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Roller Run and Trek Along the Coast

David Ogden - International Adventurers / 16.09.2003

On the way to the start the teams were delayed by an accident, and perhaps this was just as well as it was raining hard. When we finally arrived at Chemin De Ceinture just as the rain stopped and the minor road appeared smooth but was a bit slippery.

At 0700 we were off on rollerblades, going well and keeping out of trouble. I tended to lead to let the others know if there were any steep decents but the first 10K had one hill which was a little fast. However, when we arrived at the CP we had to cross a very slippery suspension bridge.

Once accross we removed our blades and set off jogging down hill toards the coast some 3K away, where we clambered along the boulders on the shore and caught up two teams ahead of us. They made a minor error so we tried to get out of sight and for a time it worked, but eventually a large group was on our tail. We arrived at CP2A in 12th place and swallowed a quick cup of tea. All was going well, we were on course and the route was beautiful, undulating along the cliffs and sometimes descending to the sea. Navigation was not too hard but one team did get lost.

We crossed a couple of old lava streams and skirted around some waterfalls, the sun was shining and after some 20km on foot and we picked up our blades again, and a couple of surprises as well, bottles of water in our boots and sweeties too. The final 15Km of rollerblading was on the main coastal road so we were escorted by a car. We had two incidents on this leg. First we stopped so Elena could treat a large blister and then I fell due to gravel at side of road and was unable to get up as I got cramp in both by legs. Once we were on our way again it wasn’t long to the end of the stage. Wayne and Tanya excelled themselves by providing us with chicken, ,chips and salad, followed by fruit salad. They also treated my cramps and delt with Elena’s bliste. You would never guess this was their first time as a support crew.

The next stage of the race was a trek up to the rim of the basin containing the volcano. We set off uphill with 1.5 hours before the dark zone. We were hoping to reach a shelter for the night, however the path was very steep and wet and my legs were tight, so the pace was slow. At 17.45 Primis scouted ahead to pick the best spot to stop, not that there was much choice.

Eventually we had four possibilites, none very inviting, but needs must. I picked a spot to set up my tent, which was sloping in two directions, and Primus set up his tent accross the path, whilst Jamie and Elena decided to sleep under the stars. A Belgian team arrived and we directed them to the only other spot. We went to phone in our position as required, but no one had the number to call, so we asked the other team and they laughed as they did not have it either! Luckly their support team phoned them so they reported in on our behalf.

Before we went to sleep we had a snack and a team disussion and agreed that at the pace we were going we would not be doing the extreme course, but needed to increase our speed to ensure meeting the cut-off at TA3.

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