Iles Guadeloupe Adventure

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Racers and press alike left Guadeloupe with mixed feelings...

Jacqueline Windh / 06.12.2007

We were all very fortunate to be able to witness the splendour, and the amazing adventure potential of three of Guadeloupe’s islands: Grande-Terre, Marie-Galante and Basse-Terre. Unfortunately, much of that witnessing was done through the windows of a bus, or waiting around for an event to happen.

As a race, the event was fraught with numerous organizational problems, both in terms of event-design and of time-estimates. For a competition that invited some of the world’s top AR teams, for the most part there was little competition and, in truth, little activity. (Aside from the two extremely challenging trail runs, most of the week’s “athletic� events were extremely contrived, and very short, relay competitions at the beach). Many of the technical activities that could have been very interesting, such as the rappel at the waterfall and the kayaking, were simply that: activities, outside of competition.

I wondered how the cultural “discovery� challenges would go over with the competitors, but to my surprise most of the racers loved these events. They really appreciated these opportunities: to look around and get to know the culture here, and their experiences such as identifying spices, tasting foods, flipping pancakes, weaving baskets, and talking with the locals. What was disappointing was the nature of the “athletic� events, for the bizarre points-scoring system for those events that were competitive, for how many were not actually competitive, and for how little physical activity there actually was, compared to all of the time spent on buses. (Many of these events at different venues could have been linked by navigational runs, rather than by teams waiting around for bus transport).See All Event Posts