adidas TERREX in Paraguay at Expedicion Gurani

Nick Gracie (team captain) / 29.08.2015

After a brilliant 87 hours of non-stop racing Team adidas TERREX won the inaugural Expedicion Gurani race in Paraguay. It was an amazing race and definitely one of, if not the best races I have ever done.  It was an incredible journey around the beautiful country of Paraguay, lots of great stages which worked well together and we all got to meet some of the friendliest people on the planet.

The race was based from the Paraguay Golf and Yacht Club on the banks of the Rio Paraguay, which is the river that marks the border between Paraguay and Argentina. It’s on the outskirts of Asuncion, the capital city of Paraguay and an easy bus ride from the airport where all the teams were meet by the race organisation. It was a perfect place to do briefings, organise kit and eat some great food.

The race started at 7.00am on Monday morning when we were given the maps and the race book. We then had 1 hour to mark up the route for the first half of the race and then at 8.00am the action started with a 3 hour canoe down the Rio Paraguay. We had to carry our mountain bikes in the canoes with us for the next stage so it made it feel like quite an adventure.

We arrive at the same time as the Brazilian team Kailash but left transition first and set off on the first mountain bike stage, which was 91km. It was a fast and flowing ride and it got us out into a very rural area. 

We got to the first trekking stage with Kailash and so we did a super quick transition so we could get away from them on the trekking stage as the orienteering looked tough. We pushed hard for the first hour and a half chasing the remaining daylight and it paid off as we got 2 really tricky checkpoints just before it got dark.  It was a challenging stage and we lost some time bush whacking when we lost a trail but we got back to the TA in good time and took off on the second bike stage of 64km.

The next trekking stage was to be crucial as it was 45km long and we wanted to try and complete it in daylight as again the navigation looked challenging. One of the great parts of the race was that the race organisation provided hot food at many of the transitions and here we were greeted with a hot steak sandwich – it couldn’t have tasted any better !

The trek was incredible with such stunning scenery. We would be in amazing valleys with waterfalls everywhere and then come up onto open hill tops with huge fields of sugar cane and animals grazing. We reached a hill top just at sunrise and it was adventure racing perfection. It was one of those magical moments that makes us all so passionate about the sport. The stage also had a brilliant abseil down a giant waterfall.  We arrived in the heat of mid afternoon and it was the best cold shower I have ever had !

At the end of the stage there was a mandatory 2 hour stop at a sports hall where we received the rest of the maps for the race. We marked up maps, ate the spaghetti bolognaise the race organisation had provided and what was even better was the Specialized bike mechanic team were there to clean and fix and problems with our bikes. We opted to have our first sleep here, which was OK but even a small noise in a sports hall becomes a big noise so we didn’t leave quite as rested as we would have liked.

We had a short mountain bike stage to the next canoe stage, which was down a beautiful and fast flowing river which we did all in the darkness. The moon was almost full so we didn’t need to use our lights so it was really lovely and quite relaxing. This was followed by the longest bike stage of the race, which was quite fast and we were in a very rural farming area with lots of very small towns and ranches.

As the sun rose the community came to life and it was a great way to see a country, zooming along on your mountain bike as people started work in the sugar cane plantations, children walked to school, people opened their  little shops all to the chorus of chickens and birds waking up.  What made it so amazing was that everyone we passed waved and said hello and even wanted to shake your hand – we stopped a few times to refill our water bottles and we were welcomed every time into peoples houses or schools.  It was very rural and the people were living a very simple and basic life but they all seemed so happy and it shows that sometimes people with nothing can sometimes give the most - I loved it.

We arrived at the third trekking stage, which was on top of a hill with amazing views and we set off on a really fun 20km stage – we had long 2 zip wires over the jungle canopy and then some interesting checkpoints in caves, hill tops and at waterfalls. Just as it got dark on this stage a huge storm rolled in and it was impressive – torrential rain, thunder and lightning and it was right over our heads so we decided to shelter in a little barn and a local came out to say hello and gave us some water. After 15 minutes it had stopped and we continued and although we had got cold in the rain we warmed up quite quickly afterwards. At the end of the stage was more hot food – chicken and pasta and there was also the option to rent rooms by the hour so knowing we had a good lead we stopped for a hot shower and 3 hours sleep in a bed – we woke up totally refreshed and pushed on through the next fast bike to the final trekking stage.

