Le Grand Raid
Be kind to neophytes
Anne-Marie Dunhill / 23.06.2010
In the cinema of the Sportica complex Karine Baillet and Benjamin Midena (along with a translator) briefed the teams on the elite adventure race and answered questions.
The prologue today consists of 5km trail,25km kayak and 12km mtb. At the end of each day the leading team overall will be attributed a yellow race bib and the leading team of the day a blue one. Although the official race language is French the organizers have also ensured that the support crew and racers roadbooks also exist in English and the briefing took place in French and English.
The format is straight forward with many mandatory itineraries; as Benjamin Midena explained the race will go through over 700 communities in total and the organizers worked hard to procure the necessary authorizations right up to the last minute. Those teams that go off the indicated route will not only have a stiff penalty but also risk missing CP’s that are on the itinerary.
Maps will be distributed 15 min. before the start of each section so teams will get a bit more shut-eye as they don’t have to prepare their maps in advance. As well, there are strict time cut-offs with the first and last sections on each stage being mandatory so that all teams can cross the finish line at the end of the day. Weaker teams may spend a lot of time in their support vehicles doing transfers.
In conjunction with the elite adventure race activities are also organized for neophytes on the same race route and they will cross the finish line at the same time as those on the elite race. During the elite race briefing Benjamin asked the racers to take care on the race route, warning them that the novices would be on the route as well and not to run them over! The Grand Raid has actively sought to involve all actors in the region, be it elected officials or local sports club and it is a race occasion for those in local clubs to interact with some of the best in the world.
The prologue begins at 16:30 and as Anne Simon from Averne Outdoor Vibram said, it will be like a triathlon with top teams finishing in under an hour. But first the teams will be officially introduced and then the first edition of the Grand Raid will be launched.
SleepMonsters
