Wulong Mountain Quest
The Pace Hots Up On Stage 2 at Wulong
Team Thule Adventure / 06.09.2013
The fog covered the steep mountain sides when stage 2 of Wulong Mountain Quest started today with a 20 km kayaking section.
All teams started at the same time and we got off very well and advanced to a front position of the pack with Team Toread Redbull & Australian Team Peak Adventure. Just a couple of kilometers after the start Peak Adventure couldn’t keep up with us and Team Toread Redbull and dropped back. Then halfway into this section Toread Redbull made a breakaway that we didn’t have the power to match.
We still managed to keep a good pace through the kayaking stage, and had only a 2 minute deficit on Toread Redbull and a big lead on the next team at TA1.
The following trail running section over 10 km contained over 1000 positive meters of altitude. The course was very exposed with 600 meter cliff sides. We kept a good pace and rhythm on this section but at the end Jacky’s energy levels where dropping so we had to help him with towing lines, and with good teamwork we managed not to lose any distance to Toread Redbull in the front.
At TA2 we had a well deserved 15 min mandatory rest and we got the information that we were only 3 minutes behind leading Toread Redbull and 8 minutes (!) ahead of the nearest team behind us.
The first couple of kilometers was going very well on the mountainbike section, but pretty soon Jacky was getting tired again. With towing lines and a very good teamwork again we managed to keep a good pace and not lose that much time on leading Toread Redbull.
The following sections contained a rope skill section followed by a 300 meter swim and a 2-3 km long rafting section. We ended stage 2 strongly and were just 9 minutes behind Team Toread Redbull at the finish line.
Total standings after Stage 2:
1. Team Toread Redbull
2. Thule Adventure Team, + ca: 14 min
3. Team Silva Haglöfs, + ca 25 min (on the next team)
We shall do what we can tomorrow to close the gap to leading Team Toread Redbull!
SleepMonsters
