Corsica Raid

Day 3: In the high valley of the Gravona

Anne-Marie Dunhill / 20.05.2013

The third day of the nineteenth edition of the Corsica Raid Aventure started in the quaint village of Bucugna. Teams had been treated by the mayor of Veru to a lavish buffet and prize giving ceremony last night. At 08:00 the racers took off from in front of the town hall on a steep trail run to reach the entry of the canyon in Haut Richjuca.

The press team hiked in the opposite direction up the canyon to try and catch teams as they exited. The canyon is a renowned one with jumps, slides, abseils and swimming. Once we were in place we heard the news on the marshals walkie talkies that the race organizers, due to water levels  from the heavy rains, decided to “shunt” the last portion of the canyon. This meant that teams were able to complete two thirds of the canyon before being re-directed to a higher path to avoid the dangerous section. One of the lady racers had a slight malaise and had to be evacuated with the race doctor. (She is continuing the race). A hoard of teams arrived at the bottom of the canyon and charged to the transition. The next section was a trail back to Bucugna.

Afterwards teams transited to their mountain bikes for an intense mountain section of thirty kilometers through the Vizzavona forest. In total there was over 3500 meters of elevation gain and loss. The transition to trail was in the village of Vivariu. All of the towns and villages have been implicated in the race, to the extent that the employees of the mayors office turned up on the race route to follow the progression of the teams. Talking to one of them he said that he was very curious to see where they would pass on the mountain bikes because he knows the sector well and had a hard time imagining doing it on bike. Afterwards when asked what he thought, he said “I think they’re crazy”. 

Speaking with LSN, Audrey said that they were starting to feel the effects of the elevation gain but were delighted to be in first position for the moment. Up until now they have raced an intelligent race, knowing just when to push and when to let the chasing teams do the work. She added that when it got tough, Olivier Combes, nicknamed in French the “little Jeddi”, boosted their morale. He pushed the team on saying, “Keep your chakras open and take energy from the earth”. Audrey went on to say that their positive mental attitude and the team synergy has meant that they establishing a solid lead. (But as one knows in adventure racing, anything can happen and it “ain’t over until the fat lady sings”).

Further back in the ranking, the support crew for team number 41 Vitalliance Alpha were called to collect their team. One of their racers was spotted by a marshall without his helmet and they were plucked from the race route and shunted to the next section. 

Racers then took off on a trail that took them under the Vechju bridge which was designed by Gustave Eiffel and is a classified monument. The last section of the day is 10km trail with a positive elevation gain of 1,000m: a sting in the tail of what has been an intense day for racers.

The three jerseys for today’s stage will be awarded in Venacu at 19:30 and then teams will be able to have a brief respite before the only night section of the race. At 22:30 teams will engage in a night trail of thirty kilometers and 1,500m positive elevation gain. The amount of sleep that they get will directly depend on their navigator and judging by the difficulty of today’s section, they will be hoping that he or she is firing on all cylinders. 

During the mountain biking section the press was treated to a lovely lunch at the Chef de Gare restaurant. For some it was their first hot meal since the start of the race. Tomorrow the race starts at 09:00, and this relatively late start will be welcomed by the racers. Today is the first day that the weather has been clement and the bright sun has boosted the morale all around.