The Maple Leaf in the desert

SMcK / 28.06.2006

Okay, well, maybe not in the hunt to win, but definitely to finish, maybe even place or show. The Maple Leaf is still flying high in the Utah desert: slightly torn maybe, dusty and dirty definitely, but still on the leaderboard. Three days into the race and all the Canadian teams are still ranked and racing on the full course.

TnT Canada is in 44th place, still on the full course (CP 18 at 5:22 Wednesday morning), just two places below and two hours behind My Citadel Wallet in 42nd. Mind Over Mountain is 38th (CP 19 at 4:52 Wed am), and Spirit is 33rd, having left CP 19 just past 1:30am Wednesday)

The big Canadian talent at this race is clearly Supplierpipeline (Bob Miller, Denise McHale, Greg McHale and Scott Ford), a team that has has been steadily sneaking up the leaderboard, rank by rank, CP by CP. Yesterday, Supplierpipeline moved into the top ten. This morning (Wednesday) the team is in eighth spot, just 15 minutes behind Sweden\'s Bjurfors (aka Cross Sportswear)and about seven hours behind the leaders.

The weather forecast for Wednesday and Thursday - hot (well, we knew that already) with isolated thunderstorms in the afternoon and evening that may produce \"strong gusty winds.\"