Lycian Challenge Adventure Race LC 2014 - AREC
Adidas TERREX Win the European Championships
Rob Howard / 03.05.2014
Team adidas TERREX won the 2014 AR European Championships when they crossed the finish line to win the Lycian Challenge at 09.30 this morning. The team ran into the Sun City Hotel which is acting as race HQ to the applause of a crowd of holidaymakers, race staff and media and posed for photos before making a direct line to the pool side terrace for a huge buffet breakfast. It is not often they see a group in bright green bibs and wetsuits sit down to breakfast.
The team had completed all the checkpoints on the course well within the time deadline and still finished ahead of all the other teams who have taken shorter routes. “The course was really well set up,” said Tom Gibbs. “It’s been a challenge for us and I think teams who couldn’t complete all the checkpoints will have had a great tactical challenge. I think those who tried to do too much too early will lose out by missing a lot of checkpoints at the end.”
“The scenery has been amazing,” said Sally Ozanne. “Turkey is a fantastic place for adventure racing and the course took us to some great places. We saw a lot of wildlife too, though the boys nearly ran over some tortoises without even seeing them. They only just missed!”
The team felt the course got better and better as the race went on. “The paddling yesterday afternoon was superb,” said Nick Gracie. “Then the final stages were really challenging and technical – overall the course has been quite technical and well laid out. Despite the worries at the start the checkpoints were all in the right place and well positioned. It was very, very hilly though and the navigation was hard – but Tom’s navigation was spot on.”
The canyon the team completed in the night was fairly dry and did not take as long as expected, and the abseil was a high one. Then they had to paddle back to TA2 and the final stage was a swim around the cliffs to the finish. Nick Gracie swallowed some sea water and had to flounder ashore for a while but the team made it safely around to the beach at Oludeniz from where they ran up to finish at the hotel in town and complete their win.
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