Eco-Challenge
The 2 Steves: Pushing Pete too hard .....?
Steve D / 09.10.2002
When Rob asked Steve and myself to do this long-distance Team TNF-Kona Eco-watch, he told us he wanted something funny, nasty and cutting edge. He asked us to think of the greats of alternative comedy – Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, Vic and Bob, The Chuckle Brothers – and work from there.
Well, as those of you who know me already know, I don’t do funny. That’s Watkins’ job…I mean, he’s got the advantage when it comes to physical comedy thanks to his uncanny resemblance to Tubbs from The League of Gentlemen. Something to do with those Welsh genes I guess. But I digress…
So that left me with the job of being Mr Nasty. Word gets around fast, obviously, as I’ve already had an e-mail from Anna asking me to go nice on the grounds that her mum will be reading (Hi Mrs M!). Good try Anna, but no dice.
OK, so to kick off with, let’s take a look at the team’s weaknesses. Two spring to mind, and Keith himself has already pointed out the first one elsewhere on Sleepmonsters: navigation.
Eco has come in for some flak recently, with competitors claiming the race has degenerated into an ultra-distance off-road triathlon, with none of the real wilderness edge of early events. To combat this, I suspect this year’s nav could be considerably harder than in previous races. Combine that with thick jungle and teams will need to be rather handy with the old map and compass.
Now Pete James is no mug on the navigation front, but Keith, Anna and Norm aren’t renowned for their navving skills. In the recent past, Pete has had Tom Gibbs or Ski Sharp – or both – to share the burden and compare notes with, and this has been key to some of their recent successes. As Steve, Keith and I have found out to our cost in the past, leaving the navigation to one person places an incredible strain on that team member, and they will tire prematurely. The fact that Pete is the strongest athlete on the team helps, but I still feel that if the navigation is tough, this reliance on Pete could cost them a top 10 finish.
And the second weakness? I’ll come onto that tomorrow…
Nasty Steve
SleepMonsters
