XPD
AROC streaks ahead . .
Rosi / 12.08.2004
When they left Byjerkano Station TA4 they were almost 5 hours ahead of Millie, who had 2 hours over Giddiup.
The second leg - a 45km trek took its toll on many of the leading teams with most teams underestimating how long it would take, and running out of water completely several hours before the next transition.
Zoe King of team Millie left a note on her bike for Warren her partner racing in team Adventure Guides saying they had trouble with dehydration and had to slow the pace to let one of their teammates - Matt recover. Millie also stopped to sleep for an hour on the track in the middle of Leg 3 (MTB). Unsure wether AROC or Giddiup has slept at all yet.
Many of the midfeild teams are taking advantage of the campfire at Byjerkano Station to chill out for a moment, and choosing to sleep a few hours before heading out to do the orienteering Leg 4.
Adventure Guides are the first casualty of the race, with Sabrina being forced to retire with bruised toes and ITB strain. The remaining members have been continuing unranked without her and are at Byjerkano Station trying to decide wether to continue further. The kayak leg may be an issue with only 3 people. Although reportedly there will be lots of portaging, so the problem of having 3 people on a two person boat may be offset by having 3 people to carry only one boat!
Sounds like their motivation is a bit low, and they are feeling the effects of having moved quickly - running and walking - in the first trek over what was very tough terrain. Bill Proctor of Adventure Guides described it to me as "rocky and arduous . . . having to bash through thick scrubby bush".
As expected the navigation has been different, with most of the navigators more used to using 1:25000 scale maps, suddenly being on a 1:100000 scale map means as Bill said "you have to be really onto it . . . it also takes an eternity to get to your next waypoint" because the scale is so big! They were however happy with their effort at navigating, the comment being "we havent had to go backwards once!" which is always a huge bonus in a long race.
In contrast earlier in the day Aussie Bodies had to backtrack 5 km into a strong headwind after missing the turnoff to tA3. This is always a bit soul destroying and dropped thier spirits a little. They may well be on of the many teams currently sleeping at byjerkano Station to reenergise before going out to tackle the orienteering.
Race organiser Louise Foulkes was relieved to see everyone slowed up in the first trek "AROC gave me a scare when they looked at the course details and maps and declared it should only take three and a bit days" She expects that the lead teams are on track to complete the course in four to five and a half days, with the tail end teams taking the full 10 days.
SleepMonsters
