GaelForce 12 West Adventure Race
Wild West Showdown
24.09.2007
Westport Ireland, shares its name with Westport on the equally wild and rugged west coast of New Zealand and the location of the 2005 Adventure Racing World Championships. Both towns have a rural frontier charm about them and also a similar passion for outdoor sports.
The event village at Westport House was a great setting – beautiful grounds, lots of space and fantastic Irish hospitality.
The Irish and British teams arrived a few days before the race to soak up the atmosphere. The event organizers did a great job in managing the logistics headache of picking teams up as they arrived into three different airports (Knock, Shannon and Galway), combined with the slow pace of roads on the west coast it made for an adventure in its own.
As the teams lined up for the Start of the race at 5.00pm on Friday Night, there was plenty of friendly banter but everyone knew it was going to be a tight race as there were four strong teams all very eager to win. Team Accelerate, the 2006 champions had returned to defend their crown. Team Sleepmonsters had bought together a top squad led by the gritty and determined Gill Watson. Team Irish AR were in great spirits and looking to go well on home turf and Team Aberdeen Asset Management were as competitive and focused as ever.
Stage 1: Friday 31st August
The race started on bike at Westport and after a short police escort teams took to the coast road and headed for the first transition area. It was a great ride along the coast and then up over some fast bridleways to the base of Coagh Patrick (or the Reek), Ireland’s holy mountain.
SleepMonsters
