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Day 5 – On the river flows

Pyro / 25.07.2008

The 5th day of racing here at the Saab Salomon Mountain X Race and it was time for the watersport specialists to show their worth. Today’s activity would be three stages of kayaking over two rivers, first the Arve, then the second and third stages on the Giffre.

The first paddle was a long, relatively flat affair, the majority of the river class 2/3 with one slightly more complex drop of around one meter. The leading teams would be forced to go all-out over this section as time could easily be lost to rivals due to either a lack of effort or any mistakes. The pressure of this, and the first of the mistakes, came alarmingly from the third place, and extremely experienced Nike team, who flipped their boat after less than 30 seconds on the river, catching an edge while leaving the start eddy. They quickly regrouped and set off again, but had a second ducking later on in the stage, losing them time on leaders Saab Salomon and second place Quechua Compagnie des Alpes 1.

Salomon and Quechua’s long-standing rivalry continues, following a series of close finishes in past X Raid World Series events, and now the French team are pushing hard, aiming to take the victory from the Brits at the last hurdle.

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