Tierra Viva

British and Spanish Teams Lead at Tierra Viva

Rob Howard / 28.03.2013

Race 3 of the 2013 AR World Series is currently underway in Argentinean Patagonia, where 20 teams with athletes from 11 nations are racing the Tierra Viva adventure race.

It is currently day 3 of 5 on a 500 mile course which is expected to take the leaders 4 days to complete, and which crosses the Andean mountains and lakes around Bariloche. The two leading teams are currently adidas TERREX Prunesco (UK) and Columbia Vidaraid (Spain), and this is no great surprise as they are comfortably the top ARWS ranked teams in the competition, at 7^th and 5^th respectively. 

Columbia Vidaraid have the advantage of being in a Spanish speaking country, but it’s not exactly a populous area and they are up against a team who are experts at racing and winning in Patagonia, adidas TERREX Prunesco recently completed a 5 race winning streak at the Patagonian Expedition Race across the border in Chile. (Co sponsors Prunesco are a Chilean prune exporting company.)

Team regulars Nick Gracie, Tom Gibbs and Chris Hope are joined by US racer Jari Kirkland, who has also raced in Patagonia before, and Gibbs will play a key role as navigator and tactician.  Tierra Viva offers a format that is unique in the AR World Series, with a ‘clover leaf’ route around a fixed camp and H.Q.   There are 5 long sections and each is unsupported, but teams finish up back at HQ to transition and can access their tents and supplies before the next stage.  Making navigation even more critical is the fact that sections have a free route choice around the checkpoints, so good route choice is essential – a poor selection can cost many hours. Teams also only receive their maps at the start of each section.

Gibbs is an expert at this race format and was on the team which won the 2010 World Championships in Portugal, a race which offered similar navigation and course selection choices. (Nick Gracie was also on that team.)

So far the UK team has had the advantage and holds the lead. In fine weather conditions there was little to choose between the leaders on the first paddling stage (no surprise as they were in sit-on-tops) which covered 36km on Lake Traful. Stage two combined mountain biking and trekking to the city of Villa la Angostura and back to camp and at the end of this the British team had a two hour lead before setting off on Stage 3.  This includes trekking, paddling and mountain biking and is the longest stage of all.  Most teams are currently on this stage.

Given the location race coverage is limited, but there is a live race website and some news on Facebook (in Spanish).  The next news we’ll bring you on SleepMonsters will be on the final outcome.