Aveyron Adventure Race
And the winners were ...
Rob Howard & Anne-Marie Dunhill / 28.07.2013
When it came to the prize giving of the 2013 Aveyron Adventure Race there was some suspense when the results were announced, and especially the top 5. Given the format of the race and the fact it was stopped at Transition 8, the teams really did not know who had finished where ... or who had won.
The mayor of the host town for the finish, Laguiole, gave a short speech and said that as a farmer he welcomed rain, but not thunderstorms and so recognised that sometimes you have to give into the force of nature, and that is was right to stop the race. Race Director Adrien Seguret added that the organisers will learn from this year to improve the format, saying that they wanted to take the teams to so many beautiful places but on this course it was too many.
Then all of the teams were invited up on stage and each spoke briefly, many thanking their support crews for the amazing work they had done to get them around the course. It is a tough job, needing as much expertise in equipment organisation, navigation, sleep and team management as racing on the course requires. Many of the assistants looked more tired than the racers, but they were too modest to go up on stage with their teams.
One of the most amazing results was that of Issy Aventure – Withspirit.fr Bolquere p2000, with first time racer Bethany Thomspon, who came in an amazing 8th place. Considering she had never heard of adventure racing last week, or ridden a mountain bike before, it was a great achievement for all the team. “That was a real surprise,” she said, “I thought we’d be last, if we finished at all! The team all really looked after me and that made the difference. I guess maybe I’ll do some more adventure racing ... but not for a little while!”
In 3rd place were Team Agde Raid Aventure – Cyrpeo, but they were lucky to be placed at all. They had withdrawn after passing Transition 8 due to illness and exhaustion, but when the race was stopped it was decided to take the results up to Transition 8 – and at that point they were in 3rd place.
This just left the two teams who had been in the lead through transition 6, Raid Quechua and Raid Nature 46, who had been in the lead by 2 hours 20 minutes at that point. Raid Nature are an experienced team, but they know they are not an elite team and when they found themselves in the lead had even said, “we are not in our rightful place”. However, their conservative tactics had worked perfectly and got them ahead of Quechua, the most successful team in France and one of the international elite. But did Raid Nature hold on to that lead over the last two scored sections of the race?
They didn’t, and were called up next, taking second place, which they were delighted with. After Transition 6 they’d missed more checkpoints than Quechua, losing their lead, but showing that this race favoured good strategy and pacing.
And so the winners were Raid Quechua, defending their title and taking the winner’s cheque of 6000 Euro (this is one of Europe’s biggest prize money races). They also won the race trophy, a mounted bulls horn, because Laguiole is big cattle rearing area, and a Laguiole knife each. These are the most famous knives in France, hand crafted, and traditionally given as a coming of age gift. (The team supporter also won a knife.)
The full results are on the race website at http://www.aveyronadventurerace.com/index.php/en/ and the race video will be out next week.
See All Event Posts
