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Seagate Fight to the Finish

Rob Howard / 06.11.2011

Team Seagate are back racing where they have been for almost all of the race, at the front. The were the first off the Arthur River this morning after the Dark Zone was lifted at 06.30, arriving at CP45 at Kununnah at 08.17 and leaving on their bikes at 08.41. After breaking camp this morning it took them only an hour and 47 minutes to finish the paddle, which answers the question as to whether that stage can be done in a single day. Had Seagate started at 06.30 (rather than 08.10), they might just have been able to complete the stage in a day, avoid the Dark Zone camp and would have won the race by a big margin, despite their 4 hour penalty.

Craig Bycroft was surprised last night that they hadn’t tried this as he thought it was the only chance they had to overcome their time penalty and win. It’s never so simple though, and any adventure race deconstruction will have a thousand ‘what ifs’. The ride to the Arthur River had taken so much out of the team that they felt they had to rest – had they pushed on they would most likely have moved more slowly.

While the race is still running they won’t quit trying and are still giving it their all in the final ‘sprint’ to the finish. On the ride north to the coast, through farmland and along forest trails, they rode as hard as they could, with Chris Forne still labouring on his single speed bike. They arrived at midday at the Rocky Cape transition and hustled through their tasks rapidly, clearly focused on getting the 4 hours ahead of Thule Adventure they need before the next transition. (That is the final transition at Boat Harbour, where they will sit out their 4 hour penalty.)

This time there was no need to break down their bikes, they were loaded onto a truck to be taken to Boat Harbour as they were. They also had to write a blog, and Sophie Hart ran over to the computer, typed a few words and ran back to the team. She said they were ‘going for it’, which sums things up nicely. The team did get a bit frustrated as they had to scrub their footwear again ... but in this case it was new and unused. Nevertheless, that is what they had to do.

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