Expedition Idaho
Favourites Lead Out Expedition Idaho
Rob Howard / 15.08.2011
The race may have suffered a little following on so closely from Raid The North Extreme but has managed to field 13 teams for the first event. (This reduced the prize money, which was set to rise as the entry increased, but its still a prize pot of $12,000. The roster includes a return for the Kiwi team Seagate (Nathan Fa’avae, Marcel Hagener, Sophie Hart and Nick Ross), and team Thule with regulars Jacky Boisset and Myriam Guillot, joined by Stuart Lynch (ex Orion), and Albert Roca, who races with Team Buff. Both teams are aiming at the World Champs in Tasmania and Thule won AR World Series event Huairasinchi earlier in the year.
They will be favourites to lead out the race but there are some strong US teams to give them competition, including former USARA champions Team Light and Motion, and teams Bones and Yogaslackers and SOG, all experienced squads.
Teams have travelled from all over the US, from as far away as Florida and Race Director Dave Allard promised, “As race organizers we want to provide a once-in-a-lifetime experience to those intrepid souls who have the true spirit of adventure in their hearts, and who long to undertake a special journey that will leave their spirit changed forever. We think it will be one of the most scenic, diverse and demanding tracks you will ever have the pleasure of journeying over
The race began today with a prologue including three challenges in and around historic town of Kellogg, heart of the Silver Valley mining area. The athletes had to find clues in the old mining museum, walk a slackline, do 120 push ups and solve a geometric puzzle before heading back to the start and transitioning to their bikes. Here they picked up their bikes, but were then given the surprise bonus of a 5 mile ride on the world’s longest gondola to get them up into the mountains and onto the main course. Being saved a 3400 foot climb must have made for some happy racers!
The course is laid out with relatively few checkpoints and some significant route choice and in the early stages Thule have lead out ahead of Seagate.
There is live coverage including SPOT tracking on <a href="#" onClick="javascript:newsitewindow('http://www.expeditionidahorace.com')" class="main">www.expeditionidahorace.com</a>, but in the early stages at least there is nothing posted, while lots of really up to the minute info is on the blog (on the same site). There is also a video channel at <a href="#" onClick="javascript:newsitewindow('http://www.youtube.com/user/expeditionidaho')" class="main">www.youtube.com/user/expeditionidaho</a> and this already has several posts including one on the prologue. (Click to the next page to see this.)
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