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Kiwis First to Land

Chris Archer / 10.12.2007

With the unusually stiff wind whipping the wave tips to white and sand hissing along the beach, the team that has set the pace since the start of the race yesterday morning, EUROSPORT NZ (NZL) was first to accost in Mirfa.

2 days on the sea, with a night’s bivouac on an island, and 118km later, Richard USSHER led his team into the wind-swept beach in Mirfa in first place, leading a field containing some world-class paddlers. Showing little sign of fatigue but reddened by an unremitting sun and bearing the scowling scar of a driving head wind, Richard showed sure signs of contentment with his team.

“We are not at all surprised to be first over this stage and would have been quite surprised had things turned out otherwise�, the kayaking specialist Kiwi stated blithely. “We set out to make sure we paddled as well on the second day as we would on the first but it got tough towards the end. The way the kayaks were setup was very comfortable but we didn’t make much use of the sails and Elina has made enormous progress in her paddling�.

Now the race moves to the desert where the competition could well make inroads into their fragile lead but Richard is unperturbed. “We like the idea of leading from the front because the rest of the teams have to make the effort now … we just have to stay with the leaders and make sure no one gets away too far�.

Richard sees ADCO BUFF COOLMAX (ESP), compatriots ORIONHEALTH.COM and WILSA – HELLYHANSEN as the big contenders for the lead on the second phase but already has a tactical take on the proceedings: “There will be some teams going out hard tomorrow but we won’t be one of them. We have enough experience in this kind of format to know that those teams never win. This is obviously not a winning lead but we might have already put some teams out of the running and we will be trying to consolidate our lead�, he added stoically.

The French of LAFUMA SPORT-2000 finished 30 minutes behind, in second place followed closely by ORIONHEALTH (NZ) 2 minutes later and third place WILSA SPORT HELLYHANSEN (FRA) 15 minutes later. The rest of the teams will finish until the early evening. One team, Australians DOWN UNDER, decided to head south and hug the coastline which enabled them to pass a number of teams.

4 teams at the rear of the race were brought to the finish for safety reasons: TDIC - RIGHT TO PLAY (UAE), ABU DHABI NOMADS (SER), NOMAD ROMANIA (ROU) and DUNKERQUE INEO SUEZ (FRA). They will all receive a 36-hour penalty but will be eligible to start the desert phase tomorrow morning.

Provisional ranking at end of kayaking section (118km)

1 EUROSPORT NZ (NZ) in at 15h55
2 LAFUMA-SPORT 2000 (FRA) at 16h25
3 ORIONHEALTH.COM (NZL) at 16h27
4 WILSA HELLYHANSEN (FRA) at 16h42
5 NIKE (USA) at 17H05
6 ERTIPS (FRA) at 17h19
7 ADCO BUFF COOLMAX (ESP) at 17h28
8 SALOMON/CRESTED BUTTE (USA) at 17h40
9 FJS (SWE) at 18h00
10 LUNDHAGS ADVENTURE (SWE) at 18h02
11 AFOC FINLAND (FIN) at 18h05
12 TEAM HALTI (SWE) at 18h11

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