7 Cerros Medellin Urban Adventure Race
Last in the first section but first at the finish line today.
22.09.2007
Team Teva-La Pinilla (ESP) were one of the last teams down the hill on the first section of the day – a fast 7 km ride on the Colombian go-karts. “What’s three minutes?� said Captain Antonio de la Rosa. “It’s better to go safely in an event like this.� They were actually ten minutes slower than the first team down – Sweden’s Lundhags Adventure – a surprise to all as they are the new team to this race and have not tried the go-karts before.
From PC1 teams headed out on foot for a 23 km walk/run with some major elevation loss and gain (sorry I don’t have the exact number, but probably something like a 1000 m net gain, with a lot of downs and ups to get there), hiking uphill under the cable-car line that leads to the Santo Domingo district. This was once one of the most violent neighbourhoods in the Americas (due to drug wars) and now it is a safe and healthy community with new schools and libraries and (legal) employment opportunities. The first teams got here a lot faster than our press van was able to pass through the congested streets in town and then up the narrow switchbacks, so I did not catch the order of the fastest teams – but they included Safety (COL), Sole (USA), RÃos y Canoas (COL), Lundhags (SWE), Totto Karen’s Pizza (COL), Columbia Sporting Team (COL) and Teva-La Pinilla (ESP).
The hike continued even higher up from here, to a small but pretty lake in the National Park Piedras Blancas. Towards the end, Lundhags tried to take a short-cut through the forest, instead of following the switchbacks – but the bushbashing only ended up costing them time.
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