Raid Absolu
Toulouse Raiders Ready for ARWC
Anne-Marie Dunhill / 15.10.2009
The first edition of the Raid Absolu took place last weekend in South-West France in the hills on the outskirts of Toulouse. The region is known for several gastronomical specialties such as foie-gras, magret de canard (duck) and cassoulet, a hearty white bean and sausage stew. It was organized by the experienced French adventure racing team Absolue Raid who decided that they wanted to enable as many neophytes as possible to partake in their passion. Therefore there were two race courses, Elite and Adventure. The Elite racers did 80km with a positive ascent of 1500m divided between 4 km of trail running, 33 km of mountain biking, 18 km of kayak, another trail of 11 km, mountain biking for 14 km, a scored orienteering section for an hour and a final uphill sprint on mountain bikes of 3 km to the finish. Those signed up for the Adventure course followed a route of 48 km with a positive ascent of 900m, going through 4 km of trail, 16 km of mountain biking, 6 km of kayak, 7 km of trail and 17 km of mountain biking that included the infamous 3 km uphill final sprint.
Although at first glance it might appear incongruous to report on Sleepmonsters on a local race, the editorial choice quickly made sense upon closer inspection of the elite team list. Several top French teams used it as a training for the ARWS World Championships in Portugal next month and a Spanish team sent two racers who will be in Portugal as well. In total 225 teams of two signed up for the Elite and Adventure race.
The race route through the rolling hills and across newly ploughed fields was muddy as it had rained non-stop the day before the race started. On the day of the event the organizers were blessed with the return of the stunning Indian summer that the area has been enjoying. The ever present mud slowed the race time previsions considerably and took a heavy mechanical toll on the mountain bikes.
Didier Iket, who had travelled six hours with his partner Audrey Merand (racing her first ever adventure race) down from the Savoie region, had two flat tires on his airless tubes checking out the route the day before the race and broke his chain on a particularly technical descent.
Several racers arrived at transitions pushing their bikes and when the wife of one man on the Adventure circuit called out "Why are you carrying the bike?" on a step downhill portion he tersely replied "No brakes!" Wise decision. See All Event Posts
