Raid Aran

To Via Ferrata or not to Via Ferrata

Anne-Marie Dunhill / 02.07.2015

­As the heat of the day increased, the racers continued their adventure. Returning from the 28km mountain biking stage, they met with their support crews for a quick transition in the parking lot of the village.

The next stage was a via ferrata in the mountains above the village of Salardù. Support crews scurried around their racers and all tried to stay cool.  The route up to the via ferrata was a steep hike and when asked how they were doing, the recurrent phrase was “What heat! said either in Spanish, que calor, or French, quelle chaleur!

The French team FMR, with whom the legendary mountaineer Elisabeth Revol is racing, were the first to reach the via ferrata, followed by a Catalonian team.  Other teams followed about fifteen minutes later, silently trekking up the mountain: the only sound was the click click click of their walking poles.

The race format is like the 2009 AR World Championships in Portugal with a complex system of mandatory and optional checkpoints. The via ferrata was optional, with 20pts worth of optional checkpoints and I over heard a French team debating on whether or not to skip this section in order to be able to make the rafting which is open tomorrow from 09:30 to 14:00. The heat complicates making such strategic choices and all were dripping in sweat.

Adria Vall Verdaguer of the team RaidAventura.org stopped to chat briefly about his team on the way in to transition. He said that this was the first adventure race that their lady racer had raced and that their goal was simply to finish the race and as such they were taking it easy. Taking it easy looked a bit relative as her bike was being pulled by a rope attached to the team mate in front of her.

Teams that chose to skip the optional checkpoints on the via ferrata will continue directly to a trek across the mountain above Salardù. According to the maps there are a few steep sections on the ridges that will make orienteering choices primordial. The support crews expect to see their teams in about eight hours according to Laurent Lestarquit.