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incommunicado

Doug Doyle / 20.08.2005

I managed to contact Geoff Langford, Race Director this morning to find out what was happening in the field. The teams have been racing for 10.5 hours and much more to come – time wise, they are about a third of the way into the race.

I had been checking the Raid the North site for updates and noted that Team Pure was the first to arrive at CP1/TA1 with DART, Discombobulated and Wild Rose following close behind. The race leader board on the Raid the North Nelson site http://www.raidthenorth.com/2005/rtn/Nelson/Live/leaderboard.php showed all the teams had cleared CP1, but no further information was available.

Geoff wasn’t able to provide any further news about the race as cell phone coverage and radio communication from CP2 and CP3 was not available and he was anxious to know what was happening to the racers and staff in the field.

Geoff is currently juggling the Raid the North Nelson 36 hour race and the Nelson Salomon Adventure Challenge (SAC) which started a half hour ago.

The SAC is a 40+ km, 5 to 6 hour unsupported race that features mountain biking, trekking and paddling with teams made up of three: all male, all female and mixed.

The 2005 season has 5 SAC races planned and three races have already been run.

- May 7/05, Bon Echo Provincial Park, Addington Highlands, On
- June 11/05, Marmora & Lake, On
- July 23/05, Deerhurst Resort, Huntsville, On
- August 20/05 Nelson, BC
- September 23/05, Wilderness Tours, Ottawa River Valley, On.

I’m not sure how Geoff and his staff are able to concurrently run the SAC and RtN 36 hour race as the logistical and time commitments are enormous. I’m sure Geoff didn’t get much sleep last night and he won’t be looking forward to much shut eye during today or tonight – the SAC will officially finish at 1800hrs then the post race banquet and awards ceremonies will take place which he will attend. Geoff laughs this off and states that its’ not that difficult: it’s all in the planning and having competent staff to delegate work to.

I’ll be periodically checking in with Geoff and Pat Chan to obtain race information during the day and into the night - I’m curious as to how the teams are now doing. The weather in the Nelson area is going to be spectacular, if you’re at the beach and wanting to tan in the hot 29 degree Celsius sun. For the racers, this is going to be significant factor in how much effort they will be able to muster with the sun beating down on them and they’re climbing a hillside or biking up a steep fire access gravel road. Frequent hydration and fuelling up will keep racers moving and they may even be able to stop at one of the towns hosting a TA and have a ‘cold one.’

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