Raid Gauloises
Saab Salomon Sixth
Raid Gauloises Reporting Team / 17.06.2003
The gritty Brits of SAAB SALMON (GB) were visibly thrilled, yet weather worn, as they strode the final stretch of field to the finishing line on the shores of Lake Totkogul at 19:48, having spent the best part of the last 6 days, 13 hours and 33 minutes racing against one team… the colossal Kiwis of SEAGATE from New Zealand. Ironically, a spectacular show of Kyrgyz horsemanship, to celebrate the arrival of the teams here, was taking place to the sound of local folk music only yards away. “Thank goodness it’s over, it was a lot harder than I anticipated, it’s a really a tough race and so different from the X-adventure,� exclaimed Ben BARDSLEY, as he removed his sunglasses to reveal his haggard features.
After a tentative though sufficiently rapid start to the initial trek, which left them slightly off the front of the race but within striking distance, and a convincing MTB section, they were still in contention, though appeared to be holding back, as they came down from the mountain pass into Race Camp 1 (CP9). Despite sticking closely to SEAGATE (NZ), perhaps in the hope of flattening the learning curve by carefully observing this internationally renowned squad, they set off on the monumental 191km plus MTB section with the head of the race already beginning to slip away. Ben Bardsley began to explain: “We realised that we were a little chaotic during the transitions especially when we were thinking about the other teams that could pass us.�
Shadowing their rivals almost step for step, they came into Race Camp 2 (CP20), and the start of the horse-riding section, barely 10 minutes ahead of the Kiwis. Then, for them, the race almost ground to a halt as they gently walked their horses to CP21… in 10 hours! Realising that this perhaps wasn’t going to be their fastest section and longing for the days when inline-skating was on the menu, the alarm bells really began ringing when the chances of getting through the rafting section anything close to the “cut off� time, and making the podium, began to evaporate.
“We still have a lot to learn and tactically we made mistakes with the horses. We lost a lot of time by taking the Road Book at its word and merely walking them while others must have galloped,� rued Pete JAMES.
It was almost curtains for them as, on the last 78km MTB section involving a series of devastatingly taxing slopes and a fast descent to CP31, one of their bike wheels was damaged. On the verge of resigning to being unranked or quitting the race all together, who should appear but Gilles Lelievre, “like an angel from heaven�, who’s team VSD-EIDER (FR) had just dropped out of the race and were returning to CP29. Gilles magnanimously offered the team one of his wheels and the chase was on again.
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