Primal Quest Badlands
Day Five
Frances Fisher / 19.08.2009
While lead teams are further ahead (Team OrionHealth.com is estimated to finish around midnight tonight), the rest of the pack is just hitting their stride. I caught up with a few teams as they trekked along the Centennial Trail, most with soaring spirits despite the many challenges encountered during Primal Quest Badlands Presented by SPOT.
I first caught up with Team Bimbache Extrem/FlowMG.com - its racers bursting with enthusiasm. They had just found a pile of ice some camper had dumped out from the cooler before leaving. They pounced on it, stuffing ice in their hats, on their sore knees - anything that could use some cold. "It's a miracle!" they exclaimed. A discovery like this, minor as it may seem, is a morale boost that powers the team for hours during such a grueling race.
Bimbache Extrem/FlowMG.com has worked well as a team and overcome a potentially frustrating language barrier. Antonio De La Rosa, the team's navigator, speaks only rudimentary English (though his teammates claim he understands everything they say). Alberto Flores serves as the translator, but apparently when he gets tired, he translates the Spanish back into Spanish. This always ends in laughter. Their strategy, as racer Dan Abel put it, is "trust in the little man" - referring to Antonio.
Kim, the female from Bimbache Extrem/FlowMG.com, said she first thought she'd start adventure racing when she saw an Eco Challenge involving horses. An avid horseback rider, she figured "I can do that!" and she just had to learn the rest. She had really never run before that, but she started doing races and gradually increased distances to the expedition length.
She's now been adventure racing for 10 years - and her biggest problem is the ropes course, as she is highly acrophobic (afraid of heights!). Even speaking or thinking about the ropes course made her hands get clammy. She pushed through it, though, saying "I couldn't disappoint my team mates."
Bimbache Extrem eventually caught up with Team Archipela, who were also having a great day on the Peak Assurance Trek. Part of their strategy involved never sleeping at night - it's too cold, they said, and you only end up shivering.
Instead, they catch rest during the day, when it's warmer and they can sleep more fitfully. In a continuing theme for the day, they raved about the navigation. Having participated in just about every Primal Quest, they commented that the navigation for this race is the first time that the whole race has involved true navigation - not just following signs for trails and roads. "It's the way an adventure race should be" - and it truly allows the teams with superior navigation skills to thrive.
SleepMonsters
