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Hard to Pick the Podium Places

Rob Howard / 13.08.2010

There is a temptation to see this race as the North American ‘qualifier’ for this years AR World Championships in Spain. For an ARWS race it is surprising to only see 4 nations represented and the field is almost exclusively U.S. and Canadian. (Just about every Canadian racer of note seems to be there.) However, there is plenty of quality and experience in the field and with the exception of the Nike squad all the top US teams are present too, looking to win that ticket to Spain.

The one team from outside North America are Team Scandia Key Experience from Denmark and early in the race they are making their presence felt, having taken the lead. Maybe, we shouldn’t be tempted to regard the race as a US/Canada qualifier after all! The visitors, who were in the top 10 at the last World Champs, could yet spoil the party! On the other hand the race so far has been almost exclusively paddling and that is clearly their strength, they may not be so fast off the water.

Elsewhere in the field its hard to make a pick in what is sure to be a closely fought competition. Among the favourites are defending USARA champs Team Granite, the Cameron clan in ATP/Salomon, and local New Hampshire team Eastern Mountain Sports. Race Director Killian Grant has also recently profiled Team Kinetic, who were second in the race last year and 6th at ARWC 2009 in Portugal, while on the race website coverage Team GUATS are on of their picks for the podium.

Then there is the in form Tecnu Extreme/StaphAseptic team, coming into the race off some recent wins who are certainly sound confident. This was their take on the race before the start;

“Tecnu Extreme/StaphAseptic adventure racing has prevailed and endured much in 2010. This team is coming off a handful of wins as of late, and we are heading into our biggest race of the season with confidence and health. We like our chances at this race. It is a format that suits our strengths, and is long enough for us to put a hurting on the other teams if we control the variables. … We have peaked at the right time, and we will push the pace hard in the hope of representing the United states at the Worlds as one of the top dogs in the U.S.�

Others will be just as confident and right now those ‘variables’ Tecnu Extreme talked of will coming into play as the teams come to grips with the New Hampshire terrain and weather, and with the strong competition.

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