Saab Salomon move on up

Rob / 16.09.2002

The rise and rise of Team Saab Salomon continued when they got their first podium spot at the Salomon X-adventure Raid, held in the Alps on the Austrian/German border last weekend (Sept. 14/15th). The race was the 4th in the series and a hard won 3rd position was their best result to date against world class opposition. It was the best contested race so far and they finished ahead of top teams like World Champions ‘Nokia Adventure’, the French team ‘VSD-Eider’ and the Swedes of ‘Human Link’.

They only hung on to 3rd spot by the skin of their teeth after a determined (but slightly illegal) challenge from the Spanish team Intersport Extrem. After doing really well on the first running stage on Sunday they looked clear in 3rd place but the Spaniards came back at them and both teams raced, full speed, across the line, with Nokia Adventure a step behind. Initially it looked like they’d lost 3rd place by .003 of a second! However, it turned out several teams had taken a short cut from the mandatory route - Intersport Extrem among them, and they were penalised 15 minutes and slipped to 4th. Much to the relief of Saab Salomon.

After some poor luck affected their positions in close races earlier in the year it seems this time the luck was with them. Earlier in the race the inline skating was cancelled due to poor weather (it’s not their best discipline) and they benefited from being strong on the paddling, where there was a lot of white water. They were enjoying the poor weather too! Steve Birkinshaw doesn’t get on well in hot conditions and was delighted when it snowed, and both he and Pete James are strong navigators in poor conditions. Nicky and Jim Davies made up the team and on the mountain running stage at the start of day 2, when the weather was at it’s worst, the team moved into third.

Delighted team manager Tim Lloyd said, “It was a good performance, and it’s nice to see such big names on the world scene behind us, especially as it was Pete’s first race with the team. Our navigation was good and there were no mistakes, but if we’re to catch up the leading two teams we may need to be more aggressive – they are so quick and much more experienced at this format than we are. We may have to put Jim on a diet too – he’s eaten too much apple struddle!”

He thinks the team stand their best chance of a win at the final event in Spain on the weekend of October 12/13th, but they are already sure of a place in the next Raid Gauloises (for which the X-adventure Raid Series is the qualifier). We’ll have Tim’s full race report soon and you can see full details on the Raid Series web site. If you want to know more about the team check out their SleepMonsters team site.

(Other Saab Salomon squad members were doing well at the final ACE Race of the year on the same weekend. Helen Jackson, back in competition after breaking her collar bone, won the mixed pairs with Pete Rostron, and Marc Laithwaite clinched another win and the series title in impressive style. Ben Bardsley was coming 40th at the World Mountain Running championships – also in Austria.)