The Wilderness ARC
An Epic Course
Rob Howard / 21.08.2005
Phil Humphreys advised teams to have a realistic expectation for the week ahead. “Don’t push too hard too early, to reach the first cut-off for example, and find you’ve not got the resources to continue. We’d expect around 60% of you to complete the full course and 30% the shorter adventure course. Take a look at the maps and make a realistic assessment of your abilities. You don’t have to run all the way to complete this course!� He went on to confirm his reputation for attention to detail by predicting the winner’s finish time as 12.46pm Thursday afternoon ….
Tompsett added, “The Adventure Course is still a significant challenge which goes to very remote areas. It’s a bit shorter and a bit lower but still a fantastic route which will take you on a journey into some the most unvisited and trackless areas of Lochaber.� Humphreys’ explained the rules regarding the adventure course. “There are 3 cut-offs where the adventure course takes a short cut and rejoins the main route. Once you take a short-cut you have to take all subsequent short-cuts. Even if you take the third and final short cut you are still on the adventure course and we’ll apply time penalties to each of them, with the first 2 short-cuts carrying 9 hour time penalties, and the third a 12 hour penalty.�
There was extended discussion about the contents and use of ‘wet’ and ‘technical’ gear boxes, the first for the paddling gear, and the second for biking and climbing gear. “The idea of these,� explained Tompsett, “is to enable you to enjoy much of the course without carrying all this equipment. It’s a gift from us to you! However, you are still on an expedition race and are expected to be self sufficient, so you can’t use them to store food or extra clothing.� Teams will only access their personal gear boxes 3 times during the race and what to pack, and how to fit it in, have preoccupied them all weekend.
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