ITERA - Presented by Open Adventure
Zip It!
Rob Howard / 11.08.2014
After riding from Conwy teams arrived at Zip World, a new ropes and zipline centre in a large quarry outside the town of Bethesda.
The zipline they’d come to ride wasn’t just an ordinary zip line though – it’s the world’s fastest – a mile long and taking just under a minute for the descent. A true trouser filler!
Race planner Tom Gibbs was excited about the thrill that awaited the teams; “This was one part of the course I really didn’t want affected by the weather,” he said, “it’s very special. The exposure at the top and the sudden drop and speed are phenomenal, they won’t have experienced anything like it.”
It was a close call though, the wind was still strong, up to 30mph in gusts at the top, and had it changed to a more southerly direction the zip line would have had to close. (That would have made it even faster!)
The facility was opened in 2013, and owner Sean Taylor said, “We didn’t set out to build the world’s fastest zip line, but the geography here leant itself to the set up so well, and that’s how it turned out.”
adidas TERREX were first to arrive, keeping the lead they’ve held throughout the first day, but due to the shortened kayaking stage they arrived earlier than planned, and so did many other teams, which meant a nervous wait for many in the hut at the top of the zip line.
The reason for the delay was that teams had to wait for members of the public who were booked in to go ahead of them. It’s a popular adventure activity with over 12,000 visitors per month wanting to hurtle down a mountain like superman!
Teams also served their prologue penalties here, so if you were watching the trackers that is why they stopped for some time. The good news was that while they were doing this was that it wasn’t raining and there was a cafe with tea and bacon sandwiches!
When the penalties were served they had to walk 2 miles steeply uphill to the top station through the quarry. Then came a wait, which was timed out. When it was time to go the racers were fitted into full length body suits and given goggles, then strapped in so they hung horizontally below the zipline – facing down into the void. Then the staff counted down 3,2,1, pulled a lever and the racers were released to drop towards the lake below at 100mph.
A mile below they were braked to a halt and lowered down to be released. Most broke into beaming smiles and they were almost lost for words to describe the experience. “Amazing”, “fantastic”, “exhilarating”, and “scary” were the words used most, and once stripped of their flying suits and harnesses they ran back down to their bikes full of adrenalin.
You can follow the race live at http://live.itera.co.uk/index.htm
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