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Racing the Dark Zone

Raid Release / 11.09.2006

The third day of the race created a number of challenges that compounded the concerns of the 21 teams still in the competition: a massive 140km MTB section followed by 43km of canoeing down the River Malebaie. It all had to be finished before 19:00, the time at which the gate closes and all progress on the water ceases until tomorrow at 06:00 in the morning.

The race against time that started yesterday evening on the grinding saw-tooth trail hugging the banks of Lake Kénogami, carried on into the third day. Arriving between 20:00 and 22:00 at the end of this 46km section, the leading teams, including WILSA SPORT/HELLY HANSEN (FRA), LES ARCS-QUECHUA (FRA), SPORT 2000 LAFUMA (FRA), GOLITE-TIMBERLAND (NZL), NIKE /POWERBLAST (USA), SPYDER (USA), ADIDAS NATVENTURE (GER), SALOMON CRESTED BUTTE (USA) and SAAB SALOMON (GBR), all chose to stop and rest at Portage des Roches.

4 hours later, it was time to start out again and remind limbs and organs what the race is all about, as the teams set out on a monumental section covering 140km on MTBs, taking them through the Parc des Hautes Gorges.

This section occupied the racers for the best part of the day, keeping the fastest teams at least 9 hours in the saddle, moving at around 15km/h on average over a route that incorporated 2,000m of climbing.

ERTIPS (FRA), unfortunately, were not concerned by the particularly dubious pleasures of this tussle with time. Shortly after starting the long MTB section, the French were forced to abandon, the female member of the team was exhausted and unable to keep going. For those that chose to give Chronos a run for his money, the hardest was yet to come, since they still had to complete the following 43km of canoeing on the river Malebaie before 19:00 this evening.

It looks like only WILSA SPORT/HELLY HANSEN (FRA), LES ARCS-QUECHUA (FRA), SPORT 2000 LAFUMA (FRA), GOLITE-TIMBERLAND (NZL), NIKE/POWERBLAST (USA), SPYDER (USA) and ADIDAS NATVENTURE (GER) will be able to accomplish this. The others will have to leave the river if they are already on it at 19:00 and spend the night on the banks until 06:00 tomorrow morning when they can complete this section.

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