ITERA - Presented by Open Adventure
The Last Leg(s)
Rob Howard / 15.08.2014
Team adidas TERREX arrived at the final transition of the race on a sunny Saturday morning to start the ride to finish line in Cardiff.
The team has lead throughout the race and has a comfortable lead going into the final ride down the Taff Trail to the coast, and the effects of their efforts were clear to see.
Chris Hope had been ill on the night’s trekking stage over the Brecon Beacons and as soon as the team arrived their priority was to get an airbed inflated so he could sleep outside the door of the Pontneddfechan Village Hall. (I nearly wrote he was put straight to sleep, but he wasn’t that bad!) A cup of tea was placed beside him, but it went cold as he was instantly asleep.
His team mates set about building his bike and organising everything for the final ride of the race and Kim Collison, who was limping badly, got medical attention for this feet. The iodine spray was very painful, but he knew it was good for him! He was taped up and Nick Gracie somehow managed to find him some clean socks in his kit bag.
“I was O.K. until this last trek,” Collison said, “but then the combination of continuous wet feet and rough ground did some damage and they are really sore.”
It is the first time Collison has raced with the team. “It’s been really good,” he said. “We’ve have nice balance of personalities and got on well. Chris and I have shared the navigation/packhorse work, with me doing most of the night navigation, and Nick has backed us up, as he did last night when Chris was sick. Nick is an expert captain and Sally looks after us. Even when she is down she still has a smile and makes sure we’re all OK.”
Sally Ozanne had a very rough time on the long ride in the middle of the race and said, “I was a bit worried for a while that we’d pushed too hard and could blow up as we keep up such a strong pace. That was the plan though, to race fast so we could get rest at Portmerion and Glasbury during the time-outs. And it worked, especially as we had a long rest at Glasbury.”
While they were sleeping at Glasbury those chasing them had been caught in the worst of the torrential rains and Nick Gracie said, “It is always the way, the team in front gets the breaks on weather, tide etc.” [It’s true, it happens at almost every expedition race.]
Gracie was happy with their pace in the race. “We’ve gone well,” he said and added that he was seeing the end of the race as good training for the World Champs in Ecuador in a few months time.
“It’s been just about the best expedition race I’ve done,” he said. (And he has done many, all over the world.) “It’s been varied, with lots of very different stages, but none of them too long, and visited some really quirky and out of the way places. The scenery has been stunning too – I’d never even heard of the Elan Valley and it was stunning there. I’d never visited the waterfalls we’ve just been to either and they are amazing too. I’m looking forward to coming back to Wales to visit them with the kids.”
The team will push through to the finish now, having stopped for an hours sleep in a small village in the early hours of the morning. They slept in a village church, which is something Gracie had done on races in the UK before. He says he is not religious, but he does often go to church during a race!
All being well the team should finish in mid-afternoon beside the National Assembly building at Cardiff Bay.
SleepMonsters
