Raid the North Extreme
Where Wilderness Really is Wilderness
Susan McKenzie / 21.08.2003
Pristine wilderness, in this case, means quiet wilderness, too.
Once the Raid the North Extreme competitors enter the park, they are virtually on their own. Except in an emergency, they have to paddle in and paddle out under their own steam. They portage off Lac La Croix, enter the park, and won’t be seen, except by checkpoint staff, until CP16, the start of the Voyageur canoe leg section.
The top four teams (EADS, Gearsracing.com, Spirit and Phoenix) are well into Quetico right now, somewhere between Checkpoints 13 and 15. Wind and rain and even route selection is crucial in this section. The difference between a headwind and a tailwind could mean the difference between first and third place. A route with more portages may prove to be a faster route, since a canoe weighs the same no matter where the wind blows. But heavy rain can make a three-kilometre portage through swamp take twice as long as a forty-kilometre paddle.
Teams are stuck with the route they chose; safety issues in the case of a search and rescue operation mean they cannot change course, no matter what the weather.
If you want to know when any given team will arrive at any given CP, take a guess. Estimated times of arrival at any CP are more like guesstimates right now.
All teams have cleared CP13 right now and are either in Quetico or soon to reach Quetico. Behind the top teams, the remainder of the pack is spread out, in some cases hours apart, in others clustered close together. The rain was a great equalizer, as it carved into the time advantages many of the teams in the middle of the pack had worked for.
Regardless of where they are now, everyone will be finished the race in 36 hours. The final cutoff for the finish is midnight Friday night (or 12:00am Saturday, if you prefer).
SleepMonsters
