Taking on The Beast

Rob Howard / 09.11.2004

Aberdeen Asset Management are back in international competition again soon, this time in the USA at The Beast of the East. They are chasing a first international win, prize money, and the free place the mixed team winners get at next year’s World Championship in New Zealand.

After their 5th place at Southern Traverse this time last year and 10th position at the World Championship race in Newfoundland earlier in this year the team are confident of a good performance. “We’ve got a very positive attitude for this race and are going out there aiming for a win,” said Nick Gracie. “We are sure we’ll be competitive but our main concern is we may be up against teams with a lot of local knowledge, and that gives them a massive advantage.”

The race has solo and pairs categories, and allows all-male teams, but it’s only the mixed teams which can qualify for the 2005 World Champs, and on past form the Canadian team Simon River Sports, and the U.S. team Litespeed may be their toughest competition. Simon River Sports were a place behind them in Newfoundland, and Litespeed have 4 wins on the US circuit this year, and are regular racers at Odyssey events.

“We’re excited to be doing this race as we’ve all wanted to do it for some time,” Gracie said. “We’d planned to go to Southern Traverse again, but with the World Champs being there next year, we settled on the Beast. It’s only about a third of the cost and we should have a better chance of winning it.”

The team have been training hard recently, though Mark Humphrey is only just recovering from gashed knee sustained in a bike fall. Gracie, Warren Bates and Lisa Godfrey all completed the KIMM and the team spent last weekend on jumaring and abseiling instruction off a bridge in the Peak District. The Beast always includes extensive ropes sections and the course promises to be mountainous, with a lot of ascent and descent.

On the water the race uses Canadian canoes and the team have had instruction and practice with one of the UK’s expert’s, Ray Goodwin, and settled on using double blades. There is a hydrospeed section in the race too, and some grade 3 or 4 rapids are promised. With the winners finishing in around 3 days and no dark zones, sleep tactics will be interesting, and as it’s a supported race their back up (Anna and Heather) will play a key role.

The team fly out on Saturday to Memphis, and plan an overnight at the ‘Heartbreak Hotel’ and a trip to Gracelands before Monday’s registration and Tuesday’s start. “We’ve found getting to races early does not pay,” Gracie said, “we just spend time buying extra gear we don’t need, continually repacking and burning nervous energy. Better to get there and get going!”

Race coverage start starts on SleepMonsters next week.