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Coast Raiders

Rob Howard / 30.11.2008

It has been a hard first day at the 2008 Portugal XPD with the course taking teams along the coast, and past the capital city of Lisbon. It has been a wet day too, with much of the activity taking place in the water, and frequent heavy rain showers sweeping in to ensure the racers never really had the chance to get dry.

The race began outside the Estoril Casino with the rain falling harder the nearer the race clock got to the start time of 10.00. Teams were huddled under the palm trees and sheltering in nearby shops in the lead up to the start, but few were staying still for long – they were too nervous and spent the time checking their kit, skates and Trikkes. All the teams collected their Tracksticks, and some of these transmit positions over the mobile phone network so you can track these teams off the race website.

Then it was time to put their skates up by the casino and line up beneath the start banner.

The race began with a jog up the hill to the casino and teams then collected their skates or Trikkes and set off along the main road towards Lisbon. Those who could skate well moved away at speed with the teams in tight formation, but the Trikke isn’t a fast way to progress. It is intended to be scooted, or powered forward by a rocking movement – but unless the route is downhill it is no match for skates!

In no time at all the field spread out along the road, which had one lane conned off for them, and by the time they reach Carcavelos Beach the rain had eased. It was to be this way all day long, with heavy showers falling from time to time, and when they did the temperature, which was already low for Portugal at this time of year, dropped rapidly. It was a chilly and blustery day … and the surf at the Beach checkpoint was pounding in and looked intimidating.

Here two of each team had to take a kayak out to round a buoy some 100m offshore, but getting out and back through the surf wasn’t easy. Some teams took body boards and flippers, and in some all four went out – it was a very confusing situation and some teams had little idea what was going on. Soon the kayaks were reaching the breakers, and most were tipped up and thrown back onto the beach!

For the next hour the yellow bibs of the racers could be seen pushing or paddling into the spume and spray as they fought to reach the buoy. There was an easier channel between the waves, but not everyone found it and some pairs had many attempts before getting out. Greg McHale the Canadian racer from Team Buff (a Spanish team with no Spaniards in it), walked past me looking for a new place to try and called out; “Has anyone made it out?�

They had, and those returning either surfed in grinning from ear to ear – or flipped and swum back to the beach. Race Director Alexandre de Silva was there and I asked him if it was a mandatory CP. He just grinned and said, “Yes, of course!�

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