Raid Gauloises
Montrail Take The Title
Raid Gauloises Reporting Team / 16.06.2003
Rebecca RUSCH, team captain, was radiant as the realisation of finally carrying off top honours, in what will no doubt come to be recognized as the toughest and most demanding edition of the Raid Gauloises ever, finally took hold. An entirely merited victory tinged with a sense of revenge and accomplishment in the light of a 4th place last year in Vietnam. “We were definitely getting revenge for last year,� Rebecca confirmed.
If Rebecca was circumspect about laying hold of the trophy, even when the following teams had missed the crucial “cut off� at the rafting section at CP 28, a further legacy from Vietnam when PARALLAX (US), Rebecca’s team at the time, dropped 7 hours to the pack and lost what looked like an unassailable lead, the other members of the team, Novak THOMPSON, Patrick HARPER and John JACOBI were convinced it was all in the bag once they hit the final MTB section at CP29.
Rebecca explained: “We didn’t know where anyone was but, after a disastrous horse-riding section, we could see HUMAN LINK (SE) and thought they might catch us so we just got on our bikes and rode as hard as we could. We didn’t see anyone after that.� Asked whether they were confident about completing the rafting section in time Rebecca confided: “We were running on empty as we came off the MTB section but we thought if anyone can do it, we can. We only slipped under the “cut off� by 20 minutes. We very relieved but we didn’t stop racing …I’m a little paranoid after Vietnam.�
MONTRAIL (US) was the only one of the three North Americans teams invited to the race that made it to the start. Rebecca Rusch elucidated on her reasons for coming: “I did a lot of research before coming here. All the American teams were talking to each other and the embassy, but I couldn’t find any reason not to come. It was mainly US TV hype. This was the one race I wanted to do this year. Coming to Kyrgyzstan, sleeping in yurts and meeting mountain people is what racing is all about for me. The Raid is like the Tour de France of adventure racing. It is the race every racer wants to win, the one that carries the most credibility. It is the longest and toughest; the grand daddy of adventure racing.�
As Rebecca and her team mates downed welcome liquid refreshment and, through the clamour of media attention and congratulations, the immensity of their exploit began to sink in, the blood and sweat of the previous 7 days dissolved into tears of joy and relief.
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