RAIDARAN-LLEIDA PIRINEUS

Thule Take An Early Lead

Anne-Marie Dunhill / 20.07.2016

The RaidAran 2016 started at 09:03 this morning in the town of Vielha. The first section was a quick orienteering section through the mountain town. After a few speeches the race director counted down and teams dashed off to grab their maps that were hanging from a line in the village square. It was chaotic as teams quickly studied the maps and made their way through town.

A 14km mountain biking section followed with an elevation gain of 670m. The scenery was gorgeous but the horse flies were as determined as the racers! Racers barreled through the mountains and team Thule quickly established a lead.

After a quick transition back in the village sports hall in Vielha, the racers headed out to a 15km trek with a 1,300m elevation gain. The steep terrain proved difficult for many teams as they began to struggle with the altitude. The heat was not as much of an issue as it could have been had the race started yesterday in the °40 heat. Temperatures have cooled and it was only °24 at noon with overcast skies throughout the day.

However during the trek Marek Navratil of team Salomon-Suunto commented, “It’s not as hot as yesterday but I’m still ‘heating’!” as he struggled behind his teammates. The captain of Issy Absolue commented on the high mountain scenery saying , “It’s beautiful, that’s how you advance!” All three of his teammates were attached to a lead rope behind him.

Following the trek, teams transitioned to a 35km mountain biking section. Once again there were steep climbs and descents; we are in the Pyrénées, I suppose that goes without saying. To reach CP9 on this section all teams had to push their bikes uphill and several looked miserable.  Reaching the CP, team captain of  Yeti from Denmark commented, “It’s a little bit higher here than in Denmark, we’re kinda struggling with the altitude, it’s hard to push the bikes uphill.” They stopped to quickly eat and set off again, Camilla Gry Elmann calling out, “Yeah, downhill, I’m good at downhill!” Others were not as comfortable with the rocky descent and several chose to walk their bikes once again.

A rumor had been circulating throughout the day that Thule had a penalty after several teams complained that they had split up to collect check points during the first orienteering section in Vielha. The organizers initially spoke to them right after the reported incident and told them that they had the choice to do the section over again or loose the points. Later in the day the issue was resolved by jury. According to the organizers, the team had misunderstood the instructions in the road book, and the jury decided that they had not deliberately sought an advantage and accordingly they were given a 15 minute penalty instead of losing 20 points from that section.

At 21:28 they sat out 7 minutes of that penalty in the transition area in Esterri d’Aneu after finishing the kayaking and canyoning section. They took advantage of the imposed break to dry their feet and eat; one racer opened up soft packs of food and exclaimed, “Yipee, baby food!”

After a kayaking and canyoning section with some rope works in the middle, teams will be racing non-stop through the night.

At the time of this writing, 22:51, thunder storms have broken out in the area and temperatures have dropped further; Thule asked whether they could expect snow on the higher mountain sections.

The first day has challenged all teams with the altitude and the Aran valley in the Spanish Pyrénées is once again providing a stunning backdrop for the RaidAran.