Aveyron Adventure Race

Storms End the Race

Rob Howard & Anne-Marie Dunhill / 27.07.2013

To begin at the end ... the race was closed just before 20.00 hours on Saturday night when the severe storm which had been brewing all afternoon finally hit, forcing an abandonment.

At the moment the situation is somewhat confused with teams scattered along the course while thunder rumbles overhead, and lighting illuminates the brooding clouds which are releasing intense downpours of rain.  When it rains it’s impossible to see and the trails and roads quickly flood with surface water so the situation is clearly dangerous, and while the teams are disappointed, they are also relieved.

I’m told that the race organisers had no real choice in the matter as all events here require approval and permissions and in such conditions these can be immediately withdrawn, which is what happened.  So the race was affected by an ‘Arrete Prefectoral’ and all the teams are now being contacted on the mobile phones they must carry, or stopped at transition areas. 

At the moment no decision has been made on how to finalise the results, that problem will be sorted out tomorrow. Now the priority is make sure all the teams are safely gathered from the course, and to move them to the camp ground at the finish at Laguiole.  (This won’t be easy as the support vehicles don’t necessarily have room for all the teams and their bikes.)

It is an unfortunate way for the race to end, but not a great surprise. Since yesterday lunchtime a fierce hot and dry wind has been blowing hard, bringing tree limbs down in places, and when the wind dropped this afternoon and the clouds built everyone knew the storm was on its way.

The teams who were furthest around the course were gathered at Transition 9, which is set below a vast power station in the Truyere gorge.  When the race was stopped 6 teams had reached there, including the two top ranked teams, Raid Quechua and Raid Nature 46, though which is winning it’s impossible to tell as we don’t know which checkpoints they opted to miss along the way.

They had ridden through the morning to reach the town of Entraygues sur Truyere, where transition was set up below the old town castle, beside the junction of the Lot and Truyere rivers.  From there they set out on foot for a trekking, ropes and canyon stage to the Truyere gorge, which is where the leaders ended up tonight. 

Raid Nature 46 got there first, but had planned to miss some trekking checkpoints. They are stronger riders, so this has been there plan throughout, and both teams opted out of the canyoning stage. We did see Raid Nature 46 take the Tyrolean descent across a canyon above the Truyere, though this wasn’t timed, it was just a fun zip line to be done while the clock was off.  (They were already ahead of Raid Quechua by this time as Elodie Bourgeois-Pin was suffering badly with blisters.)

We will know the results tomorrow, but tonight the priority is to make sure all the teams have been safely gathered in, while hoping the storms will pass.

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