Tierra Viva - The Race Briefing

Adv Communication (Edited by Rob Howard) / 12.04.2015

Villarica will be the start of the race, and teams will be introduced to their row boats straight way, for the first 22km section. The 19 boats will be distributed by a draw to decide which team gets which boat.  The teams will have to pick up their lifejackets for the stage, and must ensure their bibs are over them at all times, then at 13.00hr the race will get underway, with the first row expected to take about 4 hours.

Stage two is a ride of 116km. Teams will have to copy the checkpoints onto all of their maps themselves and at every PC have to take a photos to record their visit. They have to take two, one with a minimum of 3 teams members in the shot. 

The location of the first transition has thermal baths and there are restaurants where teams can buy food. This is the start of the first trekking stage and teams were reminded that it may rain and snow at altitude and to take into account the weather which can change rapidly. Teams were also told the use of the radio is a direct disqualification. 

One interesting twist at Tierra Viva is that teams can choose in which direction to undertake the circular trekking route, though the race may direct them to take a particular route for safety. The race has done this before in previous editions and teams have taken different directions!

The route includes a 25km stage in inflatable rafts which the organisers say should be fun, and more treks with difficult terrain and navigation.

Teams were again reminded to take money to buy food in small shops and told the local people will be sure to offer food and  a place to sleep ... they are very friendly people.  The briefing finished with the comment that teams had worked hard to get there, but should take no risks if there are extreme conditions and be responsible.

[Ed. The race has said the activity of the nearby Villarica Volcano does not present and threat to the normal running of the race.  The volcano, one of the few with a permanent lava lake, is just 10km from Pucon and there has been some increased activity in recent months. The Chilean volcano monitoring service, Sernageomin, as put a 5km exclusion zone around the crater as a precaution and on Thursday said conditions were stable with low gas emissions.]

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