The Mother Lode Gold Rush Expedition Adventure Race
Teams Scorched and Stung in Severe Heat
Doug Judson / 10.08.2012
Day two of the ARWS qualifier Gold Rush Mother Lode showed what A LOT of heat would do to teams.
As the dawn came and went anxious race personnel awaited the first few teams in the transition area #2 off the first trekking leg. This leg had river crossings, steep canyons, brutal poison oak, and as we would later learn many hornets nests.
The brutal 105 degree temperature the previous day has caused massive carnage among all teams, many having to stop on the trail to take care of an ailing team member suffering from heat stroke. Teams stumbled into the transition area at Bower Cave needing electrolytes, food, water, salt and mostly shade.
The only team that looked semi strong was Columbia/Vidaraid who had righted the tilting ship from the previous race days mistakes of losing a passport, and a time penalty for being too far apart along with an ailing team-mate and had moved from 8th place into the lead. When they left for the 100 mile mountian biking leg, they had over a 3 hour lead.
What an amazing recovery with the time penalty essentially erased. It will be interesting to see if they maintain this pace they are now setting. The heat had certainly taken its toll on the defending Champions as Tecnu had now dropped from 1st to 7th place, and took a long time in transition to the bike. Most teams spent at least several hours in transition which is a life-time for a top adventure racing team.
With much racing left before Sunday's finish, and temperatures hovering around the century mark, teams that pace themselves and just keep moving will make huge gains on the leaderboard. As Paul Romero of Team Sole/GRML left the transition area he commented, " On a fun factor, this leg was a negative 10. We are all in the pain cave."
His team had the added benefit of stepping on two hornets nests en route to climbing out of the canyon with Karen Lundgren getting stung over 10 times. They were anxious to get on their bikes, and set off after Team Columbia hoping to close the gap from the 3rd place they found themselves in.
Suprisingly, Team Perdidos was in 2nd place ahead of a pretty strong 4-5 teams. With more than half of this race left to run, and temperatures near 100 forecast for all week, those teams that manage their races the best, and just keep moving will prevail.
Who will survive this scorcher of an expedition race? Stay tuned as teams race for shade in an attempt to qualify for AR worlds in France in September."
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