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Dark Horse pushing hard

Jacqueline Windh / 18.03.2007

This team, although out of the offical ranking, made an exceptional effort to get there for today’s 2pm rafting cutoff.

I hiked back up from the Nido del Tigre rafting camp this morning, back to the TA at Linda Vista. With my relatively fresh legs, I pushed hard in the hot sun, and made it to the TA in two hours (not counting a half-hour stop at the one-room school to explain to the children what this race is about).

I arrived at the TA at exactly 11am, just as Dark Horse pulled in on their bikes. Although the rafting cutoff is 2pm (to avoid them ending up on the river after dark), there was also a 1pm cutoff on the ropes (intended to keep teams from hurrying on the ropes and possibly being unsafe in order to amke the rafting cutoff).

I’d taken 2 hours on fresh legs, and they had only two hours. “We’ll run it� said Tom.

“Yeah, I’m looking forward to getting back on my feet� someone else said, and the others all agreed. (Last I’d seen these guys they were hobbling along with blisters!). In an exceptional demonstration of great teamwork and efficiency, they helped each other pack the bikes, change gear, eat and drink, and were out of there in 30 minutes. And they were running fast!

In spite of the midday sun, we got a phone call from the school 40 minutes later – Dark Horse had been and gone! I have not heard any details since then (like whether they actually did the ropes section or not – they may have skipped it since they were already racing unranked) but I do know that they made it on to the river in time. Last I heard, they had arrived to the lower river camp and were going to rest for a bit, and planned to be in the kayaks at 9pm.

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