Estoril Portugal XPD Race 08
Into the Estuary
Rob Howard / 01.12.2008
The first night of the race was as tough as expected – with more heavy rain showers and very cold temperatures, combined with difficult navigation as teams struggled to reach the first assistance point and the end of stage one. Even before this, some teams chose to shorten the course and miss out a ‘mandatory’ CP in order to be sure of progressing in good time. The German/British ‘Team Bike Point Jena – Germany’ were one of these. “We decided to take the quickest route to the assistance point�, said Erica Hensen. “We know we are not going to be able to do them all and want to enjoy the race and do all the good bits!�
Unfortunately, their plan misfired when their support crew were not there to meet them at the first assistance point! The team spent a cold couple of hours wrapped in their space blankets, waiting for them to come. They were at least indoors, at the Sampaio Sports Pavilion and this was busy as it was also the start/finish of the foot orienteering relay which was the first activity on stage two.
For this the teams divided into pairs. One pair ran the long course, which took a couple of hours and gave the other two a chance to sleep longer in transition, and when they returned the remaining pair set off on the short course. This is one of several CP’s on the course designed to test the navigational ability of the whole team.
Before Sampaio the first withdrawal of the race took place, with a calf injury to John Cunningham forcing him to retire and SleepMonsters/Inov-8 becoming unranked. The remaining 3 in the team continued on the course – and may continue to do so as their support, Ifor Powell, says he has not got room for them all in his van and they can cycle the rest of the way!
While all this was happening the leaders were moving onto stage two of the race, which took them into the Arribiba National Park, a region of south facing coastline flanked by hills covered in native forest and best known for the sheer cliffs on the shore line.
The trek which followed the foot relay took the teams along this coastline and right through the national park, finishing with a section on the road as the final part of the park is restricted to all use and left in its native state. The leaders took longer than expected, but it was dark and the narrow trails were easy to miss or non-existent, leaving teams to struggle through low, but dense bush and scrub. Half way along there was another climbing stage, which made best use of the cliffs and was in a stunning location, 200m above the waves.
SleepMonsters
