Down the Valley of the Vars

Rob Howard & Anne-Marie Dunhill / 18.09.2012

Through day 4 teams have been making their way down the Vars river, on their bikes (or pushing them), in kayaks (or pushing them), and even abseiling down into the river, where they got to walk along the river some more!

Stage J, the mountain biking ‘Tour of Mercantour’ ended with a ride/walk along the river and where teams did need to push it was hard on their already sore feet, walking over the uneven boulders in cycling shoes.  Chris Hope of the adidas TERREX team, who were racing in 6^th place for most of the day, said that section just opened up the sores and blisters again, and after teams had reached the transition in a camping site just above the valley there was more trekking to come.

Stage K took teams up into the mountains, once again carrying their climbing gear.  The ropes stages have been an integral part of each trekking stage, not just an added challenge on the route, so teams are used to carrying their climbing gear now.  This time they would descend a canyon above the Gorge Daluis, a route which took several hours, and then abseil down into the gorge, to finish the section by walking along the river valley to a kayak put in. 

It is a spectacular gorge, running for several kilometres and flanked by red rocks and high waterfalls, and the leading teams were through this stage in daylight.  Adidas TERREX almost forgot a mandatory piece of climbing equipment, a prusik, but decided they could make one with rope they had rather than go back and find it.  By this stage of the race all the teams need to take great care at each transition, making sure they have all they need for each stage, and all the mandatory equipment.  Getting through transition both quickly and efficiently is a key skill in expedition racing.

Once teams were down the abseil they were on the boulders of the Var valley again for a 90 minute walk out along the gorge to the kayak put in.  They were not done with those boulders yet though – there was little water in the river and their kayaks were regularly hitting and getting stuck on them as they made their way down the valley.

The top 5 teams all set off down the river before nightfall.  Seagate with a lead of nearly 4 hours and their pursuers all grouped quite closely together.  One concern they all had was that a dark zone would be applied to this stage as the route book said this might happen, but with such low water levels there were no safety concerns and teams were free to paddle through the night. 

They are now moving towards AT12, which is the lowest point on the course ... until the last few kilometres to the finish.

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