Eco-Challenge
The 2 Steves: Charge of the Night Brigade!
Steve W / 14.10.2002
Team The North Face Kona have been on fire overnight and have charged up the rankings, overtaking Ireland’s Team Bridgedale Salomon in the process. Mr Cheery I may be, but Nasty Steve, our little bet could still be alive and kicking!
I really thought TNF Kona were gone and out of it, but top 10 is still possible. After what must have been a superlative team effort on the mountain bikes (or off them by the sounds of Nokia’s experience on the section), Keith, Anna, Pete and Norm have carried on this exciting recovery on the white water kayaking stage. They are now in 21st place, an amazing 18 places higher than yesterday morning. Keith loves overcoming adversity! Go guys go!
Although they are still not racing where they would like to be (in the top ten), coming back from the dead like that injects a new energy all of its own and us Brits love being the underdog. They will be fired up almost as if they were leading the race and there are five teams ahead of them all within ‘picking off’ range on the next couple of sections, so expect to see them moving even higher up the rankings today.
It will be fascinating to hear how they made up the ground, but if they got to do the treacherous mountain biking section mainly during daylight then that could be where they gained an advantage. Steve D, do you remember in Eco Borneo how the first jungle mountain biking leg took us 17 epic and hallucinatory hours in the dark where as teams doing it in daylight whizzed through in almost half that time?
Well, Mark Burnett sure has conjured up a gruelling race. It is a constant struggle against mud, water and jungle and is no doubt proving a mental challenge too far for some rookie competitors. Being cloaked in trees and humidity day after day tortures your mind. Funny how the world’s best teams perform well no matter what they are faced with, they are super fit physically but they are more mental giants.
Team Montrail Parallax have built up what seems a healthy 2 hour lead over Spie and Nokia, but this race has still got plenty of twists and turns left in it and there are at least another 3-4 days before the winning team hits the finish line. Last year in New Zealand, the winners were already home by now. It’s gripping stuff and predicting a winner is impossible!
P.S. Stevey D, wanna bet on why the Fijians were DQ’d??? Too many local little helpers perhaps? Or was it for headhunting nearby race rivals?
SleepMonsters
