, as we were required to park parallel with very few \"tie off points\" for ropes. With some Kiwi ingenuity and the helpfulness of the WHH crew (who lent the end of their car, ropes and later another long tent pole) we managed to cobble together a limited area protected from the rain (but not the river of water running down the hill when it really rained!)

WHH arrived at \"2030\" and also had a quick change heading away at 2050. There had been a change to the course instructions and the teams would now take a mandatory stop somewhere on the next bike leg rather than on that trek leg.

Orionhealth came into TA and managed a good transition under the shelter ... Such as it was! They had had a few problems on the trek ... Apparently they had some difficulty with their horse(s) ... Not sure how much or what, but Wayne said that the horses hadn\'t been that great. There was also some time lost due to confusion around some instructions from a race official which lead them astray out of the PC where they left their horses. They had to return to the PC after a while and start again :o(See All Event Posts