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Last Call at the Rafting Bar

Susan McKenzie / 15.11.2005

At dusk on Tuesday night (Day 2), the flurry of activity at TA4 bore a striking resemblance to a bar just before last call – get in and get what you need then get the hell out. The TA was the first cut off of the race, and that deadline was at 7:30pm. Teams had to be on the water and in their rafts before 7:30pm if they wanted to continue officially ranked, on the full course. If they missed the cutoff, they would be shuttled to TA5 and skip the rafting and a short bike ride.

The flurry began around six pm. Supplierpipeline, Holofiber, Solid Energy, Bridgedale Socks, Speleo Poland, Suunto, Hooked on the Outdoors were among those that all flew down to the water’s edge, for the most part making very fast transitions into the water. After such a long hard trek (and this isn’t even the toughest trek of the race), many were tired and hungry and disappointed with their performances in the bush.

“We ran out of food about three or four hours ago, and water about two hours ago,� says Suunto’s Markus Kettunen, his eyes red-rimmed from exhaustion. “It was very hard, and we made some navigational errors along the ridge, too.�

Some teams ran out of water, many ran out of food, and no one was happy with the slow progress their team had made through the brush. That even the top teams had a miserable night and had also gotten turned around in the bush was little comfort for these teams.

“There were a lot of navigational decisions, route choices,� says Murray Thomas of Bridgedale. “A few of our routes were not the best choices, I guess.�

“It’s a typical Southern Traverse course,� says Holofiber’s Dave Zietsma. “Really hard, really long. I don’t know how many teams will actually finish this race.�

Race director Geoff Hunt came down to the Buller River to greet the final few teams pushing to make the cutoff.

East Wind was the last team with a hope of making it. The Japanese came into the transition at about quarter past seven. Geoff Hunt moved between the team’s members, encouraging them and doing what he could to hasten their departure. “Come on, come on, get going.�

“Four minutes left!� Wayne Allen called out.

With race volunteers and its media entourage surrounding its boat, Team East Wind made the cut-off. Just. Time out: 7:29:31.

“They had just twenty-nine seconds to spare, but they made it.� Hunt said. “They’re the twenty-eighth and final team to make it to the cutoff.�

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