Baise International Outdoor Quest
A Trip to China
Fleur Pawsey (Team Sweden) / 12.05.2009
Things were looking quiet on the multisport scene when I got an email out of the blue asking if I'd like to race in China in April as part of Team Sweden. Details included the name and location of the race. A quick bit of research (aka Google) gave no indication that either actually existed, but trips to China don't come along everyday so I signed on and set off with a vague idea of where I was going.
After a mission of a trip to Le Ye Town in Baise County, southern China, I met my teammates. Next tasks were getting to know them (I'd raced with Martin, the captain, before but didn't know the other two), adjusting to Chinese time, weather and food, and getting all my gear ready for racing. Hmmm, lucky I arrived with one spare day before racing started ...
I'd assumed the race - the Baise Outdoor Quest - was fairly small, as there were only a handful of international teams competing. But it turned out to be quite a big deal on the Chinese sporting calendar, to the point where guests at the opening ceremony included the Vice President of the Chinese Olympic Committee, and the local television station had live coverage throughout the race. The opening ceremony was an event in itself, Olympian in style, with Richard Ussher solemnly (well, as solemnly as possible) taking an oath of fair play on behalf of all the athletes.
Racing began with a biathlon - two bikes, four team members, 12 kilometres of road and no dubbing. One pair would take off on the bikes, ride for a kilometre or so, dump the bikes and run, while the other pair would run to the bikes, pick them up and take their turn, and so on. The pace was intense from the start, with added stress for some athletes when they saw locals eying up bikes that had been left on the roadside. (I'm pretty confident it was fascination that caused this, rather than any intent to souvenir a bike... I don't think you see high spec mountain bikes that often in Le Ye town!)
Off the biathlon and into transition, we grabbed the other two bikes for a mountain bike stage. We'd been warned about the downhill section of track on the first 10km. In fact, we were told in serious tones, it was so dangerous due to its gradient, twists and turns that we shouldn't race it, and it would be untimed. It's fair to say we were a little confused to get to this part and be confronted with a wide tar seal road in good condition. More so when, later on in the race, there was plenty of actual downhill riding. I suspect it was the kamikaze drivers we were likely to meet on the road that posed the risk, rather than our mountain bike skills.
The highlight of day one was definitely the final run, which began with a lengthy cave section. The Baise area is renowned for its karst formations, sinkholes and caves, and this must have been one of the best. We ran, scrambled, climbed and shuffled through 3km of eery open caverns linked by tight passages and the occasional narrow squeeze. Officials had been anxious to tell is that there were large gaps between race markers and they weren't kidding. There were quite a few intersections in the cave and we had to retrace steps several times. Safety requirements really are different there - the organisers were scared to let us ride our bikes downhill but more than happy to let us loose in a cave system!
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