2004 Adventure Racing World Championship, hosted by Raid the North Extreme
GoLite Timberland misses a checkpoint
Susan McKenzie / 03.08.2004
“CP 13 this is HQ, CP 13 this is HQ, has team Go Lite Timberland left your checkpoint?�
“They’re down at the water, getting ready to get in the dory.�
“Do not let them leave your CP: they missed CP 12 and will have to serve a penalty on the beach before they can leave your CP.�
Isaac Wilson of Go Lite/Timberland was reluctant to leave the beach to head up to the CP, but he was convinced he had no choice. At first, he was equally convinced that his team had passed through CP12.
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“We cycled by, they asked who we were and we kept cycling,� he said. Unfortunately, the “they� the team saw wasn’t CP staff, but locals curious about the competitors.
Not only that, but even had they been staff, neither Wilson nor any other member of the team actually stopped to sign in and out. The rules specifically state that teams might sign at every CP.
The team had the option to return to CP12 and sign-in (a seven hour return journey on a dusty, bumpy single track road). Not a practical or even feasible option if the team wanted to stay in the top ranks. According to the rule book, race management then had two choices: either disqualify the team and pull them from the course, or assess a penalty commensurate with a missed CP.
“If it’s ten hours or something, then we’re done,� Wilson said. “We don’t really want to keep on racing to finish fifteenth or something like that.�
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