PyACha - The Pyrenean Adventure Challenge
Pyrenean Adventures and Challenges
Ian Montgomery - PyACha / 06.10.2003
As many of the teams arrived at the campsite after dark, and the race start time was set at 7.30 am, not many of the racers had the opportunity to gauge the terrain around them. Coupled with the fact that after 4 weeks of unbroken sunshine, the heavens opened at 5.30 am, we could have expected a sombre bunch. Not a bit of it, the racer’s enthusiasm never waned and if there were a few butterflies, well that was to be expected for a route which had a positive elevation of nearly 7,000 metres and a distance of around 130km for the 24 hour race.
With the first discipline (in-line skate) cancelled because of the weather, the racers got a lie in before the delayed start at 7:55 am. The sun came up and all around us peaks were visible, the highest at 2,800m. A stiff mountain running section was underway (1300m ascent, 700m descent, 11.5km) and the strongest teams, Viladomat (Andorra), ABS Aventure 007 (France) and Derrapa (Andorra) set the pace. English team member of SIGG i-2-i, Ian Wright, was heard to comment; “Where did they get these bloody hills from?�, as the hooter blasted.
The course was designed by local AR man, Putxi, to traverse, ascend and descend the valley, over the 2 days. In addition, there were cut-off times before ‘resistance events’ (i.e. mountain running and uphill MTB sections) to ensure the slower teams were able to be moved onto the ‘fun’ sections. These sections were then interspersed with various challenges, some expected, some not so expected.
The first of these challenges was parabolic archery. A target of 7 metres square with an additional bulls eye was laid on the ground. 70m away the competitors had to arc their arrows over a ravine and onto the target. Not something that can be practiced much, especially if you don’t know it is in the event! It was fairly low scoring ... but the marshals emerged unscathed.
This was also where we introduced one of the other elements of the race; the support challenge. Every member of the racing team’s support were encouraged to get involved in some of the special challenges – purely to keep the interest and ensure they were participating fully. In fact, at this challenge, the support crews were scoring higher than the teams, although they had the advantage of fresh arms and heads.
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