Ecomotion/Pro
To the Start
Louise Foulkes (ARWS) / 11.08.2013
It was an early morning start for everyone. Teams were told they had to be on busses by 5am or risk being left behind. It was a 2.5hr drive to the start line in Itacare.
Already strung out nerves were stretched further when there was a huge bang on one of the busses part way there. A blown tyre saw all teams forced to get off the afflicted bus. Teams scrambled to find room in other busses in the fear they would be stranded on the side of the road. Leanne Mueller from Team Salomon Canada said “one minute everyone was standing there and the next it was only the foreign teams” (and a mammoth squashed snake). Eventually everyone found seats in different busses and the journey to the start line continued.
The start line in the sea side town of Itacare was on a crescent shaped beach just inside the mouth of the Rio de Contas. This translates as “river of beads” as apparently the rocks found in the river are excellent for making beads. The beach was bordered by colourful shops and houses. The loud music and DJ (yes this is Ecomotion) blared loudly in what looked as if it was normally a quiet place. This of course brought a lot of local people down to watch the spectacle.
Teams arrived at about 8:30 and had a long wait until the start at 11am. Every available piece of shade was quickly taken. Teams busied themselves finishing waterproofing maps, rechecking their route and preparing their feet for the start.
Teams have 6 x A3 race maps all at a 1:100,000 scale with 2km grid squares. Nick Gracie (team Equipe BSA) was trying to get his head “into the map” as he waited. He thought that it didn’t look as if the navigation would be too difficult. He did qualify this statement with the fact that trying to navigate at such a small scale would likely produce its own navigational challenges. Nick was looking forward to getting started and at this point his main concern was the 3.4km swim across Enchanted Lake. Everyone is expecting to have to have to do this during the first night.
Paul Romero of team Enigma Selva Adventure was focusing on preparing his feet. Paul is one of North America’s strongest racers. He has raced in 8 Ecomotions winning it in 2006. He says that this is his favourite race on the planet. This year Paul has chosen to race with a local team from Sao Paulo that he has been mentoring for the last few months.
Paul believes preserving the team’s feet through the first long coasteering leg will be key in this race. He recalls an Ecomotion 2 years ago when there was a similar long coasteering stage. Most of the lead teams raced extremely quickly, neglecting their feet and also the heat. At the end of the long trek, a lot of teams were forced to have huge rests to cool down and their feet were destroyed. Paul remembers his blisters made it the most painful race he has ever been in.
At 10am teams were allowed to approach and choose their boats in the order they came in the prologue. It didn’t appear that this gave teams any advantage or disadvantage as all of the boats were the same and teams quickly moved them around ready to start.
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