Tantauco Exploration Race

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U.S. Duo Win First Tantuaco Exploration Race in Chile

Rob Howard / 06.04.2011

The U.S. team of Paul Romero and Slater Fletcher were the first to arrive at the finish at Inio refuge on the 4th and final day, with a time of 6:04 hours, ending the race with a total time of 43:59 hours after 4 days of competition.

The American multisport champions Paul Romero and Fletcher Slater showed why they were the favorites, and they were the winners of the first edition of the Tantauco Exploration Race by The North Face, a competition held on the Island of Chiloe, in the Patagonian region of Chile.

A wild and virgin Patagonic landscape was the perfect place to see in action two of the best athletes in the world in this type of adventure racing, and they overcame a two hour of deficit from the early leaders, after a huge mistake on the first day.

An error for Romero and Fletcher on the orientation on day 1 put them so far back and made them think at some points of quitting the race. But it was their sportsmanship and excellent physical condition what made them reconsider and go on to finish very strongly and take first position, after almost 44 hours of strenuous effort, physical and mental.

Nonetheless, the task was not easy for the winners, because they left second on the final stage, 22 minutes down on the astounding team from Ecuador. The 28 kilometers of trekking on the final stage did not discourage them and they ran non-stop, determined to win this difficult and technical race, which had an exceptional level among the competitors.

Paul Romero, from the U.S. team was really surprised with the level showed by the other competitors, especially by South American teams. Romero commented; “The progress that South American competitors have made during the last three years is amazing. They are on the same level that Americans and Europeans�.

His teammate, Slater Fletcher (the only rider in the world to have completed the Kona Ironman, Xterra Worlds and Ultraman Worlds in the same year) was very happy with the result. "We felt very embarrassed by the poor performance of the 2 first days, but we were committed to winning and we were very consistent over the past two days where the trekking work was essential�.

The competition started with 15 teams, but only 7 of them reach the finish, showing the harshness and complexity that the 30 competitors from 11 countries, had to undergo, and demonstrate their skills to the maximum.See All Event Posts