ARWC 2015 Brazil - Pantanal
On the Ropes
Rob Howard / 20.11.2015
Teams at ARWC Pantanal who are ‘on the ropes’ know that the finish is not far away and they need only to ride to Corumba and paddle a short distance to the finish line, which is now set up and ready on the small beach by the race HQ.
The vertical ropes section comes right at the end of this epic race, and it’s a suitably epic descent too – a 300m rappel down an overhanging face, so most of the descent is free. On the way down racers have an amazing view across the valley the transition is set in, and from the top there is one last view of the immense wide open spaces of Pantanal, which they’ve come to know so well.
The ride up to the ropes was a long one, testing the teams’ endurance once again. Warren Bates of Godzone Adventure just shook his head and said, “That ride …” Then he was lost for words. His team had an unlucky break after they caught up to Merrell Adventure Addicts – the spindle sheared on Sarah Fairmaid’s rear wheel and they had to improvise with a strong stick! They lost places to both Merrell and Tecnu as a result and arrived at the ropes with daylight fading.
Merrell were the first to arrive at the ropes stage, and they too had some problems with Robyn Kime’s bike seizing up with the sticky red mud of the roads they were riding on. I met them in patch of bush as they came down and Donovan Sims said, “Wow. That was windy up there. We even wondered if they’d go ahead with the descent, but I’m glad they did, it was one of the best I’ve done.” Kime just said, “That was one heavy rope!”
Soon after they’d descended Kyle Peter of Tecnu appeared, coming down the safety rope on the steep ground below the cliff face. He said, “We are doing OK, but I don’t know how Jason has kept going with his blisters. He never complains though.”
Jason Popilsky was next down, moving slowly, followed by Mari Chandler and finally Rob Preston. Preston said the rain didn’t hamper the teams on the ride too much. “If anything it might have helped,” he said, “as it compacted the sand a bit. It was the soft sand that made the ride so tough and it seemed to go on forever.
When I asked him about what happened at AT6 he said, “We were all set to go out on the pack raft stage, literally on our way out of the TA, when Godzone came back and spoke with Raidlight and they asked to ring Shubi. So we thought we’d better stay and here the outcome. I was disappointed not to give it a try – I’ve never missed any part of a race before and it’s what we came to do. We did get a very cool flight, but looking down I wondered what it would have been like.”
These 3 teams are now heading to the finish line in Corumba and will finish tonight. Their final positions may be different as there are time adjustments to make after their different lengths of stay in TA6 and different restart times. Godzone also have a 30 minute penalty for a lost bib.
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