Basque Expedition Race

Preparing for the Basque Expedition Race

Adam Rose / 13.10.2016

Adam Rose (one of the SleepMonsters editorial team) has escaped from his dot watching duties to become a dot at the Basque Expedition Race with team Beacon AR. Here's his take on the race ahead.

Prerace day has been hectic. Surprised? Of course not. This is adventure racing, after all.

For the inaugural edition of the Basque Expedition Race, the future bodes well. Slick, efficient, organised. A fast course, lots of variety, and disciplines that help to bring a zing to the standard three. CPs are a mixture of flags and landmarks, the latter requiring photos of the whole team to prove you’ve been there.

Maps arrive at 6am tomorrow. We’ll get 45 mins to peruse the 15 sheets, with another 5 orienteering maps for closeups of particular sections. (All waterproof paper - woot!) A 2km walk to Getxo harbour, then we start at 8am sharp. As it’s October, the sun will barely have risen. In fact, it will be dark, as we head out on kayaks for a 24km ocean leg. If the weather is bad, this will be converted into a coasteering section over the same coastline. The route book already has the alternative CPs listed for this possibility, which is impressive.

Then we beach, leaving the kayaks to do a fast 17km trekking loop, before kayaking the final 10km upstream to the TA. As high tide is at 3pm, only the fastest teams have a hope of avoiding fighting the current.

From TA3, we head out on some intense biking. 87km in 9hrs sounds slow, until you factor in the 3000m elevation gain. As the RD said, there isn’t any flat terrain in the Basque. We’re adding a healthy 50% to the official times as a guesstimate. The route will be staying off most tarmac roads, including walking the bikes through culverts to avoid motorway traffic.

The following trek from TA4 is also steep, densely wooded, and is another loop section. It will be tough, as the fastest time is projected at 13hrs for 47km.

Then it’s back into TA4/5. Many teams will probably take the time to sleep, as it’s a large transition, with all the usual facilities, but also offering the temptation of hot showers.

Stage 6 is back on the bikes, more summits over 58km, and a caving section where we have to drop the bikes. Only half the team has to enter the cave for CPs, with a squeezy midsection no doubt intimidating the claustrophobic.

The subsequent trekking section is the most eagerly anticipated. Only 25km long, it features two separate caves early on, one involving a swim to the CP(63). The RD is recommending full wetsuits, although they aren’t mandatory.

The canyoning CPs are 69 to 70, with 6 waterfall abseils. The water isn’t expected to be deep, and while wetsuits ARE required here, teams can get away with long johns if they want. Should we carry a selection to match the occasion? We’re not looking forward to the weight of the climbing gear combined with the neoprene. The final trekking CPs are through a tricky karst area, all caves and potholes, but apparently beautiful.

On to stage 8 for a short MTB of 15km, mostly down out of the mountains, to a beach. We’ll still be carrying the harnesses, though we can drop them for stage 9’s SUP loop of 3km. Then off the bikes and a 21km trek, still with the climbing gear, to the finish in Getxo at 8am on Sunday.

300 metres short of the line, teams get a final challenge, a 40m abseil off the historic Biscay Bridge, the first UNESCO Industrial Heritage site in Spain. The icing on the cake for those who cut it fine will be performing this task at sunrise, an uplifting descent at the end of an intense race.