Stjepan Pavicic: the Spirit of the Patagonian Expedition Race

Anne-Marie Dunhill / 14.02.2016

The atmosphere at the NIGSA office on O’Higgins street has been one of understandably intense activity leading up to the race start. Among other activities the volunteers and staff have been sorting and dispatching blue barrels to the different check points and today the back court yard was alive with several different languages.

This afternoon, from his office on the first floor the race director Stjepan Pavicic was calmly sorting out several last minute issues as well as briefing Ian Campbell,  the race video producer.

Talking to SleepMonsters in the midst of the controlled chaos Stjepan expressed his thoughts before the start of the 2016 edition of the Patagonian Expedition Race. He spoke about the increasing difficulties he has been experiencing, getting permission from CONAF to have the race cross the lands in the national park. Bureaucratic difficulties meant that he had to re-trace fifteen kilometers of the original race route when the needed authorizations were too slow in coming. Victor Igor, the Seremi de Magallanes, came to his aid with the needed authorizations to cross different lands.

Stjepan said that his concern for keeping the race route top secret means that he will never provide anyone with a copy of the race route; he will personally present to top officials the race route but no hard copies of the race route exist anywhere before the start of the race. Others will only receive the portion pertaining to the necessary authorizations. So some of the adventure racers who have been trying to glean information about the race route from journalists and volunteers are sadly mistaken; there is no information.

He added that the main difficulty of organizing the race this year has been the lack of a main sponsor. But he said that he is feeling confident in the race route that he has planned this year because it will take racers truly out into the wilds of Patagonia but at the same time it also makes sense for his logistics crew who will be able to easily transfer the racers gear.

When asked how he was feeling right before the start of the race, Stjepan said, “I’m happy, I’m feeling very happy. I’m glad that we are able to put on this race again after a two year break. Each runner has their own history with the race; they have run it before and are back again or they have dreamt of racing it. I know that the race will provide a life experience in a wild environment. That is the spirit of this race: man in nature.”

We closed the interview at this point as the race director had to prepare for the Captain’s briefing tonight at 20:00 in the hotel Rey Don Felipe.

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