ARWC 2015 Brazil - Pantanal
Limping into AT4
Rob Howard / 17.11.2015
The first Brazilian team have just arrived at AT4. Selva Kailash walked in across the airstrip at Acurizal to complete the Amolar hills trekking stage, having passed East Wind of Japan towards the end of the stage.
The Brazilians had their spirits raised when they saw the riverside transition area far below them from CP12. As with all the teams they are suffering from the heat and some severe blisters, and looking forward to get into the kayaks for a paddle down the Paraguay. After the rigours of the trek this is something of a rest stage as teams can drift downstream if they wish.
Kailash said they had to take a 2 hour detour to find some water on the trek, and they were happy to sit down in the small pools they found on the descent to cool off. The route down reaches an area of small creeks at the foot of the ridge and a few teams have struggled to find the track into transition here, particularly in the night.
Craig Bycroft from the AR World Series walked up to CP12 and said that in the area near the road there was a large creek completely unmarked on the map which he thought had been causing some of the problems. Poor mapping is just one of the navigational issues the teams have to cope with as they cross Pantanal.
Craig said; “It was like another world up there. There are huge gullies and chasms, many ridges and spurs and as you look into the distance there so many more mountain ranges. It’s an amazing place. It was cooler up there as the wind is stronger today.”
He had seen the Japanese team East Wind on the ridge top and watched them descending one of the spurs. “The girl on the team, who is on her first big race, was hopping gingerly from rock to rock,” he said, “and was clearly in a lot of pain from sore and blistered feet.”
There are numerous similar reports among the teams who have so far arrived at AT4 and the remaining teams, who will be much longer on their feet, will likely be in worse condition. The bad news is that after the river paddle there are two difficult trek and pack raft stages across mixed wetland forest and they will be a painful trial for those racers whose feet are already in poor condition.
The majority of teams are still on the trekking stage and AT4 is scheduled to close at midday tomorrow, but there is talk of extending that closure time by a couple of hours to allow more teams to stay in the race.
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