Raid Gauloises
Montrial Forge Ahead
Raid Gauloises Reporting Team / 16.06.2003
As the 20:30 guillotine fell, a time at which any teams on the river between CP28 and CP29 would have to get to shore and wait until 05:00 before being able to start out again, there was only one team preparing to ride off on the 78kms saw tooth MTB section.
MONTRAIL (US) had just put in a stunning display of “rapid running�, managing to slip in under the cut off time and continue racing through the night, while the three other teams that made it onto the water behind them, HUMAN LINK (SE), BUFF EXTREM (SP) and ERTIPS X-ADVENTURE (FR) would be blocked until morning. This gave MONTRAIL (US) a potential lead of over 8:30, making it almost impossible for them to be caught. Exceptionally, for safety reasons, every raft contained, in addition to the team, a river guide to help in navigating the tricky rapids.
Later in the evening VSD-EIDER (FR) arrived at CP28 and slept during the dark time, putting into the river in the morning only 30 minutes ahead of SEAGATE (NZ), who had been pushing hard all night but were beginning to show signs of fatigue.
Sleep at this stage of the race is crucial to a strong finish, SEAGATE’s speciality, but time is running out for them to rest and most of their rivals have already slept prior to the rafting section. SAAB SALOMON (GB) did just that, after spending most of the MTB section between CP26 and CP28 alongside SEAGATE (NZ). They lost about 2 hours, which meant they then had EQUILIBRE ATTITUDE (FR) to worry about for 7th place, but the rest left them looking fresher than ever.
Despite getting some welcome rest the night before, VSD-EIDER (FR) pulled out of the race about 15km into the biking section from CP29 at around 11:30, when Gilles Lelievre complained of feeling too ill to carry on. “We got 9km into the bike ride but I just couldn\'t keep going. Every time I eat I am sick. We saw a race helicopter overhead and made a big H sign with our arms. It landed nearby and we told them our race was over. That’s life sometimes,� said Gilles.
VSD-EIDER\'s withdrawal put SEAGATE (NZ) into 5th place and SAAB SALOMON (GB) in 6th. EQUILIBRE ATTITUDE (FR), after coming into CP29 about 5 minutes behind SAAB SALOMON (GB), dropped some time with a slower than usual transition to their MTBs, and are now in 7th.
SleepMonsters
