Eco-Challenge
From the \'Lost World\' to \'The Trail of Fire\'
Rob / 13.10.2002
The exotically named ‘Waboom Power Punch Zoic’ were suddenly top of the leader board and British team XL-Lupus were 5th ….. but no, it wasn’t true, not even an Eco-Challenger’s hallucination, just a temporary glitch on the web site. Pity, but we can dream.
There are already reports of the legendary hallucinations the SleepMonster brings to racers who’ve gone to a place beyond physical limits and out of bodily reality, and it’s only just into day 3 of the race. But the race appears to be moving much slower than expected through the jungles and rivers of Fiji. Teams were tied in knots by the raft building and floating the wrong way down the river in the darkness, and as more came out of the ‘Lost World’ of the Sovi Basin there were reports that the ‘short route’ was blocked by an impassable waterfall. It’s hard to imagine how teams must have felt when they saw it after flogging through the jungle for hours on end, often in darkness, and realised they had to turn back and find another way. (One of the tips on this site says ‘The shortest way between 2 checkpoints may not be the quickest’ – wise man Rupert!)
But this was only part of the crossing of the basin, the rest was on mountain bikes, or perhaps beside them. No doubt the teams were looking forward to getting the food stashed with their bike boxes, and getting off their feet, but it wasn’t going to be freewheeling, not by a long way. Even leading teams like Nokia Adventure said they pushed their bikes half the time in the thick mud and because the navigation was so tricky. The leaders took longer on this stage than expected, completing the whole stage at night, passing through Namuamua on the banks of the upper Navua River. Here they carried their bikes across the swift stream and continued through the thickly forested hills to Checkpoint 5 to pick up their inflatable kayaks. Yes, inflatable kayaks – Eco-Challenge have copied ACE Races!
Once on the river they returned to the village a second time to pass by and continue northwards up into the highlands in the very heart of Viti Levu island. Maybe as much as half a day behind the following teams stopping here could see the leaders float by. Perhaps they were drinking a cup of the traditional welcoming drink ‘Kava’ at the time, offered up by the hospitable villagers, but it’s a mild narcotic so drinking it may not be wise…..
SleepMonsters
