Southern Traverse
Final Preparations
Rob / 17.11.2002
For Team Land Rover this was a rented house on the outskirts of town, with kayaks laid out in the back garden, room for a couple of Discoveries and a kitchen overflowing with food which was munched by anyone passing. Everyone seemed to be eating non-stop. Norm Dunroy set about making final adjustments to the kayak rudders, and giving some more thought to how to rig their 3x3m tarp into a sail. In readiness for this it’s had pockets sewn in to allow poles or paddles to be inserted as ‘masts’, which the team believe won’t be considered as ‘modifications’, which are not allowed under the rules.
With two support vehicles and 5 support crew it was a busy place, as they have their own logistics to work out, from how much food to buy, to the timings of drives, to how to protect gear to be left at remote drop offs. The main support team are Emma and Scott, who crewed on the race last year and there is a definite advantage to having local knowledge and big race experience in your back-up. Ran Fiennes described them as ‘professionals’, by which he meant they knew exactly what they were doing.
In another room Ski Sharp and Nicola MacLeod began laying out the maps and marking the course, carefully checking the instructions. Ran Fiennes was concentrated on eating, and wasn’t happy about the amount of mountain biking and it’s technical nature. “I won’t be able to ride anything technical� he said, “ and I just hope all the other teams have at least one member who feels the same. There’s not enough trekking on the course for me, though I’ll enjoy the paddling if it’s not too rough.�
Asked about how the team, who’ve not raced together before, would work as a unit he said, “We won’t have any problems on that front. Ski has raced with everyone and we all accept him as the leader, so there is no friction of that kind. He’ll to do all the navigation too, with Nicky and Norm as backup – it’s a challenge he relishes. I’ve been shouted at by Ski all over the world now so I’ll know what to do.�
By comparison team Lythgoe were more stressed. They’d been camping down by the river, but moved into a chalet to mark the maps, a 5 hour job near the end of which Jim was clutching his head in his hands and saying, “It’s making my head hurt!� Phil was not even considering any seriously technical riding as it wasn’t worth the risk of a fall or damage to the bike in such a long race, and all of them were affected by Geoff Hunt’s warnings of bush so dense they might end up crawling! “We remember it from last year, “said Andrew, “and the bush here is impenetrable. Though they are confident and only worried about Seagate.com from the competition, the mood wasn’t a positive one. There is no doubt this team find the pre-race preparation one of the hardest parts of the event and they’ll be glad to get going in the morning.
SleepMonsters
