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Cat and Mouse at the Front

Luc and Chris (Raid Staff) / 30.11.2004

During Monday night all the teams at the head of the race decided once more to add to their “official sleep total� by taking another 4-hours rest. In the early morning they set off to confront the 26km trek with 1,250m of climbinhg that started with a short passage through a forest and climbed then up to the Cordon del Rucachoroi at 2,000m.

The Americans of Nike ACG?Balance Bar lost the trail for a while, costing them about 30 minutes, but then leading from the front can sometimes be a problem, especially when the following team is so close they can benefit from any mistakes to run a smoother race. “There’s little advantage in being ahead as Saab Salomon can see all our ins and outs, but I can think of worse places to be,� talismanic team captain Ian Adamson declared wryly.

Saab Salomon pulled back around 40 minutes‚ on the Americans with a fast and flawless run on the opening trek of the day. “We didn’t see any sign them anywhere along the way - not even a footprint,� exclaimed a visibly aching Ben Bardsley. They changed very fast and ran down to the beach to put in alongside the US team that had arrived around 10 minutes before them.

The British team have several sleep strategies thought out and have already adapted a few times to the race pace. “Last night they were sleepy but not physically tired, so we let them sleep even though it wasn’t part of the then current race plan,� confided team manager Tim Lloyd. The very long rafting and river sections still to come are a preoccupation for the team. And for all the teams.

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