Southern Traverse
Film Stars and Fell Runners
Rob / 19.11.2002
The tiny settlement was the end of the fearsome overnight mountain biking stage and the start of the paddling in the Marlborough Sounds – Transition Point Three. As the first T.A., where teams picked up their bikes, was a remote drop the crews camped out alongside the river hadn’t seen their teams since White Bay, nearly 24 hours earlier. They could only track their progress through radio reports from the checkpoints, details of which were written on the side of one of the marshal’s vans. (It was a white van so who needs a whiteboard!)
Next to this was Ben and Heather’s food van dispensing strong brew coffee to bleary eyed early morning campers and there were plenty of campers on the river flats. Most teams have 2 vehicles (at least), often 4x4 trucks or motorhomes, and these were corralled with tarps hung out to make roofs, and laid out as groundsheets, ready to briefly house the incoming teams. It’s a bit like a grand prix pit-stop, rapid refuelling and cleaning, replace any broken equipment and away the team goes again. The difference is Schumacher rarely stops for a sleep.
Star Gazing
As the early morning ticked away a crowd of perhaps 100 people gathered by the checkpoint on the roadside and most of the conversations started with either, “I heard ….�, or “Do you know where …. “ Of course no one knew anything for sure, until the first team came in it was only a guess how long the final part of the ride along the Nydia Track would take. They did know it was Seagate.com they were waiting for as they’d pushed through into the lead before the previous checkpoint, re-establishing the expected race order and their authority on the competition. Sure enough they were first to arrive at 9.46am.
A smiling Nathan Faa’vae checked in, saying, “That was some adventure ride!�, and they were whisked through to the area behind their big motor home by their support crew. Excitement over, the crowd dispersed, but a few went to watch the team in transition. This was a slick operation, each was quickly settled in a chair as shoes were removed for them and hot potatoes and stew put into their hands. While they eat they gave instructions to prepare for the next paddle and one watcher commented, “They are like film stars, their every need is taken care of, they only have to order it. They should have names on the back of those chairs.�
SleepMonsters
