The APEX Race
APEX Race Ready to Go
Stuart Hale (Team Accelerate) / 24.05.2011
Tomorrow sees the start of the Alpine Expedition Race, from Interlaken, Switzerland. The APEX has 30 Team's entered from as far a field as Canada and the States, although this may have much to do with the fact that the organisers are the same as for 'Untamed New England'. As a World Series event many of Europe's top teams, have been enticed to race, including the likes of French outfit Quechua.com and such regulars on the scene as Issy Adventure. The race organisers are suggesting that the top three teams to look out for include Silva Gerber, locals R'adys Black Diamond and Quechua. There are also strong Czech teams (with names too long to mention), and Dart Nuun Sportmulti from the USA will want a say in the top placings. From the UK both Team Accelerate Adventure Racing and Team Sleepmonsters.com/Likelys.com are racing.
Details of the course, are at the moment, best described as sketchy, although disciplines will including white water rafting, kayaking, biking, trekking and orienteering. To add spice to the event a canyoning section has been included with a 150ft abseil into Grimsel Canyon, long plummeting rock slides and high level pool jumps.
In addition one member of each team will be given the option to paraglide – as to how teams will choose who gets to do this remains to be seen. The course length has yet to be publicly announced, although it is known that there will be over 10,000 metres of ascent on the journey over and around the Alps, which we believe will include two trek stages, three mountain bike sections and two paddles.
The ascent is sure to test teams, particularly their mountain fitness, knees and foot care and the weather is likely to play a part. Conditions pre-race have been exceptionally hot, yet on the higher parts of the course it could be freezing and crampons are part of the mandatory equipment.
This morning Teams registered for the race, went through gear checks and received their first look at the maps. They are now preparing for the event which starts tomorrow morning, following this evening’s Opening Ceremony.
At 10am tomorrow morning, teams will race away for the 6 hour prologue with the race proper starting at around 4pm, with staggered starts based on the prologue times of each team. The race is then expected to finish sometime during Saturday with the course closing at 2pm on the Sunday, which equates to 100 hours of racing.
For Team Accelerate it has been a busy May, with one Team returning recently from the Expedition Africa race having finished in third place, it is now the turn of Alasdair Bruce (Captain), Lucy Harris, John Cunningham and Stuart Walker. The distances and the race format and length are nothing new for Alasdair and John, whilst this will be Lucy's second expedition race (8th at the adidas Terrex race in the UK) and for Stuart his first.
Before flying out to Switzerland, Stuart was asked what he felt his biggest challenge would be: “The main thing that will be new to me is the level of sleep deprivation. I’ve done long stuff like the Bob Graham round and non-stop running races for up to 35 hours, and multi-day yacht races before, but never quite as long with quite as little sleep as APEX will be. The other three are very experienced though, so we can help each other out when things are tough�.
In a pre race interview, Team Captain, Alasdair was asked about the Team's objectives. “We know it is going to be tough, with a lot of the top teams here and ten thousand metres of ascent. We come here with the hope that in helping each other and working as a team, that we can make the top 10�.See All Event Posts
