Tierra Viva
Arriving at Pucon for Tierra Viva
Rob Howard / 09.04.2015
Teams are now gathering in Pucon in Chilean Patagonia for the Tierra Viva race, styled the Beast of Patagonia for 2015, and round two of the AR World Series.
For this year the race has moved across the border from its traditional home in Argentina and is based in the lake side town which is surrounded by volcanoes and National Parks, giving the planners plenty of scope for their 600km course.
The route will be open for 7 days and includes 6 mountain bike and 4 trekking stages, and what are described as two boating stages, and it seems there will be some rowing involved! As in previous races not all the maps will be given out at the initial briefings (where teams will get only the first two) and they will also have to record visits at some ‘virtual PC’s’ by taking photos of where they are.
The stage distances will be announced tomorrow so teams can prepare their gear boxes and they’ve been told there is plenty of opportunity to buy supplies on the way … but is it a risk they’ll take?
The final start list shows 19 teams, and has slimmed down a bit with teams not being able to get to the race as they’d hoped, either for financial or injury reasons. The top ranked team on the initial list were adidas TERREX of the UK but they pulled out a while ago with some injury concerns and Movistar Ecuador, who finished 3rd in the last World Champs, have not made the final list either. French team X-Bionic Adventure couldn’t raise the funds and Argentinean team Cristagua, who’ve done well at previous Tierra Viva races, have dropped out too.
Even so there are 10 nations among the 19 teams and they are a mix of experienced South American and European racers. (There are none from N. America this time.) The highest ranked are Peak Performance (12th) and Arverne Outdoor (14th). No doubt Peak Performance have been told not to bring any pets home from South America this time and they’ll surely have a battle with their compatriots in the Swedish Armed Forces Adventure Team who finished above them at the last World Champs.
The race begins at 13.00 on the 12th after a transfer from the race hotel to the start line and we’ll bring you what news we can here on SleepMonsters, though it may be limited at this race.
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