Into the Lost World

Rob / 12.10.2002

Day two and the race is starting to take shape, and for The North Face Kona it’s starting to look pear-shaped. After a start they won’t have been happy with they’ve fallen back further (to 39th) when they expected to be at the front. Maybe they got lost in ‘The Lost World’.

That’s the nickname of the Sovi Basin, a volcanic basin full of fast flowing rivers and dense jungle where navigational mistakes can cost hours and knock the stuffing out of any team. Cheerful course planner Kevin Hodder said, “Various route options exist in this area and there is a risk of teams being completely lost in the darkest of jungles�. Teams set off across this area after checkpoint 2 and when they came out of the other side The North Face Kona had lost many hours. It’s possible they decided to sleep, but not surely not for so long, so early in the race. More likely they chose a poor route, maybe the one Race Director Mark Burnett was thinking of when he said some teams had chosen, “.. shorter, more difficult route … filled with wild terrain and increasing darkness .. which will prove virtually impossible to traverse given its vertical ascent along waterfalls.

Well ahead of them are Bridgedale Ireland Salomon (24th) and many other teams they would expect to at least be on a par with, while at the front the South African Team Mazda surprised everyone with their jungle skills and came out into Waivaka Pasture in the lead. “Last night we were excited to be racing with GoLite, Air Pacific and EarthLink, but now we find we’re out in front,� Michelle Lombardi from Mazda said. She said the teams had spent the night on the bili bilis coming down the river together, but some time after CP 2, where they entered the Sovi Basin, the complex navigation separated the pack. It didn’t hamper one Team Montrail though, who charged through, moving up from 30th to 3rd.

The other side of the jungle was the first bike pick up point and the first access to the team gear boxes. Teams had to assemble their bikes here, then repack their boxes, and it will have been an intense and highly pressured period of frantic activity. Transitions are critical and the top teams practice them and pass through with effortless expertise, while less experienced teams lose focus and lose hours. None of the leading contenders will have wanted to lose any ground standing still.

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