An Action Packed Day Ahead in Rio

Alexandre Carrijo (www.vivabrasilia.com) / 10.11.2013

Friday morning in Rio was cloudy and, because of the rain of the last days, the rocks were quite wet and slippery at Praia Vermelha. As a result the rock climbing stage was cancelled and an indoor solution was taken to keep the climbers busy.

The 19 athletes had to face two phases with two different lines each. The first stage was mandatory and ten points were scored for each movement forward. The second stage, with higher difficulty, had its points doubled. Joe Mayer from the USA Team was by far the best climber and got no extra time added to the team's overall time. Canoar and Selva, both from São Paulo, had the second and third best climbs. Then France, Hunters from Rio, Argentina, Spain, BMS from Brasilia, New Zealand and Lontra to finish top 10. The teams are now spread by one minute to each other where USA has 9 minutes over the tenth and 18 over the last.

Once again it seems that Paul Romero has assembled an awesome team to defend the Rockyman title. They are already leading and have strong athletes on all disciplines. Stevie Kremer is the best American female mountain runner at the moment and Marshall Thompson was a top three finisher last year on this race. On the mountain bike former world champion Mike Kloser will be hammering down. He mentioned that had competed a Red Bull race with a format quite similar to this and tackled Transrockies in Canada after a period of 2 years without competing in MTB.

The mood was relaxed among athletes with most of them saying that they were so happy moment to come to Brazil and enjoy themselves. However, teams profiles have increased greatly and for sure when the race starts competitiveness will rise. Actually, it is going to be really difficult to rank on the first third on every discipline.

Let's see if because of this supposed balance on teams results on solo stages the group stages can play an effect. After the solo races there will be a 5 laps of 2.4 km each in Va'a Canoe, then a transition where the clock does not stop (only one on this race) leading to a 10km beach run along the famous Copacabana and Ipanema shore.

Saturday’s racing starts at 7 am with surfing, 4 rounds of 40 minutes with 5 athletes in each round. Ninety minutes later the 45k MTB is launched. Stand up paddling stars at 11.00, the female trail run at 12.30, and the male run at 13.00 with the Va'a canoe and beach run after 16h30. It is going to be an action packed day!

Good surf is expected with waves around 1.5m. Bunch riding is allowed on the MTB and the last 2.4 km are going to be on a sandy horse racing course. The trail/mountain run is on paved/cobblestone roads and has an extra 8km over last year. Then, its the teamwork disciplines to the finish line.

The dice are going to roll throughout all day. By the end of the day, which teams will meet the very hard deserved top 5 ranking ?

News on the race is at www.rockyman2013.com.br

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