---

Raid Draws to a Close

Raid Gauloises Reporting Team / 19.06.2003

Russians, French and Kyrgyz teams came in almost together in the morning at 7h00. As tail markers, they completed the list of 12 finishing teams and brought 12th Raid Gauloises to a close.

The Russians of BASK RUSSIA honoured their wild-card invitation by finishing the race in 7 days, 21 hours and 44 minutes, in 10th place, a little less than two hours ahead of French team KOYANGA who finished 11th: \"This marks the success of a collective effort planned over a year ago,\" said a delighted François. \"The end was really terrible and, in particular, the last trek. We helped each other and the assisted the other remaining teams without losing the spirit of competition. We fell asleep on the canoeing section and told each other our dreams; it was quite surreal.\"

The locals of KYRGYZSTAN also carried out quite a feat as they came 12th, the final finishers of this 12th edition of the Raid Gauloises. The young team illustrated that by knowing the terrain well while wisely managing the effort involved, it is possible to finish the Raid Gauloises, even without a large experience in competition.

French team NORDIC AVENTURE weren’t quite so lucky as they crossed the finishing line too late, despite starting the final 40km canoeing section along with the team KYRGYZSTAN. Suffering from extreme dehydration, they were unable to maintain a high enough paddling rhythm and thus ran out of time on the waters of Lake Toktogul.

[Ed; 12 of 36 teams managed to complete the course and it was a particularly cruel finish for Nordic Aventure, timed out as they paddled into the finish!]

See All Stories On This Race