Eco-Challenge
Four by Four Adventurers
Rob / 09.10.2002
The flags on the leaderboard of any Eco-Challenge are inevitably going to be mostly stars and stripes, with a fair few maple leaves and a smattering of other colour combinations. Among the others for 2002 are 3 Union Jacks and one Irish Tricolour. Here’s what we know about them – which is some cases isn’t much. (There’s a separate story on Team The North Face Kona.
Team A-Tek are a Police/Marines squad who had the misfortune to lose their captain, Darren Griffiths, just before the race. Team member Sean Morley explained the team’s background:
“We are a \"Rookie\" team, as the Americans will inevitably call us, sponsored by a Cabling Company called A-Tek. The original team was essentially made up from serving and ex-Royal Marines but the Police have done a take-over! Darren Griffiths was the guy who had the inspiration to approach A-Tek for sponsorship and called in his best mate, Colour Sgt Gary Bullen RM.. Through a family connection they asked Katy Setter (Police Constable - Response, Exeter) to join and she recommended me as an experienced sea kayaker (I’m a Police Sergeant - Armed Response, Camborne). Unfortunately two weeks ago Darren had an emergency operation for appendicitis and he very courageously pulled out of the team, despite it being his dream for the last 3 years. This allowed Mike Griffin (Police Sergeant - Firearms Licensing, Exeter) to join the team as a late replacement and Gary took over as team captain�
“None of us have done anything like the Eco before, but we all have skills and experience that should prove useful. Gary has all his Royal Marines training to fall back on. Mike is ex-Army and an experienced mountaineer, plus a very good runner and cyclist. Katy is extremely fit, an ex-P.E. teacher and a good runner. My speciality is kayaking, ex-GB Team and now concentrating on sea kayaking with a few record-breaking crossings and 2 Hebridean Challenges under by belt. I can run and bike a bit too.�
“So, although we do not have a pedigree in Adventure Racing I am confident we will be able to give it a good go. It will push us well beyond our personal limits and how we get on will be dependent upon how we operate as a team to see us through.�
Team XL-Lupus UK are lead by Chris Horrod, who was in Borneo in 2000 with team Turbo (from the Thames Turbo Triathlon Club), but they never managed to complete the course. Chris’ background is as a Triathlete having completed the Ironman distance 8 times and the World Long Course Championships. Amazingly, he found time to get into the GB whitewater canoeing team too. Apart from Eco 2000 he was also among the lucky few to compete in the one off Xerox Challenge which ran the length of New Zealand in 1991.
With him will be the diminutive Naomi Carry, who is dwarfed by her 3 burly team mates. She was on the TNF team in Borneo and will certainly be hoping for a better outcome this time. She was airlifted from an offshore island (a rescue Chris helped with) early in the race, but at the time was already struggling to keep up with the pace. The others in the team are 50 year old Bob Evans and Mick Peatfield who lives in Whistler British Columbia. They\'ve both done Scottish and New Zealand coast to coast races.
Team Bridgedale Ireland are lead by Noel Hanna, a prolific and very successful racer in recent years. (Though you wouldn’t know it from his very modest profile page!) Only last week he was racing the British Championships with ‘Team The North Face’ as a ‘warm up’. They finished 4th, but a bit later than expected so Noel missed his flight back to Ireland where he only had a couple of days free before flying to Fiji!
Noel has lead Irish teams in the previous 3 Eco-Challenges (26th, 27th and 22nd)and with him this time are 2 of team who were at the NZ Eco-Challenge last time around, Lynne Stark and Gary Robertson. Noel and Gary have had a particularly good year as both were on the winning Adrenalin Rush team and with \'Bridgedale Ireland\' also put in an amazing performance at Primal Quest back in July, finishing 7th. The new kid on the block with no previous Eco experience is Paul Murphy but he has loads of swimming, kayaking and navigation experience and if past performance is anything to go by the team are a good bet to finish well.
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