2002 Year Review
May - Peak Season
Rob / 16.12.2002
An Epic Raid
At the start of the month the Raid Gauloises was already underway in Vietnam and we carried 25 race reports to follow the teams through the jungles and caves, down to a dramatic finish on the ocean kayaking stage. The eventual winners of the longest Raid ever (over 1000 kms) were French team VSD Eider ahead of Nokia Adventure, who lost their title. It was to be a tough year for the Finns, who dominated the international scene in 2001 but struggled to secure a win in 2002.
The only UK racers were Steve ‘Ski’ Sharp and Anna McCormack in the Anglo-Finnish team ‘Lapin Kulta’. International communication was obviously a problem, as was the deteriorating state of Anna’s feet, but the team kept going to finish in an impressive 5th place. (The other UK involvement was on the reporting side with Giuseppe Minetti sending colourful reports back from the course under the codename of ‘Pino’.)
You can read all the Raid reports here.
Heading for the Hebrides
As events in Vietnam drew to a close the One.Tel Hebridean Challenge was getting underway in a blissfully sunny Outer Hebrides. Martin Stone worked hard to produce the world’s most complex AR stage race, giving teams of 5 a whole range of options on who did what as they raced over every inhabited island in the chain, and Felicity Martin did wonders to make sense of it in her daily reports and picture galleries.
It all came to a dramatic climax on the 5th day when Team ‘Compeed Maxim’ looked certain winners until Jon Whittaker tore a thigh muscle crossing a fence right at the last gasp. This left the way open for ‘Parrot/Lythgoe’ to retain the title, and subsequently to go on and win the British Championships with 3 of the team who took part in the Hebrides.
See Felicity’s coverage here.
One Day Wonders
May was peak season for the one-day races which were such a success in 2002. The first Trailplus event for teams of 3 took place at Sandhurst, quickly followed by the first of the new Ford Ranger Adventure Series at Thetford Forest and the QuestARS race in the Brecon Beacons.
Each has it’s own unique attractions and all of them did a great job of encouraging new competitors into the sport and building the skills of those just getting started. Fears that there would be too many one-day races and not enough competitors to go around were unfounded and throughout the year all the race series were well subscribed and often full. They helped build a stronger base for AR in the UK this year.
Trailplus Report and Pictures
Ford Ranger Adventure Report and Pictures.
QuestARS Report
SleepMonsters