The TA was at a tiny primary school and it was great to get a chance to meet some of the children who were incredibly polite and interested in what we were doing. The organisation donated a computer to the school (their first) to thank them, which I thought was a fantastic touch. It was a really tough orienteering stage in an fantastic area full of crags and amazing rock formations – again there were checkpoints in caves on viewpoints and at waterfalls – there was also a 40m jumar to scale one of the cliff’s which was fun.

We finished the stage – ate a load of fruit from the organisation and continued on the final bike stage to reach the start of the final stage, a 70km paddle down the Rio Paraguay. We were feed again – this time omelettes, steak and pasta all made by a sweet little old lady in her house. We left stuffed and as is often the case the sleepy heads arrived but after a few cans of Red Bull we were back alert and chatting and we had a great paddle down the river, the first 3 hours in daylight and the last 5 or so in darkness – the conditions were perfect and we paddled past the lights of Asuncion which was vey special.

At 11.00pm we arrived back at the hotel beach were we had started 87 hours earlier to a huge crowd, fireworks, pumping music (‘I Gotta Feeling’) and TV cameras – it was a little over whelming but we quickly got into our stride after some pizza, champagne and cold beers – we did a TV interview for the Paraguayan TV Sports Channel and spent 2 hours chatting before we finally had to close our eyes and walked straight into our fairly luxurious hotel rooms which was perfect.

The team were amazing, individually everyone was very strong but it was how we worked as a team, which was so special. We were constantly talking and working together on the navigation and helping each other out and sharing food.

Although we had never all raced together before we were totally in sync and it was a great way to race as it made it a lot of fun. Jari Haitt who just recently got married was the lead navigator and did a brilliant job and was super strong physically, tactically and really kept the communication going. I have raced 3 times with Jari now (all in South America) and we have won twice and we came 3rd at the World Championships in Coast Rica so our stats are pretty good. She brings a real level of professionalism, a great attitude and a lot of fun stories.

Gui and Camilla from Brazil are wonderful people to race with, they are very relaxed but again they are very professional in their approach and are great athletes. Jari and I called them action Barbie and action Ken !! Gui was also great at navigating and having someone in the team that spoke Spanish really helped. It really highlighted how good team work can give you a great result in a race. Although we ended up winning the race by a large margin we kept the pace on and were quick in transitions and we would have been tough for any team in the world to beat us I felt.

Racing with two girls was a first for me, and although I had no concerns going into the race I was interested to see how the dynamic worked and I think the equal balance in the team was another factor in us working so well together and making if fun. The girls were just as strong as the boys and it was a really great experience and result to win a race so convincingly with not just the usual 3 boys / 1 girl combination.

The main reason the race was such a success was the team behind it. Gustavo Borgognon, the race owner, is from Paraguay but he has raced all over the world. He is a successful businessman and has some great connections combined with a love of the sport and being deeply proud of his country his ambition for the event is fantastic. 

Urtzi Iglesais, the race director is Spanish and is a core member of the currently ranked number 1 team in the world Columbia Vidaraid. He is a great navigator and has done a lot of racing. Gustavo and Urtzi, making the prefect partnership of good business and good race planning. They both love the sport and know what racers want and that always leads to the best races.

On top of a great race course, the pre and post race organisation was faultless and went beyond any race I have done before. After the race there was a team of mechanics from Specialized Bikes who cleaned and oiled everyone’s bike and also a free laundry service where you just handed over your dirty race kit and it was returned 4 hours later smelling of roses. The best post race dinner I have ever had and the prize giving topped off a fantastic adventure race experience.

I would highly recommend the race and hopefully there will be even more teams here next year, Paraguay has so much to offer and I can’t wait to come back and race here again.­

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