Southern Traverse
American/Kiwi Team Takes Second Place
Susan McKenzie / 18.11.2004
“It’s nice to end the season on a high note like this,� says Isaac Wilson, who along with Billy Mattison, Monique Merrill and Aaron Prince, crossed the finish line early Friday afternoon. “We would have loved to have won, of course. The last trek was so complicated, though, and they were just better on it than we were.�
GoLite/Timberland knows first-hand how easily it is to disappear into the bush up in the Alexander Range. Yesterday afternoon, dozens of support crew, race staff and media were perplexed when Isaac Wilson tore into TA7, the end of the trek, doing what one spectator called “a Forrest Gump run.� Problem was, the rest of team wasn’t there.
“We were just coming down off that last hill, it was a really complicated track, and I missed a turn and slid down into a gully out of sight of the team. It took me about ten minutes to scramble out of it, digging and clawing my way up. Here, look at my nails, they just got all ripped up while I was doing that,� Wilson says as he lifts his cut, red, raw hands for inspection. “I just tore out there, running hammer and tongs to catch up. I thought they were ahead of me, but they had doubled-back to look for me. All I could think was, ‘I hope none of them are hurt.�
Although the race rules require that all team members stay within 100 metres of each other, it does not mention the consequences of breaking this rule.
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