Tierra Viva

Racing Tierra Viva in Argentina

Nick Gracie (Team adidas TERREX - Prunesco) / 01.04.2013

The adidas team had not done an Adventure Racing World Series race outside of the UK for a number of years and we had been wanting to race in Argentina for a few years. Adidas regulars, Nick Gracie, Tom Gibbs and Chris Hope all flew in from the UK and we meet up with our new team mate Jari Kirkland from Colorado at Buenos Aires and then made the flight south down to Bariloche in the stunning lake district area of Argentinean Patagonia.

The race organization put us up in a fantastic hotel on the lakeside; just outside the picturesque town of Villa Angostura and we spent a few days relaxing, eating and sorting out kit and took a drive out to the town of Bariloche, Argentina’s famous home of Chocolate and Ice Cream. We also saw some of the course which Tom had raced on in Eco Challenge in 1999.

We were then moved around to the tiny lakeside village of Villa Traful, a magical spot along a dirt road with a collection of small hotels, restaurants and Cabins. This was the base of the race and from here we would do 5 loops, every time returning to the sports hall where each team was allocated a transition area.

The night before the race there was an amazing open fire barbeque where a few cows had been slow cooking – for meat lovers it was amazing and eating freshly cook giant chunks of meat around a hot fire had a truly primal feel to it. There was a short race briefing and a lively introduction to all the teams, many coming from Argentina and other South American Countries as well as Canada, Spain, Italy, Czech Republic, America and Finland.

Loop 1: The race started at the very comfortable hour of midday with a 35 KM kayak around part of the huge Lago Traful, it was a stunning day with clear blue skies and a lovely heat. The pace was a little frantic to start but we kept solid throughout and at the far end of the lake we made our return leg with just enough tail wind to use our sails and come in back at the finish in first place.

Loop 2: After a quick transition we set off on a 60 KM mountain bike to Villa Angostura, where we dropped the bikes and had a 35 KM trek into the mountains. 

On the foot stages teams could get the checkpoints in any order and uniquely for this race you had to take a picture of all the team to prove you had visited.   This meant teams carrying a camera and meant we could get some great shots whilst out on the race course.   There were a number or route choices and some tricky navigation but we moved well and had an incredible ridge run under full moonlight with our lights turned off. We made good time and had now opened up a 2-hour lead and jumped back on our bikes for the 60 KM return to Villa Traful.