AR World Championship 2005
Racing to the Bitter End
Rob Howard / 17.11.2005
The teams at the back of the race have known for some time that the clock is ticking down to the deadline at the end of the paddling stage. One of these is Salomon GB, and like all the teams they found the last mountain ‘biking’ stage exceptionally hard – everyone said it was more of a push than a ride. One reason it took longer than expected is that the distance was much greater than expected – in the route book it was given at 89km, but several teams clocked it at between 140 & 150km!
Salomon GB had a team meeting at the end of the ride (TA7) and discussed their options, thinking that it was almost impossible for them to complete the next trek and the river paddle before the cut-off. They could have pulled out and missed the trek, completing as much of the rest of the course as possible as an unranked team, and had almost reached this decision when captain Jim Davies stood up and urged them to keep racing as long as possible, saying while they were out racing there was always a chance. “It was a bit like one of those old war movies,� said team manager Tim Lloyd, “they all decided to fight to the bitter end! They felt it’s better to keep going as long as possible and be told to stop, rather than give up.�
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