Kona Land of the Yeti Duathlon

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Intrepidation, Exasperation and Exhaustion

Press Release / 06.11.2008

With a relatively short stage yesterday, the athletes were able to spend an afternoon in Lukla making final preparations for the 3 days of following biking stages to Jiri.

The course of the trail now turned westward and instead of running along a valley it would now start to cross the contours of the himalayan foothills and involve much more ascending and descending.

Chandra Chhetri, riding a brand new Felt mtb and the most experienced biker of the Nepali contingent was hoping to use his technical riding skills to claw back some time on race leader, Dipak Rai (HeatmaxUK) who was already some 6 hours ahead of him.

A frantic start commenced Day 3 with both Nepali and international riders vying for first place through the rocky streets of Lukla. Joel Watson of Geelong put his full susser through its paces to stay with the leaders early on, but once the trail started to drop rapidly on a greasy and treacherous rocky/muddy surface it was the more nimble runners that were able to take advantage by carrying their bikes for a faster and safer descent.

>From this point a torturous day of mainly push/carry of the bike ensued which by the end of the day would see the retirement of 3 of the 4 international athletes.

After negotiating the 600m descent from Lukla, the competitors were greeted with a severe 700m rocky and totally unrideable ascent upto the pass of Chutok La at over 2900m, where any expectations of an easy passage were quashed by the sight of a technical downhill that would have required the combined skills of Hans Rey and Steve Peat to complete unscathed.

By this stage the more "mountain adept" Nepali athletes were able to build an even greater lead of their toiling foreign counterparts, who's troubles were far from over.

After a small, relatively flat and rideable section through the river side village of Kari Khola, the trail continued to drop on an extremely bouldered trail before finally crossing a 100m suspension bridge at the trails lowest point of just over 1500m.

To continue from here involved an arduos, approx 4 hour carry of the bikes to the top of the first 3000m+ pass since Lukla, Taksindu La.

By the time the international athletes had arrived at Day 3's finish point of Nunthala, 2300m, and only half way up the pass,having climbed 1388m over 17 miles and some coming in after dark, 3 out of the 4 starters made the decision to call it a day and withdraw from the race, either from sheer exhaustion or total frustation from the lack of riding opportunities. This would leave only 4 remaining contestants to battle it out over the final 2 days, but with Dipak Rai(Heatmax) once again taking the stage victory by over 30mins it was becoming a one yak race!

Results on Day 3

1 Dipak Raj Rai(HeatmaxUK) 6hr 18
2 Jobir Rai 6hr 51
3 Chandra Chhetri 8hr 09
4 Ian Sharman 8hr 43
5 Phil Evans 8.49
6 Joel Watson 10.14
7 Ian Jones 10.51

Overall standing

1 Dipak Raj Rai (HeatmaxUk) 11.13
2 Jobir Rai 12.23
3 Ian Sharman 15.09
4 Phil Evans 18.08
5 Chandra Chhetri 19.23
6 Joel Watson 20.34See All Event Posts