Ecomotion/Pro 2008 Adventure Racing World Championship
Team OrionHealth.com are World Champions
Rob Howard / 06.11.2008
When Team OrionHealth.com of New Zealand came over the top of ‘sunset dune’ they passed a large red ARWorld Series flag - the last control point in the 2008 EcoMotion. With the race helicopter overhead and surrounded by photographers and cameramen, they looked down on a sight they will remember for the rest of their lives – the finish of the 2008 ARWorld Championship, set up on Jericoaoacra beach. A large crowd was already waiting around the finish gantry and podium, and as the team ran down the dunes and across the beach they waved a New Zealand flag, running into the crowd and struggling to make a way through them to the finish line. Their final two steps in the race were up onto the podium where they celebrated being World Champions, fulfilling their ambition of the past few years.
Team Captain Wayne Oxenham lifted Anna Berthelsen high into the air as the team celebrated on the line, spraying champagne, greeting their tearful support crew and happily doing dozens of TV interviews as they enjoyed the moment. Oxenham summed it up when asked what the best thing about the race was ... “Winning� as his answer. He added, “I think we ran an intelligent race and that was the difference. Others were going out too hard, but we took it a bit easier in the heat of the day and tried to move faster at night and it paid off.�
One interviewer asked if going for the bonus CP at the start of the race was important. “It was for us,� he said. “We felt we had to go for it and could race with only the 4 hours sleep. When we passed Nike taking the last of their sleep it put the pressure on them and they made some mistakes trying to catch us.�
“The worst stage for us was the second trek,� he added. “We did that in the heat of the day and ran out of water so were very dehydrated.�
“The best thing, apart from winning, was the Brazilian people. On one stage we met a man and asked for water, so he rode off to his house on his bike to get us some! Things like that were happening all the time.�
It was not long before the second team arrived – and that was Team SOLE, who had passed Nike on the sailing stage. (They will still finish 3rd overall after the time adjustments so the race leaderboard is currently wrong.) The two couples paused to kiss and hug just before reaching the main part of the crowd, then ran in with their arms aloft and took their trademark team pose on the podium.
Paul Romero had the stars and stripes spread above them, but this was a multinational team, with Ian Edmond of New Zealand and Nora Audra of Brazil joining Romero and Karen Lundgren. For Edmond and Audra it was a remarkable ‘honeymoon’ and the Brazilians were delighted to have one of their own in the top three teams.See All Event Posts
