Mild Seven Outdoor Quest
Nokia Win Day 2
Jackie Yu / 13.12.2003
Nokia’s time was 7:53:00. In second, 1:36 back, was overall leader Seagate NZ. Team Nike ACG/Balance Bar was third. And in fourth was New Zealand, which was beset by mechanical problems during the mountain biking leg.
In the overall standings, Seagate NZ maintains a commanding eight-minute lead over second-place Nike ACG/Balance Bar. “We’ve still got a lot of racing to do,� says Kristina Strode-Penny of Team Seagate NZ. “Any time you think you’re unstoppable, that’s when something goes wrong.�
The second stage asked competitors to contest all seven of Outdoor Quest’s adventure disciplines. As the sun’s first rays touched the Kaiduan River Valley, the athletes burst from the start line. After a brief run, they began that complex tango known as team biathlon, where two members of the team alternate running and mountain biking with the other two.
Seagate NZ suffered a potentially disastrous mistake when a local policeman directed them down the wrong road. The error was soon discovered, but not before their rivals slipped away. Seagate NZ would spend the rest of the day playing catch-up, unaware that Nokia was gaining a bigger and bigger lead.
The Finns pushed the pace throughout the long hot morning and into the afternoon, as the sun was accented by blue skies and puffy white clouds, and as the race moved from the jungle toward the ocean. “It was very hard,� says Petri Forsman, Nokia Adventure’s stoic leader. “The day was quite hot.�
Meanwhile, that equatorial heat was taking its toll on teams further back in the pack. Eight teams failed to complete the course, including Britain’s Saab Salomon, last year’s fourth-place finisher. “I’m sore and tired,� says Rebecca Rusch of Team Montrail, currently in seventh. “It’s hard. We’re not breaking any records, but we’re still out there racing. We passed three teams at the last aid station, so we’re still pushing.�
Despite the degree of difficulty, teams have nothing but praise for this year’s “Top to the Tip� course layout. The first day of competition saw the Outdoor Quest competitors race up Mount Kinabalu, at 4,094 meters the highest point in Borneo. The race will end Monday at Borneo’s northernmost peninsula – the tip. In between they are experiencing jungle trails, raging rivers, and the gentle swells of the South China Sea. “There’s enough variety to keep this interesting,� Rusch says. “And it’s balanced, so it doesn’t favour runners or mountain bikers or paddlers. It gives every team a chance.�
Day Three of competition will be the shortest so far – but also the fastest. It will be a day of biking, running, inline skating, and paddling. In theory, the top four teams all have a chance to win the Outdoor Quest. But, says Team New Zealand’s Craig, don’t bet on it. “Seagate is looking really, really strong. Unless they have some bad luck – which happens quite a lot in adventure racing, and there’s nothing you can do about it – they’re going to be very hard to beat.�
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