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Second top European team falls from 2002 Mild 7

Tim / 25.11.2002

After a very strong performance on day 2 Team Switzerland Raidnature were on a charge once again, but the days mountain bike leg would see an end to their Mild 7 challenge. On a fast downhill section approaching the end of the leg Iwan Schuwey, the Winter Triathlon World Champion, got his front wheel stuck in a deep rut while travelling at speed. He lost control of his bike and crashed heavily, it was immediately apparent that he was badly hurt and obviously could not continue. He was taken to hospital where it was confirmed that he has a broken collar bone. It is very bad news for the Swiss team who were coming through very strongly after a disappointing first day, but devastating for Iwan who was favourite to regain his World title again this year, the race series will start in 2 weeks.

Another day 3 casualty is the 2001 third placed team Mountain Designs from Australia. They were unable to even start the day because of problems incurred on the first 2 days.

As for the remainder of the teams, a very familiar pattern is repeating itself from day to day. The first 2 legs were running and mountain biking, and as yesterday Team Saab Salomon set the pace. But as the day progressed to the long sea kayak to the finish, once again Team Hi-Tec showed their dominance on the water taking a massive 30 minutes out of the British team and finishing a full 10 minutes ahead of second placed team GoLite, who were closely followed home by Nokia Adventure.

It was another day of punishing weather for the athletes, the temperature was again in the high 90\'s coupled with 90% humidity. There is no shelter from the heat. The jungle is like an oven and the reflection of the sun off sea makes the paddling equally as difficult. Hydration is probably the biggest issue for the teams here, litres upon litres of water are consumed by the athletes and still they suffer from the effect of the sun. \"I don\'t think I\'ve ever raced in conditions this hot in my life\" said Adam at the day 3 finish. \"It was hot in Utah at the X-Adventure last year, but that was nothing compared with this\". When asked how he is feeling after his illness on the first 2 days, he replied \"I\'m feeling a bit better in myself now, but I\'m still not right. I also think I might have cracked a rib on day 1 so that doesn\'t help much either. When I breathe heavily it\'s absolute agony\". Sadly for Adam, heavy breathing in these conditions is unavoidable.

The good news for Team Saab Salomon is that tomorrow the race will take teams to the summit of Mount Kinabalu, the highest peak in South East Asia. Helen is confident that they can put in a good performance on the last day. \"We\'re all good runners so we still think we can pull some time back, quite a few of the other teams really struggle running up hill, I think we will be fast descending too. We\'ve then got 40k on the bikes which should suit us, the only problem will be the15k kayak to the finish, we\'ll just have to hold on and hope for the best. Whatever happens, we\'re all having a good time here and we\'re still smiling\".

Overall Results after Day 3:

1. Hi-Tec 18.51.58
2. Nokia 19.26.31
3. GoLite 19.32.51
4. Karhukopio 20.11.27
5. Suunto 20.28.07
6. Argentina 20.36.45
7. Saab Salomon 20.43.37
8. Montrail 20.59.18
9. Aubert/SPIE 21.03.18
10. Malaysia 21.24.21

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