Raid Gauloises
Anna – Still Going on Willpower and Bandaged Feet
Pino/Raid Gauloises / 02.05.2002
Here at CP28 (Assistance Point 2), the sun has just popped up behind a mountain like a slice of bread out of a toaster and the air is steaming like hot rice. It’s 04h55 and the very first thing I see as I stumble out of my van is Anna McCormack and Steve “Ski� Sharp, both from the UK and racing for Team Lapin Kulta ..… and both in the medical tent.
“Ski� has just had his feet taped up and, apart from being utterly sleep deprived, is feeling ok. Things are much worse for Anna and she has been told by the medics that her feet are the worst on the course. Unfortunately, there is no prize for this accolade, except an hour’s worth of bandaging. The medic displays the dexterity of a reincarnated Egyptian high-priestess as she mummifies Anna’s feet beneath several layers of gauze, second skin and more bandages.
Since leaving CP14 (Assistance Point 1), Anna has been in constant agony and on a few occasions she has considered pulling out. She has, however, kept this from her Finnish team-mates who have been going like machines, regardless. Now they are getting some shut-eye due to an enforced 3-hour stop for all teams.
Anna McCormack, expedition organiser and adventure racer “extraordinaire� is lying on the tent floor. Her legs look like they have had a brush with an angry lawn mower and her skin is a patchwork of blue and purple, such is the degree of bruising she has suffered. There is only one thing on her mind: getting out of the tent, kitting-up and heading off for the 215 or so kilometres of hiking, caving, biking and paddling that will bring her to Assistance Point 3 and the end of “another day at the office�.
Being awake while your buddies sleep is a major problem. Her Finnish team-mates have had some good down-time and have no medical problems so when Anna re-joins them they will be feeling much stronger and she will have to work that much harder to keep up.
Only in adventure-racing are such logistical and moral dilemmas addressed in the sporting arena. These adventure-racing athletes are made of a different substance. Something that makes them pound their feet into unrecognisable pulp for days on end and if you need that explaining, you wouldn’t understand. Not unless you too have a seemingly irrational fear of kryptonite, of course…
Lapin Kulta check out and it makes me wince to see Anna McCormack limping to the start of the 62km trekking section.
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[Lapin Kulta were last reported through CP29 and amazingly have moved up a place to 5th. All the leaders are now on this trekking stage and Anna will know that once it\'s complete there is a long period of mountain biking which will keep her off her injured feet. - SleepMonster]
SleepMonsters
