The Raid World Championship 2005
Away on the Water
Rob Howard / 10.09.2005
Most of the preparation had been done the day before with their support crews; buying the right food, checking their bikes, working out team strategy for sleep etc. This morning all they had to do was prepare the large, bright red inflatable canoes for the first part of the race, an 11km paddle southwards to the small village of Angon. Here they would meet up with their support crews at the first Assistance Point, an early rendezvous just over an hour into the race, and the start of a long climb up to the Pass of Tournette.
Even so teams had all their mandatory equipment with them and the Asia Pacific team were carefully going through a checklist before the start. A missed item could mean a time penalty.
The other task was to check the boats, to make sure they were fully inflated, and the last to do this were Les Arcs Quechua. Their support were busy pumping while the team taped maps to the floor of the canoe and put straps across to streamline it a little more. They then put 2 narrow poles on the front of one boat so they could easily harness the two boats together. (In the qualifiers only 3 race at any one time, so it’s 3 in one boat, but here all 4 race all the time, so two boats are used.)
On a warm, clear morning the teams put their boats into the water, then climbed in and waited nervously as the count down to the start began. Inevitably, there was a short delay to wait for the TV helicopter.
On the start gun half the teams set off paddling hard, the other half took time to harness up their canoes, and they were then away down the lake. There will be little between the teams on this first paddle, but every second could count in this race, and the top contenders wanted to establish themselves at the front. They may also want to reach the abseil on the second stage first to avoid the possibility of queues.
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