Ecomotion/Pro 2008 Adventure Racing World Championship
A Blistering Start
Rob Howard / 02.11.2008
Everyone was up early Sunday morning ready for the final day of travelling to reach the start line on Priai do Amor. The start was not scheduled until 15.00 but by now everyone knows road journeys here take a long time, and this one began with a 2 hour drive to the town of Tutoia where all the vehicles pulled up in a town square. Tutoia was later to serve as PC3 (the end of the first trek and the start of the long paddle in the delta), so there was a long stop here for the final equipment checks, to eat and buy plenty of water for the rest of the day. This was also a chance for the media to talk to the teams and there is a huge press team following the race with 50 Brazilian media (and 8 from the rest of the world). Not all the athletes were responsive – some wanted to sit quietly and focus on the race to come.
With the exception of the team vehicles which chose to drive out, everyone now switched to the ‘jardiniere’ – the strange name for the trucks used as transport on the sandy tracks here. The lucky ones got padded seats – the unlucky a wooden bench to bounce on for the next few hours!
The road now ran out of town onto sand track, passing through scrub land dotted with small enclosures, farmsteads and the occasional village. Every now and again the sand was deeper and it was harder to pull through and small streams were crossed at regular intervals, all with people in them – usually women washing clothes or children playing. The sight of the huge convoy of trucks was good reason for them to stop and stare.
After another stop in a town where none of the small shops or bars had any bottled water, the final drive was through deep sand to reach the coast, marked by a line of receding mangrove and a distant view of huge breakers further out to sea. The trucks pulled up on the shore and it was time to jump out, stretch, and wander along the sands to the waiting fishing boats which would carry everyone to the start on the dunes visible across a 1km wide inlet.
The water was choppy and the fishing boats quickly carried everyone across. I was told the original plan had been to start with teams swimming the inlet, but it wasn’t possible to get permission, and it would have been a hard swim with the constant wind whipping up the waves.
Now, finally, everyone was at the start, which was not marked by any banners, probably as they would be sure to blow away! It was now the hottest part of the day and there was still an hour to the start, so everyone settled down to wait in the sweltering heat. There was one tiny, makeshift shelter for shade, which was soon full, while others improvised what shade they could and all sat quietly, conserving their strength and the water they would need for the stage ahead.See All Event Posts
