An Extremely Competitive Race for the Lead in the Ecuadorian Amazon
Natalia Greene / 07.03.2011
After the tough night, teams rapidly recovered as they descended to the Ecuadorian Amazon. Their strength grew as the altitude lowered, especially after the hard cold and rainy night in the highlands. All the teams enjoyed a beautiful trek in primary forest where they had to look for orientation points. This leg took longer than expected, and the result was that team Ecuador beat Thule Adventure to reach Cosanga first. <br /><br>
Once teams entered the trekking on the Antisana National Park, the organization had to take a difficult decision, stopping this leg from CP11 until CP12 and returning all teams to Cosanga due to security concerns on the old path and the oil pipe trail. This allowed most elite teams to gather back in Cosanga and have some rest, while the teams coming behind caught up.<br><br> At 1h30am the organization woke up all teams to get them prepared. They jumped into their support crew and organization cars to be transported to Archidona where teams re-started the race at 3h40am.<br><br> The teams ranking up to CP 10 was: first Equipo Ecuador, followed by Thule Adventure Team, Team Skandia Adventure, FJS, Buff – Thermocool, Nómadas 1, Paracaidistas 2, Saferbo Traxion and Paracaidistas COAC. Following the race but out of ranking due to the shortening of the course with assistance were Diablos Xtrem, Salud SA, Quitsato Trading Express, Imbauto Aventura, and Equipos Cotopaxi Cordillera. For the final ranking, this order will be respected and time differences considered in spite of the fact teams are now very close to one another once again.<br /><br>Teams are now swimming on the Arajuno River and trekking following the river on a confusing jungle trail. The organization closed the river for kayaking for the adventure teams, who arrived first, as the river is too high and the rapids are dangerous. <br><br>The organization is going to re-evaluate the river before the elite teams arrive as they may be able to kayak since the river level is dropping. <br><br>Only 20km separate the teams from the finish line after the river. In case the river is open they will have to do a Jumar rope system during the paddle, otherwise they will take their bikes to reach the finish line directly.<br />
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