The Raid World Championships
The Evolution of Adventure Racing
Rob / 29.11.2004
Since then the sport has evolved rapidly and so has the Raid Series and the Raid Gauloises, culminating in this year’s qualifying world cup on 4 continents and this new Raid World Championships. The teams now taking part set a standard that competitors in that first Raid Gauloises would find impossible to match and looking around at the opposition most teams taking part agree it’s the strongest field of racers ever assembled.
Referring to more recent tragic events Gaimard also stressed the importance of safety, and the team’s responsibility for themselves and others. He dedicated the race to Dominique Robert, who died on the last Raid Gauloises, and Nigel Aylott, who would have been racing but for the recent tragic accident that took his life. As a safety measure teams will not paddle on rivers at night in this race, and must take 20 hours sleep during the race, and how teams approach this tactically will be a vital part of the race.
So, too will the notoriously fickle Patagonian weather described by Gaimard as a “relentlessly tough and rapidly varying climate�. The forecast for the first days of the race gave a hint of what could lay ahead. Constant winds are expected, and these could affect the paddling and mountaineering sections particularly, they are forecast to rise to over 60 km/hour, on the highest parts of the course. There could also be heavy rain on Wednesday, and snowfall higher up, but hopefully teams will be clear of the Lanin Volcano by then.
So, after years of evolution, the first Raid World Championships is ready to begin from San Martin de los Andes. The best teams are lined up, the rules are set, and they are ready for a challenging course in a magnificent landscape. It’s going to be a Raid worthy of it’s World Championship title.
SleepMonsters
