Fulda Challenge

---

Snow Shoe Shuffle

Nick Lees & Caroline Pick / 04.02.2004

A gutsy performance by Royal Marine C/Sgt. Gary Bullen, 39, from Exmouth, Devon, has kept the Great Britain A team in with a chance of a podium place at the Fulda Tyres Arctic Challenge. At the end of the second day they are lying 5th from the 9 teams taking part.

Despite a couple of bad falls in a snowshoe race up and down a 950-metre mountain on the Yukon-Alaska border, Gary finished fifth in the men\'s
competition. His team mate, Gill Watson, 39, from Derby, who has competed in more than 80 adventure races, finished sixth in the women’s competition.

Fighting a biting wind and sub-zero temperatures, the snowshoe race proved to be a demanding and difficult task. Gill explained: \" I fell and was trampled on near the start and tumbled down the mountain in deep snow. I was determined to carry on and pushed hard to finish the race.\"

Canada now lead with 34 points followed by Germany Toyota and Austria, both on 29 points, then Italy in 4th.

The Canadian husband and wife team, sweethearts from childhood, scored a double
victory to move them into a comfortable lead on this second stage. Greg McHale, 31, a Royal Canadian Mounted Police constable in the Yukon\'s Dawson City, finished five minutes ahead of Holland\'s Timo De Boer and eight minutes ahead of Germany Toyota\'s Alexander Lang.

Meanwhile, Denise McHale, 30, a fitness instructor and personal trainer, showed she was no stranger to snowshoes when she finished 11 minutes ahead of Germany Toyota\'s Sandra Janisch and 16 minutes ahead of Austria\'s Gitti Kock. An accomplished marathon runner, she was fifth overall in a field of 18 from nine countries, beating many of the men.

\"Denise and I regularly train by running up mountains near Dawson,\" said McHale when he finished looking fresh. After two days of competition, Canada now has 34 points; Germany Toyota and Austria are tied in second place with 29 points, followed by Italy on 25, and then UK1 on 23. Behind the U.K. team are the Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany Auto-Bild and finally, UK2 Hi-Q.

After two days of competition, the second U.K. team has nine points, compared with its nearest rival, the second German team, which has 17 points. \"We\'re just here to give it a go,\" said Barry Nutley, 59, Britain\'s UK2-Hi-Q captain and the oldest person to have competed in the Fulda Tyres Challenges.

Barry\'s teammate, Clare Dawson, 28, from Reading, stepped in at the last moment when another athlete (Minnie Burlton from London) was injured. \"I didn\'t have time to train - having had only two weeks notice - but am determined to give it my best shot,\" said Clare.

On Wednesday, competitors will cycle up a 3,000-ft snow-covered pass from Skagway, Alaska, to the Canadian border (and the Canadian Customs station at Fraser).See All Event Posts