Bimbache Extrem - Castilla y Leon

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The Candelario Loop

Rob Howard / 06.10.2010

This morning the leading teams were on the loop of the course which sets off from, and then returns to the town of Bejar, where the transition is set up in part of the sports hall. From here teams leave to trek across the Sierra Bejar and the stage includes a skate up the road to the ski station, then crosses the mountains, climbing to over 2000m again. On the way down the route passes through the historic mountain town of Candelario, before teams return to Bejar and continue on their bikes to the next mountain range, where there are ropes and skate stages also.

I reported last night on Buff Thermocool’s skate up the cruelly steep ski road, and at the top they had a lead of just over 5 hours. They sustained a good pace across the tops and were back in Bejar and onto their bikes by 4am in the morning, but Blackwater had closed half an hour on them and I was told they’d continued to catch them on the follow bike ride, though there is no confirmation of this.

Blackwater had set off on the skate ahead of Silva/Gerber but were passed. However, the Scandinavians then slept for an hour, and made a navigational mistake on the tops in the dark, where they met Outdry, then dropped them again. After Outdry there was another 5 hour gap (at the end of the skating stage) to the next bunch of teams, which included Dare Devils, Colombia Megasport, Thule, Opavanet and adidas Terrex

The times leaving the top of the skate were as follows; 5) 20.33, 6)01.37, 2)00,34, 14)01.53, 61)07.07, 53)08.13, 10)09.01, 50)09.36 and 1)09.52. Incredibly at this point Buff Thermocool had a lead of more than 13 hours on the 9th placed team, adidas Terrex. Their speed is having a direct impact on the mid and lower ranked teams due to the cut offs being 24 hours behind the leaders. The faster they go, the more teams they force to miss stages or be unranked, and for some this is turning the race into a bike tour to get around the course.

The trek across the Sierra Bejar was taking teams longer than expected and I met up with the Outdry team around 11am in the morning in the town of Candelario, where they were busy buying supplies in a delicatessen. (Cereal, bread, jam, chocolate donuts and sweets.) Between mouthfuls Ian Edmond commented, “That trek took us much longer than expected, but then I think we are just slowing down.See All Event Posts