ITERA - Presented by Open Adventure
The Crossing
Rob Howard / 12.08.2014
The wind and the tide are still making life difficult of the racers and the race, and this morning the majority of the teams were stuck at Portmerion.
The race safety crew decided not to let the teams cross the estuary to the alternative take out point as the flow in the central channel was too strong and most of the teams were stuck waiting for the water to drop and the flow to lessen.
By the time that had happened it was almost low water and the paddle became an arduous walk across the sands and the mud, hauling the canoes and all their kit. After the long portage, which took some teams an hour or more, it was the last thing the teams wanted, and many were waiting several hours, trying to keep warm until they could cross.
Four teams were sent across first, flanked by the safety crews, just to make sure all was OK. It was, and the rest followed. Some there was a long line of orange and blue boats being dragged over the sands, with a little paddling here and there. It was a colourful and unusual sight.
As JD Ekelson of the Odyssey USA team said, “You never know what is going to happen in an adventure race, and it’s not the first time I’ve done something like that.” Shortly after saying that he dropped a small spring while assembling his bike into the long grass, and it took him a very long time to find it again!
Some of the teams were not too cheerful after another interruption due to the weather. Barbara Bonfim of Walhalla, said the teams were in Portmerion – “plenty long enough to get cold!” and Mark Humphrey of adidas/Facewest.com was concerned at the time they’d lost. “We’ve had a lot of hold ups,” he said, “and though they are timed out the cut offs later in the race are still the same. We were expecting to be trekking on Cadir Idris by now and might be out on the mountain at night now.”
It’s sometimes how races pan out, and a good number of the full course teams are among those who were held up at Portmerion. It has however split the race as the 3 leading teams are now even further out in front of the rest.
Rob Howard is editor of adventure racing website www.SleepMonsters.com – on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/SleepMonsters
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