Swiss Satisfaction

Rob Howard / 15.11.2014

More teams have been finishing into Day 6 of the race and this morning, following Yogaslackers were Team Switzerland R’adys in 11^th place.  That’s right, it took over 6 days to fill the top 10 places.

The Swiss team were a little disappointed not to have made the top 10, but not too much as they had improved significantly on their position since the World Champs at Raid in France and might be the highest finishing Swiss team ever in the event.

“We’d settled for our position,” said Tim Stephens, as we though Yogaslackers were a long way ahead. We were towing one boat with 2 of us sleeping and then they came up behind us!  We gave it a shot to race with them, but they were stronger and we were falling asleep. They had a great sound system on their kayak which is a brilliant idea to keep you awake and motivated!”

The team were surprised to be so highly placed so early in the race but then for a Swiss team a mountainous race with lots of ascent and descent is ideal, although the conditions were far from Alpine.  “At home at 3000m it will be cold and rocky,” said team captain Charles Triponez, “but here it can be tropical and hot at that height! It was very different for us, but not as different as the jungle, we have no experience of that. It’s my first trip to South America and to come here and race in all the different ecosystems of Ecuador has been amazing.”

Anita Lehmann added; ”I was impressed with the rain in the jungle too. It was 4 to 5 hours non-stop and so continuously heavy. The mud in the jungle wasn’t so much fun, that was a suffer-fest.”

Stephens wasn’t so convinced about the course adding, “I would have liked to have seen some canyoning and bigger ropes stages, it seemed a bit trek/bike/trek/bike/paddle to me and I really like the ropes sections.

“The last ropes stage was short but an impressive place, especially the force of the river. And that was low water so I can’t imagine what it’s like in flood.

“One thing I enjoyed was to see the top teams like Seagate. I’ve been in the same races as them before, but never set eyes on them.  This time when we arrived in early transitions we did at least see them!” 

Tiponez added, “It felt good to arrive and see a list of top teams above us. We thought, hey we are doing well!”

The team did have a dip in the middle of the race, losing 5 places after problems with a bike and a broken paddle, but they came back and moved up to their impressive 11^th place. They were a contented team at the finish and looking forward to enjoying a couple of days stay in the relaxed atmosphere of Mompiche.

You can follow the race live on http://live.huairasinchi.com  

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