Raid the North
I\'ve got a lovely bunch of Coconuts (or, How to deal with a charging bear)
Doug Doyle with reporting by Pat Chan / 20.08.2005
He said the start was unlike anything he has seen at an adventure race – a festival was ongoing for the racers and the towns people had come up to cheer them on, even if the race was starting at midnight. Restaurants were open, Ms Kaslo and Ms Kootenay were there to encourage the racers, music was playing to give a festive air to send the racers under the start line Salomon arch and into the night with a bright moon to guide them.
The support crews then sped off to set up for the arrival of the teams at TA1/CP1 and they didn’t have much time to wait. Pat recorded the in and out times of a few teams. The original estimates for the 15 km bike ride was thought to be about 1.5 hours, but it was considerably less for the lead teams
- Team #35 Team Pure in at 0110hrs;
- #22 DART in at 0114hrs;
- #42 Wild Rose and #23 Discombobulated in at 0115hrs;
- #25 Helly Hansen and #34 Outdoor Pursuits in at 0120hrs;
- #20 2 Hot 2 Not in at 0122hrs;
- #29 IWS Racing in at 0125hrs;
- #30 Jam Cabins in at 0133hrs;
- #26 Holofibre in at 0152hrs
- #37 Stadium Dogs in at 0225hrs (they had missed the turn off the highway then had to double back;
- #33 One mind/8legs in at 0233hrs.
Most teams were out of transition within 4 to 5 minutes.
Support crews were required to wait until all the teams arrived and departed CP1 before moving via convoy to CP3/TA2. The support crews left enmasse at 0300, the drove in convoy to TA2 to arrive about 0345, set up camp and wiggled into their sleeping bags for a few hours sleep to be fresh for the arrival of their teams.
At 0730hrs the make shift nomadic camp came to life: bikes were being worked on, water boiled and food laid out in anticipation of their teams.
At 0833hrs, the sun rose over the mountain and shined on the valley floor. The air warmed up, coats came off and smiles, laughter and chatter replaced the support crews anxiousness of where on the course there teams were and when would they be arriving?
Pat was able to speak with many of the teams that arrived into the TA and was told that teams were reporting rock fall in the mountains on the way to Password Peak. Team #29 IWS Racing said that there were rocks coming down the size of Volkswagens and teams were radioing into HQ to let them know the situation.
Apparently team Holofibre was concerned about a team behind them and sent a member back to them to ensure they were safe.
The view of the mountain from the TA was that it was a very, very steep route up there.
Terror in the Dark
On the Raid the North Nelson website, one of the race reports mentions that DART had noticed a dark shadow in the bush. Pat was able to speak directly to the team to clarify what had happened when they checked in to CP3/TA2.
The lead team DART was bushwacking between CP1 and CP2 near the base of the alpine area, when the spotted some dark eyes glowing and a low, rough growling noise was coming from the dark shadow. The shadow was a grizzly that charged the team. The grizz stopped short and the team was able to clamber up onto a high log where they huddled together and tried to look big and fierce and were screaming at the top of their lungs. The grizzly charged again and again stopped short, then disappeared into woods. DART reports it was scary, very un-nerving.
Following closely behind DART was team #31 Mergeo.com and also team #25 Helly Hansen. Chris Christie of Helly Hansen told Pat that the screams from DART “…were nothing like I have ever heard before, like something straight out of the Blair Witch Project.� “Our team freaked and we all had our flares in our hands.�
Team Mergeo.com was also near by when they heard DART yelling and screaming.
Mergeo said the made a lot of noise then joined Helly Hansen and started singing at the top of their lungs “I’ve got a lovely bunch of coconuts,� to scare the bear away. It must have worked as the bear disappeared into the darkness. We will never know whether it was the loud, combined noises of the teams or whether it was the quality of their singing that made the grizzly flee.
At TA2, #26, Holofibre member Seth Casden, said that it was brutal in the mountains, a brutal mountain hike up to 8400’ – the elevation was given to the teams via a note they found in the clue box at CP1A.
Pat asked Seth, a rookie adventure racer, what it as like to race with Team Holofibre. Seth said his team mates were amazing athletes and he was helped by all of them and there was no way he could attempt this race without them.
Pat noticed that at TA1, Holofibre was in 18th place and now, at TA2 they moved 8 spots up to 10th place. Why? Seth sated that it was navigation in the mountains and not stopping for breaks that allowed them to move up against the field.
Team Holofibre checked out of TA2 at 1247hrs on their bikes but at 1330hrs, the team radioed into HQ that Seth was “broken.� Seth crashed and sustained a fractured collarbone. It is unknown if Holofibre is continuing unranked at this time.
Local favourites, team #40, Whitelight Adventures arrived at CP3/TA2 at 1306hrs. Their support crew went above and beyond the normal support crew duties and had a gourmet meal ready for them: roasted garlic mashed potatoes, greek lentils with olive oil, homemade chicken noodle soup, rice, avocadoes, apples, oranges, Spellegrino bottled water, coke and Red Bull. I don’t eat like that at home!
As of 1500hrs when Pat left CP3TA2, team #24 Energetic, #33 One Mind/8legs, #36 Secondwind Adenture Racing and #38 Swass Xtreme had not reached CP2. Team #37 Stadium Dogs had left CP2 but not had not yet arrived at CP3/TA2.
Pat then called me again at CP5/TA3 and advised that as of 1634hrs, nine teams have made it to CP5/TA3:
#22 DART, in at 1248 and out at 1254;
#23 Discombobulated, in at 1447 and one member is resting in the medic tent;
#25 Helly Hansen, in at 1240 and out at 1253;
#27 Hurl, in at 1620;
#29 IWS Racing, in at 1628;
#31 Mergeo.com, in at 1243 and out at 1252;
#34 Outdoor Pursuit, in at 1630;
#42 Wild Rose was in at 1531 and out at 1602;
#43 Crouching Saskwatch, Hidden Langford, in at 1609hrs.
The top three teams are expected to hit CP6 and the zip line imminently.
Team #27 Hurl arrived with broken bike, one team mate had the bike on his back while riding, and the other team mate was running – they apparently were in this situation for 10 km; there\'s a fine example of team work and making do with what you have.
So far the race has had it’s share of on course excitement and the lead teams are within minutes of each other on the water.
I’ll have more for you as soon as I can.
SleepMonsters
