Corsica Raid

Day 5: Racing to the finish

Anne-Marie Dunhill / 22.05.2013

The assistants  transferred their teams for one last time to the start of the fifth and last day of the race. At 06:00 everyone was on the road, winding their way inland. The stage began in Zona with a mountain biking section of twenty kilometers. The mood was more relaxed then at previous starts and Quechua and LSN exchanged anecdotes from adventure races in years past.

Vitalliance telephoned the organizers during the transfer to warn them that they would be late to the start as on of their vehicles had a flat tire. Once everyone was in place, the race director sounded the starting horn and they were off. The first section was a fast one, in spite of the accumulated fatigue. The press raced to follow the lead teams as they entered the canyoning section of Piscia di Ghjallu. 

This canyon is one of the most beautiful in Corsica and the abseil of over seventy meters at the end took racers down through a roaring waterfall. It was not an abseil for the faint of heart; to reach the cords each racer attached themselves to a horizontal cord fixed to the sheer rock face. Once teams reached the bottom, it was a quick checkpoint and then a steep climb out on slippery granite and gnarled roots. Bunches of wild lavender were growing along the trail and there was a lovely scent. 

The very last mountain biking section of the nineteenth edition of this race was appreciated by all of the racers. It was a swift downhill with a vista of the ocean and Sardinia visible in the distance. Then there was a group start for the sea kayak section which closed the race. The community of Lecci, the official host of the race finish, was the setting for the last stage. This section was a group start at 16:30 on the beach. Teams went twice around the bay and the seagulls of the rocky outcrops hawked loudly. 

There was a large crowd on the beach to cheer the racers as they crossed the finish line, sprayed by bottles of beer. There were huge smiles all around when the finish line was crossed and the assistants swooped in to hug their teams. The race director was dumped in the water by a group of racers, having only just had enough time to empty his pockets. Teams then transferred to the last campsite for a quick shower and re-packing of the vehicles before the prize giving ceremony which will take place tonight at 21:00, hosted by Lecci. 

The complete rankings will be available later on this evening on the race website but I think it’s safe to say that Lozere Sport Nature (LSN) has won this edition of the Corsica Raid Aventure. In closing, let it be noted that...the sun came out today!