The Raid World Championships
An Explosive Performance by Nike ACG/Balance Bar
Rob Howard / 30.11.2004
From early morning the leaders made their way northward towards the volcano, which is on the border between Chile and Argentina, and some took a more direct route than others. The 40km stage included 2,925m of climbing and the British team Saab Salomon lead the way, but the chasing pack didn’t follow their lower level approach in to CP8. Most took a higher route, but Nokia Adventure had already fallen back right at the start of the stage, losing 2 hours through a navigational error. Even worse, they forgot their tent, a piece of mandatory equipment, and when they reached the far side of the volcano were given a 1 hour 15 minute penalty to be served at CP15. It wasn’t a good day for the Finns.
Beyond CP8 the real climbing began and the organiser’s estimates that it would take the fastest teams 12 hours to make the climb were borne out. They’d placed 14 mountain guides on the route and 2,300m of fixed rope, and this section was the first of the special stage prizes with $1000 on offer to the team making the quickest ascent.
The leaders Saab Salomon are known for their expertise as mountain runners, and lead all the way to the top, but they were being chased down by the cold determination of Nokia, and a Nike ACG/Balance Bar team who were on fire. Saab Salomon reached the 3775m high summit crater at 12.56 but Nike ACG/Balance Bar had raced up the ropes behind them, had them in their sights and checked in at the top just 9 minutes later. The British team fully expected to lose time as they were unable to do any acclimatisation training (the highest point in the UK is only 1343m), and were looking over their shoulders at the top as they struggled for breath and kicked their crampons into the snow.
Setting a sustained and determined pace Nike ACG/Balance Bar had cut more than 90 minutes off their lead, and not surprisingly they won the $1000 prize for the quickest time on the 40km stage. Their incredible time was 11h33:15, well ahead of Saab Salomon who took 13.04.32. Nokia’s took 14.04.31, but they were lost at the beginning and between the start of the stage and the finish slipped from 2nd to 4th. Salomon Buff of Spain took a time of 14.04.35 and Wilsa Sport/Helly Hansen (France) also had an impressive climb which pushed them up the leaderboard to 6th place on the summit.
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