Tierra Viva
Tierra Viva. Two Intense Days of Real Patagonian Adventure
German Cuevas/AdvFeel Communication (Edited by Rob Howard) / 14.04.2015
Night falls fast in Chilean Patagonia. After the opening show of the row boats, aboriginal dancers and more the hard work began.
The first long mountain biking section between the first two transitions reminded skilled riders that this is no joke and for less experienced it proved what they had feared … this race will be a very hard experience ...
It was a broad, very hilly route with lots of sand of all sizes and not always easy to ride so some falls occurred, those we saw were without consequence, the riders continued. Even the top teams had to really apply themselves.
This route ran alongside huge trees and often beside the lakes and surrounded by high mountains. Ttransition 2 was set up at the Baths of San Sebatian where we discovered a group of typical village huts in the area next to a river and a set of pools with lovely steaming water ...
The teams began arriving late at night, and discovered the amazing menu that awaited them as there was food and drink in abundance, most popular being a rolled roast.
In the transition the two leading Swedish teams loaded drink, eat and took time to rest and recuperate for the difficult trek that awaited them ... made tougher if possible by heavy rains and cold conditions that appeared overnight. It was harder for some of the later teams too as heavy fog hindered their navigation.
At this point the Belgian team were adjudged off ranking for an equipment issue. (Ed. This is unconfirmed by the race leaderboard.)
On the overnight trek between the volcanoes the French team, Agde Raid Aventure, navigated better and took the lead ahead of the two Swedish teams. Another surprise was the Argentine/Spanish team http://www.theraidstore.com who also navigated well and finished in 4th position.
There was a big descent at the beginning of the next mountain biking section which was very similar to the previous one, all the time following the course of a lovely river towards transition 4. This is very special, located in a barn and among cows and pigs.
[Subsequently 4 teams are shown as having withdrawn during the first difficult trek and SAFAT moved back ahead of Agde Raid Aventure to retake the lead.]
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