Raid in France - Alps to Sea 2009

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Party time!

Anne-Marie Dunhill, interviews and translations AMD. / 08.06.2009

N.B. These results are preliminary pending confirmation from the organizers.

With all of the teams having arrived safely at the finish line in the beautiful port of Frejus it was time to celebrate. The teams had the afternoon to shower, sort out gear and nap at the camping ground Marc Hillaire on the outskirts of Frejus. There was joyous confusion as teams arriving with their support crew searched for their alloted bungalows and exchanged first impressions with the teams that were already installed; their gear flung far and wide on the lawn to dry. (It made for a unique visual and olfactory experience).

Scrubbed behind the ears and changed into their end of race fancy dress (clean jeans and T-shirt), the teams headed back to the port of Frejus for the closing ceremony, award giving and dinner party.

After short speeches from elected officials, the teams' ranking of the 2009 edition of Raid in France, Alps to Sea was announced.

The tired but proud winners were team Quechua who had dominated the race from the start, in fierce competition with Cateye Outdoor Experience and Planet Tonique. Quechua also won the 2007 edition of Raid in France, where they made a very moving and memorable gesture of donating 2,000 Euros of their prize money to an association for the fight against leukemia.

In his speech the team captain ,Rudy Gouy, spoke about the teams' collective tears as they crossed the finish line; tears of joy and sadness that the extraordinary adventure was over.

He also apologized (again) for snapping at one of the volunteers from a check point on the riding section. Apparently one of their team members had never ridden a horse before and it was a bumpy ride for the whole team. This team member started the section by saying that as far as he was concerned, horses were best in steak: obviously his horse was slightly offended as he unceremoniously dumped his rider on several occassions. Rudy added that they progressed on the five and a half hour trek their sorest muscles were abdominal from intense fits of laughter.

This altruism and good humor characterizes the team Quechua who are not only excellent adventure racers but also extremely personable.

Cateye Outdoor Experience came in second. After their surprise win in the Portugal XPD Race in 2008 they came into the race with high hopes of another first place win on the ARWS circuit. When I interviewed a team member after the race he said that their most difficult moment was when a bad choice of itinerary in the mountain biking section meant that they lost three hours on the leaders and they had to work hard to re-motivate themselves to keep going. Up until this point of the race it had been a game of leap frog between the two teams but the podium was decided by that choice of itinerary.

Planet Tonique completed the podium in third place and afterwards their captain Denis Merlin expressed a few regrets as they had encountered the same problems as Cateye Outdoor Experience, having lost 12 hours in the same mountain biking section. This epic section meant that they lost precious time against the leaders. He added that Planet Tonique intends to be a serious challenger for the ARWS finals in Portugal in November.

Vaucluse Adventure Evasions came in fourth and there is some confusion about a penalty given after the Spot satellite tacking showed they took a road that was off limits in the roadbook.

The team that Gareth and I assisted, Lethiguel Qualixpert Sofermi Raid Nature 46, came in fifth; our highest ranking since we've been racing in the World Series. Laurent Lestarquit, team captain and a gifted orienteer expressed his thanks to the organisers for the difficulty of the race and the excellent orienteering sections. He particulary enjoyed the fact that the teams were in total autonomy for extended periods of time and as such had to carefully manage their sleep and food. Raid in France was the first long adventure race for Valerie Bramas who met the team for the first time the day before the race started and who battled like an Amazon.

The president of the company Lethiguel then took to the stage to congratulate the team that he had sponsored and made the surprise announcement that he would be paying the entry fee for the team at the next Raid in France, provoking a loud round of applause.

Lozere Sport Nature came in sixth. The teams' orienter, Benjamin Monnier, said that he was delighted to have finished all of the sections but that he was a bit disappointed by their results. The team had been plagued by various leg injuries since the middle of the race which made progression difficult. Benjamin had raced with Raid Nature 46 in the Portugal XPD Race in 2008.

Yogi Tea came in seventh and their support crew were a charming father/son duo who handed out much appreciated samples of Yogi Tea Classic from their sponsor at each assistance zone. They also had solar powered battery chargers and the entire approach of this team was an ecological one which dovetailed well with the race's baseline of "Back to Nature".

Issy Aventure came in seventh and this was their second time racing Raid in France. Phillipe Chod, when interviewed, said that this edition went from surprise to surprise and that the racers could see that it was organised by adventure racers, "We could tell at all of the sections that the organisers were themselves racers and I could just hear them calculating what would give us the most enjoyment at any particular moment, like having four horses; a horse for each racer". Phillipe, whose wife Violaine gave birth to twins last summer, added that he has had intensive training at home on getting by with little sleep.

The Belgian team Passion Extreme Liege came in ninth and this was also their second experience racing in Raid in France. At a mountain transition their female team member suffered a nasty burn from boiling water on the top of her foot and showed true courage in finishing the race.

Endurance Mag and Adventure Pedini Ireta Intersport were the last teams to finish all of the race.

Two teams pulled out, Energie Cote Sud Ville de Frejus and the English team Hey Lo (Halo on the English sites).

Guy Chessel of Hey Lo said that he was recently back in training after breaking his leg earlier this year and was racing easy. Stories told by the team filtered through at the after party of several less then glorious moments but they had the merit of being the only English speaking team to do the race. Special mention goes to their assistants, Krzysztof and Niamh, who did a remarkable job dealing with all sorts of unforseable variables without speaking French.

Dinner followed the traditional French aperitif and teams lingered long past their bedtime exchanging stories and comparing notes.

The 2009 edition of Raid in France came to a close...

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