Buff Make a Break

Rob / 16.10.2002

The race has been so close and so slow for so long, but now Buff AXN have made a break and shown the latter part of the course is significantly faster. All the remaining UK and Irish teams are moving up as well, mainly as teams who were ahead of them drop out.

At the front Buff’s lead now looks significant, but it’s too early to say it’s decisive. After breaking away into CP8 they forged ahead strongly on the mountain biking leg and are the first to reach the final kayaking stage, which has 7 CP’s. They are being chased by defending champions Golite/Balance Bar, but may be more worried about the current third placed team, Air Pacific of Australia, who are awesome paddlers and will be looking forward to reaching the water.

After what they’ve been through so far though, no one will count in it being a straight forward paddle. Mr Burnett will have more tricks up his sleeve yet and the course description reads: “A multitude of reefs, both visible and submerged, will require the team’s careful navigation to uninhabited islands. Coasteering requires strong swimming skills and the ability to negotiate slippery rocks and crashing surf while traversing rocky coastlines.� And don’t forget that underwater light added to the mandatory equipment …

From the pace of the leaders it’s clear the second Mtb stage is quicker, though it looks like they all did it in daylight, which makes a big difference. This is good news for all the following teams, but they won’t know that of course. In fact they may have no idea of their position in the race at all. In reality the later part of the course had to be quicker or only a couple of teams would finish, but the teams out in the jungle can only concentrate on the next stage and keeping up their morale and motivation.

The North Face Kona will be looking forward to getting into the kayaks, even though it’s a long way off. They are strong paddlers and will be holding on to the thought they could finish strongly, and at least then they’ll be off their feet. (A hobbling Bob Faulkner who retired yesterday from Team Advil said his team were making maybe one kilometre an hour before he quit.) They will also be spurred on knowing friends and rivals Bridgedale Ireland Salomon are just behind them, and appear to be racing in company with Subaru Canada as the leaderboard shows them 15th equal, with the Irish team 17th.

The places gained seem to be due to others dropping out rather than passing any teams. Of the 7 Canadian teams Subaru are the only one left after several dropped out yesterday, including the highly placed ‘Running Free’ and ‘Schick Xtreme 3’. The Brazilians suffered too when AXN Atenah Brazil pulled out from 12th place. Also, just ahead of TNF Kona were ‘Jackson Hole’ led by Jason Petervary who raced Primal Quest with Pete James and Anna McCormack and they’ll be sorry to hear he’s out as well. There are now 30 of the 81 starters out or unranked and Team A-Tek of the UK are up to 32nd

[Winners of The North Face Duffel Bags so far are: Simon Coppen-Gardner, Martin Barrett, Rob Sanderson, Furgus Murchie and Jan Panter. If you sign up for our Eco-Challenge updates now there are 4 more still to win and you’ll get an email telling you every time we post a new Eco story.]

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