XPD Australia
Waiting on the Finish Line
Geoff Hunt (AR World Series Director) / 24.05.2010
I've just arrived in the finish line hotel and checked with Craig Bycroft, race director of XPD on the expected arrival time of the leading teams. Originally it was scheduled for late tonight but now the teams are not expected until tomorrow afternoon. With Orion Adventure and Blackheart.com.au trading leading at different times it is hard to know still who will cross the finish line first. Each of these two teams have been leading since the beginning of the race. At different times one or the other gaining hours only to make a mistake, not have enough food or just have a rough patch. This has enabled the other team to catch and pass. Whose turn will it be at the finish?
And now under the cover of the rain forest it is hard to track the teams using the Spot device. When we checked with Craig, Blackheart had not been seen on Spot at all and Orion only 4/5 times.
The race for first place seems to be only between these two, although the race for third is quite close as well with Merrell/Akali in chasing mode. McCain left the start of the 15 km lake paddle just as Merrell arrived. They could see from the check in sheet that McCain took one hour in transition and Merrell set about trying to better that. Benjamin also confirmed that they had just been in a restaurant had eaten so the game is still on between these two.
Amy from race management walked in as I was chatting to Craig and they talked about bringing a bus load of injured and broken hearts people back into town to the hotel. I hope to catch some of those stories in the morning.
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