Ecomotion/Pro 2008 Adventure Racing World Championship
The Betting
Rob Howard / 01.11.2008
At the press briefing yesterday there was some discussion on picking the top five teams, and who to bet on for a winner – but no one was putting their money down! This is an incredibly strong field of teams with experience at the highest level and at EcoMotion itself. Geoff Hunt felt any one of 10 teams could win. Any team finishing in the top 10 will be doing very well … and any team who reach the finish line will have had a good race as the drop-out rate could be high.
But there are of course those who are only focussed on winning and the race favourites have to be Nike, the defending champions, and most successful world championship team to date. (Most succesful team to date period.) For this race they are a joint US/NZ team, with regulars Monique Merrill and Mike Kloser joined by Chris Forne (who was with them when winning the ARWC in Scotland last year) and fellow Kiwi Gordon Walker.
Although there are only two NZ teams here, there are a scattering of top Kiwi racers around the other teams. Team Sole are former race winners and include Ian Edmond and new Brazilian wife Nora Audra, a strong combination for this race.
Neil Jones is racing with Bjurfors Adventure Racing, who also did really well in Scotland, while his old team, Merrell Zanfel is a real international mix. Lead by Robyn Benincasa it includes fellow American Travis Macey, Australian navigator Rob Preston and Yukon based, Canadian racer Greg McHale, who has made a speciality of winning in extreme cold races in the past.
Of the two NZ teams OrionHealth.com are the form team of the year with the best string of recent results. They were 3rd in Scotland last year and 5th in Sweden before that, so they will be keen keep up their progress and have come early to Brazil to acclimatise to the conditions. The other kiwi team is Powered by Velvet and they too are expected to do well.
The strong Scandinavian entry includes Bjurfors, Coastzone from Denmark, Multitude Salomon from Norway and perhaps strongest of all is Team Explore led by Michael Lindnord, with Petri Forsman, Martin Flinta and Victoria Wallin in the team.
The French Connection
The French teams too will be expecting to make an impact and the three best are here to race. Wilsa Helly Hansen, led by Karine Baillet were second in both last years World Championships and at Ecomotion and have a really strong line up with Sebastien Sxay, Franck Salgues and Marcel Hagener. Hagener said he thinks the key to this race is consistent speed so as not to become exhausted in the heat, and also raceexperience. “The important thing is to have the knowledge from many other races,� he said, “and to carry enough water for hydration.� See All Event Posts
