Raid in France
Weather Affects Raid in France
News Release (Edited by Rob Howard) / 18.09.2015
Raid in France is the last AR World Series race the year (before the the World Champs in Brazil), and is taking place in the area around Ain in the Rhone-Alps region in Eastern France.
40 international teams are taking part and its been a very wet, stormy and challenging race so far. Currently the leaders are two-thirds of the way around the course with world ranked #1 team Columbia Vidaraid in the lead from 400 Team Raidlight and Team FMR.
Here's a recap of the first two days of competition
Day 1
Raid in France 2015 started this Wednesday at 12am from Hauteville-Lompnes, in the Ain department. The race is 380km, nonstop, with a 12 000m positive elevation alternating trekking, mountain biking, canyoning, kayaking and speleology.
During the first night: a 29km trek on the Hauteville plateau, teams passed through some really complicated forests to navigate in. To make this even harder, rain was pouring. As a result, racers needed 6 more hours than expected to reach the next section. Some teams did not find every checkpoint and as a result, they are out of ranking.
Already there is one withdrawal for injury: Sabrina Verjee from team Lozère Sport Nature, who fell during the trek by night and had a deep cut sewn by the medical team from the organization. She completed the next two sections but then decided to give up after 12 hours of race.
R’Adys Team Switzerland were the leaders after making ground on the mountain bike section, with French teams 400Team Raidlight, last year’s winners, and FMR, close by all day.
Day 2
Heavy rain in the Ain department Thursday morning forced the organization to neutralize 3 sections: kayaking between Coiselet and Camp de Thol, Canyon de la Fouge and a 60m rope ascent at Charabotte.
In the circumstances, teams are brought further forward in the race or are being told instructions to follow in order to reach a spot on the route.
After the morning rain tge sun appeared during the afternoon for a beautiful via ferrata at Charabotte. Teams had the chance to enjoy an amazing view of the waterfalls as they were progressing in the section.
Racers have covered 80 to 100km today, kayaking, mountain biking and trek.
The gaps between teams are getting bigger and the race is separated in 3 different groups. The leading group has 7 teams, fiercely fighting for the win. The second group is the largest, and teams composing it are certainly the ones who suffered the most from the weather conditions. The last teams are doing their best to continue the adventure.
You can follow the live race coverage at http://live.raidinfrance.com
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