Keen Adventure Race - Alps to the Ocean
Stage 1: Although the Kiwi teams put out a strong showing...
Jacqueline Windh / 08.04.2008
John’s “net downhill� course had racers popping up and down from the hilltops to the lake – so even though the finish line was 200 m lower than the start, racers logged a cumulative gain for the day of about 600 m, on foot and on bike. The routes all provided for lots of options, and therefore strategy. Teams started with a run, then moved to bikes, then to kayaks, and then back to one more run up the hill and back. In each stage, they had several checkpoints to bag, but could choose what order to get them – and this made things very interesting.
They started at the top of the Summit Chairlift, with a run over the ridges and through the creeks. This is tricky terrain to run on, all windswept heather, at or above the treeline. From a distance it looks like a mowed field, but once you are out on it it’s a different story – parts of it very spongy, and lots of hidden holes under the vegetation that can trip you up.
SleepMonsters
