Pilgrim’s Progress - Steve Birkinshaw goes in at the deep end

Rob / 17.02.2002

Betws y Coed village hall had never seen anything like it. The car park was full of bright red inflatable canoes and dozens of vans, each loaded with enough equipment to stock a small outdoor shop. Packs of lean, logo laden athletes roamed about and French speaking staff in regulation race dress hovered everywhere. Most other European languages were being spoken too. The Salomon X-Adventure had come to town.

48 teams from the UK, France, Spain, Finland, Sweden, Germany and Italy were getting ready for the British round of the Adventure Race World Cup series. They knew they were going to have to canoe, run, climb, swim and ride a very long way over the next 36 hours, with very little rest, but they didn’t know exactly where they were going. Not until the course maps and instructions were issued at 7pm, then they disappeared in a swish of lycra, to pore over their maps.

Getting up early, very early, was in everyone’s plan and a stream of tail lights lit up the A5 before dawn. The start was easily spotted - you don’t see a 25 foot high, white inflatable arch in the Ogwen Valley very often. TV spotlights and flashguns lit team huddles and the atmosphere was expectant. Then, just before the off, the archway slowly crumpled and threatened to squash a few teams. It was soon back up and teams set off, there by three, into the slowly diminishing darkness.

They climbed Devil’s Kitchen onto the Glyders, all except the Spaniards in team Buff who were waking to a nightmare. They overslept, arrived late and then hurrying to the start one of them slipped, injured himself and could not go on beyond the first checkpoint. Fortunately, the rules allow for a 4th team member who acts as a substitute, and they could opt out of stage one, take a time penalty, and continue from stage 2 where the substitute joined the team.

See All Stories On This Race