Raid Gauloises
New Territory
Rob / 09.06.2003
This is the first time entry has not been open to all. It’s now only open to teams who’ve qualified through the X-adventure Raid series which makes the race a sort of ‘World Cup Final’. While this does mean teams are there on merit it’s not without it’s problems. To get around the fact the Raid series is predominantly European the top 5 U.S. teams and some wildcard entries were invited, but a look at the shorter than usual start list suggests this hasn’t been very successful.
Montrail are the only U.S. team in the race and Seagate.com are the only New Zealand team there, though there is a slightly wider mix of international teams than before. (There are 39 starters, 20 nationalities and 14 teams from France.) Both are among the race favourites though. One of the wild card entries were the 2002 race winners in Vietnam, VSD Eider, who took part in the X-adventure series, but failed to qualify by getting high enough up the ranking list. Yet they must be one of the favourites for the Raid Gauloises title again.
One of the big questions the race is about to answer is how well teams who’ve specialised in the brutally fast, fully supported, stage race format of X-adventure will do in one of the biggest expedition races of all. The all-out sprint style of the qualifying races is very, very different to the slower pace of the Raid Gauloises, as are the tactics and preparation. Experience counts for so much in the non-stop, multi-day races yet the top ranked qualifying team have never done anything longer than a weekend race before. It will be interesting to see if they can adapt and match the likes of Nokia Adventure, Spie, Human Link or Buff. How many of the less experienced teams will start too fast?
Another significant change is that for the first time the race is unsupported. (It\'s also now for teams of 4 not 5.) Again this is very different to the X-adventures where slick support is an essential for good performance. It makes the logistics simpler and the results are not now in any way dependent on support, which is outside of the control of the racers. (At the race in Nepal/Tibet the leading team arrived at one of the final PC’s to find their support and bikes had not arrived and they lost the race.)
Although they ranked third in the X-adventure series Saab Salomon don’t get a mention as one of the race favourites, which won’t worry them. However, both Pete James and Jim Davies are among the more experienced expedition racers taking part, and Ben Bardsley has won Adrenalin Rush as well. Helen Jackson is understandably nervous about her first big, multi-day race, but the mountainous course will suit her well. It’s new territory both for Helen and for the race itself.
SleepMonsters
