Thanks From the Press Team

Rob Howard and Anne-Marie Dunhill / 18.11.2014

All expedition races are great adventures, full of surprises, unexpected encounters, exhilarating highs and times when you wonder what on earth you are doing and why.  

That goes for everyone involved, not just the teams. The teams depend on the transition, logistics, medical and safety staff who are moving along the course, sleeping little, dealing with the unexpected and trying to make sure everything runs as smoothly as possible.

Same goes for the press team which has been covering the race, and we too are dependent on the organisation to help us reach remote locations and to bring the news to you ... and to keep us out of trouble!

The press organisation here has been excellent and without it you wouldn’t have been reading the news on the live race website and following the progress of the teams, so we’d like to say thanks to those who have helped out the race press this week.

• To the Race Organisation led by Nathalie, Santiago and Rodolfo, for having faith in us and arranging our trip with typical Ecuadorian courtesy – which wasn’t always easy under the stress of staging a World Championships.

• To the tourism authorities of Quito and Ecuador for their funding of the press visits, hotel stays and transfers. This is an amazing city and country to visit and I’m sure the photos and stories from the race will encourage more visitors to Ecuador to discover all it has to offer.

• To Gulliver Expeditions who arranged all our logistics, transport, guides and accommodation along the course. Their expertise and local knowledge made all the difference and knowing we had their support allowed us to get to places we’d never otherwise have made it to, and to concentrate on the reporting.

• To our guides for the race. Gulliver provided experienced English speaking guides/drivers for the race to take us off well off the beaten track with 2 journalists in each of the press 4x4’s. It wasn’t unusual for them to drive dirt and mud roads for 5 or 6 hours at a time, then when we were in the middle of the jungle, forest or mountains we’d demand to be driven back out again to the a wi-fi connection to get our stories posted! They were amazing, very professional, friendly and an essential part of the press team at the race.

• To our colleagues in the press.  We were often on different parts of the course and trying to get different stories, but travelled and worked alongside each other at times.  We were all in it together, looking out for and helping each other.  There were not too many tantrums ;-)

• To YB Tracking, the AR World Series and the web services of Open Adventure for the live race website. Imagine the frustration of following the race without the trackers or a website where all the information was pulled together. For our part it would have been much harder to find the teams if we didn’t know where they were – and we’ve seen first hand how much work and expertise is involved in keeping these services running and updated 24/7. (Don’t take them for granted, in the early ARWC’s we never had them!)

• Last but not least to the people of Ecuador. One of the great joys of this race has been the welcome and support we’ve had all along the course. The encouragement for the teams has been amazing and everywhere we’ve been as we’ve followed them there has been a friendly greeting and a helping hand for us too.

Tonight at the race prize giving the whole race family will celebrate together at the Yaku Water Park Museum and while its main purpose is to celebrate the achievement of the teams the ceremony will also acknowledge the contributions of all who made the race such a great success.

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