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Night Terrors on Horse Back

Rob / 02.12.2004

As the race draws towards a conclusion the dramas continue to unfold. The leaders have now survived the ordeal of the long final horse riding section, despite a fall for Helen Jackson of Saab Salomon, but Salomon Buff of Spain were not so lucky. After 4 days and 480km of racing Nerea Martinez took a bad fall and the team are now out of the race.

The leaders continue to slug it out in one of the best races of the year, first one team then the other gaining, but they are never far apart. When they finished the long paddle last night they set off on a 25km Mtb stage along broad tracks. Saab Salomon put in a time of 1 hour 25 minutes against 1.31 set by Nike ACG/Balance Bar, and of the following teams only Spie The North Face (1.37) and Salomon Buff (1.53) were under 2 hours.

Then came the 25km roller blading stage along the tarmaced trunk road out of Junin de los Andes. The athletic Americans were quickest here with a time of 1 hour 20 minutes. Saab Salomon took 1.31, but they are not natural skaters and it’s a sport that has no place in UK racing. In the Raid Series Races of a year ago the team lost lots of time on every blading stage, but they have practised hard and will have been pleased with their performance. Even the Nordic experts Nokia Adventure took 1.25, and Les Arc Quechua finished in 1.31.

Then through the night into the morning of day 5 came the 42km horse riding section, where the teams rode Gaucho style across the Pampas ... except maybe a bit slower and more carefully! Horse riding has a strong tradition from the Raid Gauloises, the predecessor to this race, but it is a discipline the racers fear.

Horsemanship counts but the nature of the beasts they get to ride and how they react to strange riders and circumstances means luck plays it’s part. In some ways their fate is out of their hands.

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