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Team Talk

Rob Howard - SleepMonsters.com / 09.09.2004

One name that was hard to miss as the teams gathered for the race briefing was Dimension Data, which was on the running suits of 7 teams, from several countries. Most of their team members had never met before, though some had taken part last year in Madeira, and were greeting each other again.

One of these was Tracey Driver from the UK team who explained, “Our regional offices enter the teams and we have a couple of people who have done all 3 events. We have 4 women on our two UK teams, but we couldn’t quite get 5 for an all female team. To be in the mixed class one woman has to do each stage, so it’s better to have two per team. otherwise it’s too hard. And looking at these mountains I’m worried about the physicality of it.�

She was talking to a colleague from Belgium she recognised from last year and he had an all male team. “Our two women in the team left the company,� he said. As they chatted their German team passed by, and inevitably there was talk about which Dimension Data team would do best.

One competitor feeling a little pressure was Carlos Corretge on the Spanish HP team. As they were second last year they have the No.2 on their running suits and he said, “It’s quite a responsibility,� adding, “but we are not so strong this year. Only one of the team is the same as it’s company policy to let different people try. Even the captain is not the same.� HP have two Spanish teams, one from the UK, and also one wearing the EU flag, as they have mixed nationality.

Another competitor new to the race is Tom Gibbs of the UK Airbus team, but he’s been on the winning Microsoft Challengers Trophy team before. “We’re stronger than that team,� he said, “and our aim is to get to the World Team Challenge in Spain by finishing in the top 10 and ahead of other UK teams. We are good runners and work together on the mental challenges, but unlike some companies here we don’t have training and selection weekends.� Even so, they will be a team to watch out for at the top of the rankings.

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