The Raid World Championships
Fighting the “Gnarly� Bamboo Forest
Fredrik Olmqvist / 03.12.2004
Really bad conditions made the last part of the race a true combat. It’s reported that French teams Les Arcs Quechua and Spie The North Face, along with Corredor Andino Neuquentur (Arg) missed CP 41 but Merell Zanfel hiked back to get it as did Cross Sportswear and Ertips. This is still to be confirmed, and a decision made about what will happen to the ranking.
When 2nd place Team Nokia Adventure were asked to comment on the race and their performance these were their spontaneous comments:
“The night was long, cold and wet.� Petri Forsman.
“I love Argentina.� Seppo Mäkinen.
“We will be back next year and try to win.� Jukka Pinola, who added they were very happy to claim second place.
“Nice Bamboo forest.� Petri Forsman (With an ironic grin!)
Sleepmonsters got a few words with Jukka Pinola, the diplomat on the team.
About the team spirit: “We never stopped believing we could make a good result. Even before the last trek we thought is was possible to catch the leaders.� (Which they did, and overtook Saab Salomon)
About the last trek: “The last night we were very cold and wet and we didn’t find the trail, so we decided to go down in one valley. It was quite technical and dangerous, very steep. We didn’t know what to expect, but finally we found a river we could follow – it was too dark to see any trails. But we were not lost – even if it felt that way. We thought many other teams were lost and that it was difficult also for them.�
SleepMonsters
