The AR World Championships - Costa Rica
AR Chatter
Rob Howard / 01.12.2013
In the hallways and meeting rooms, or pretty much anywhere around the Radisson Hotel San Jose, the topic of conversation is the race.
At breakfast I chatted to Michael Lindnord of AXA adidas about his team. “We have been pretty much the same team all year, although Joanna has joined us as a replacement for this race – she was top of our reserve list and keen to come.
“Anders was second in the Raid Gauloises in Kyrgyzstan in 2003. He is our navigator, and the team was struggling with navigation after Per Vestling moved to Thule, so he has strengthened us. He is strong too, and nobody really knows him as he’s not raced for many years so he is one of our secret weapons.
“John raced with me in 2010 when we won the first Costa Rica Adventure Race, so he knows the country and experience is very helpful. We have tried to use it and do our homework in preparation. We have some mud tires and have modified our bikes to better cope with mud – if it rains that is going to be an issue. We’ll also take the time to keep clean and healthy, rather than rushing, and try to avoid getting sick.
“Our our other secret weapon you will see when the kayaking starts ... and we have bought wetsuits for that, which might seem strange, but were freezing at Ecomotion in Brazil earlier this year. Once you get into the race and are tired it’s impossible to keep your core temperature up.”
He finished by adding, “On my calculations the finishers will take 7.5 days. Long stages are slower always, and so is the jungle and the mud. I think in this country 100km is the maximum anyone can achieve.”
Another very experienced campaigner is Bruno Rey of the SXM team from the French Caribbean. He has raced major international races for over 10 years and competed in all 3 previous Coast Rica Adventure Races. “We may have competed in all the races but so far we have never completed a full course,” he said. “We have still placed quite well even so as there have been so few finishers, and I think one year no one finished the whole course, it is such a difficult climate and country to race in.”
It is not so easy to chat to Race Director Antonio de la Rosa, he is bundle of energy and bustles about making sure everything is prepared for the race. I did manage a brief chat with him and pointed out he is the first person to direct two World Championships. “Yes, there are some things I learned from the Bimbache World Championship in Spain that have helped here,” he said. “This race has a bigger budget which helps, and some things in Costa Rica are harder, others are easier.
“One problem here has been the road and transport network, as it can be 10 hours to drive between transitions, but on the positive side there is a level of government and media support here that ARWC has never had in any other country. The government is behind the race and we have had 7 or 8 pages in newspapers and magazines here – more than the football!
“And of course Costa Rica is a perfect place for an adventure race – in a way one of their main products is adventure, it is what they sell to the world and we are helping them to do that.”
It isn’t always what is said that shows how teams are preparing of course, sometimes actions speak louder than words. As always Team Seagate are looking relaxed and I’ve noticed before that they are masters of spending as little nervous energy as possible in the pre-race phase. The young Kiwi team Bivouac Colts also looked very relaxed, eating their lunch while most teams were rushing around trying to get their gear boxes in on time and at the right weight.
One team Captain who did not look at all relaxed yesterday was Aaron Prince of Haglofs Silva, and he had good reason as all of his team’s bikes and paddling gear had failed to arrive. He should be feeling a whole lot better today, as all the kit turned up last night.
Soon all the preparations will be done and teams will try to sleep before an early alarm call for the 4am departure on 6 race buses to the start line. Then it will be time for the talking to stop, and the action to begin.
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