Third Time No Charm But Vaucluse Remain Charming

Anne-Marie Dunhill / 22.02.2016

­The second French team, Vaucluse Aventures Evasions, missed the12:00 time cut-off in Puerto Natales. They finished the 76km trek, arriving at PC7 in Rio Primero at 05:12 and leaving at 10:50. The team arrived by bike at PC8 where I spoke to them at 22:20 on the 22nd. They had been one of the last teams on the trek; only Spirit of Poland remained.

This was the third time that this experienced French team was racing the Patagonian Expedition Race and I entered the school room where CP8 is located on tip toes; what was their emotional state after missing the time cut-off?

The teams’ mood was light and teasing. Propped up against the wall on one side of the room were Jerome Berruer and Raymond Pascal and on the other side, Corinne Bonnet and Jean-Michel Cateau shared a sleeping bag. Eating hot meals with a spork they cheerfully greeted me and promptly launched into a detailed description of their adventures. They spoke so quickly, completing each others sentences and using each other’s pet names that it was immediately clear that this team had remained a cohesive unit from the start to the finish of their adventure.

Jerome explained that they had lost a considerable amount of time on the trek due to a river crossing. It had rained and hailed during the night and the river that they wanted to cross was engorged; they lost several hours looking for a safe place to cross. Arriving at PC7, they knew that  that they had missed the time cut-off. Their goal was to continue to PC8 on bikes, (taking as long as they were allowed to by the organization) instead of being transported by car as other teams have chosen, so that they would be ranked.

Corinne Bonnet interrupted Jerome’s description of the trek saying, “I want to point out how extraordinary these three guys have been. Right from the beginning on the very first trek, Raymond took Jean-Michel’s pack as well as his own. On the 272km biking section he towed all of the way. Both Jerome and Jean-Michel navigated and Raymond was Superman with superhuman strength. Yes, that’s it, I was on a race with two Super Navigators and Superman.”

Laughing, she said “When I was in pain, Raymond kept saying it’ll pass but after six days it never passed and now that the race is over, he tells me it will hurt for three more days! I really thank them for allowing me to discover what an expedition race really is, even though I know that I was the weakest link.”

At this point Jerome interrupted her and said, “You weren’t the weakest link Corinne, we’re a team.” Raymond added, “What’s important is the memories, that’s what lasts.” Each one continued with anecdotes of  how the other members had helped them through the race.

Arms crossed tightly across his chest, Raymond looked distinctly uncomfortable with the praise he was receiving but the conditions on the 272km biking section were so extreme, riding directly into the Patagonia wind, that the lavish praise was merited.

He changed the subject, talking about how much he had enjoyed the primal sensations during the trek, when all of his senses captured the slightest information.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             All of the team except Corinne spoke of their disappointment at missing the cut-off and not being able to continue the remaining sections. Raymond said, “What we’ve done up until now has just been physical, now the race was about to get interesting; we were really looking forward to the mountain sections; We knew that they would be beautiful but hard. That first biking section into the wind was just too much, but the pampas are also part of Patagonia.”

Leaving the team as they shared a Snickers bar between four, it was clear that it was a team that had started the race and a team that had finished their own race. There were no recriminations or thinly veiled resentments. Taking a quick photo of the team members with my pocket camera, Corinne asked to see what she looked like after days of racing in the wild. Seeing her image for the first time in six days she just said, “Oh! Ouch!”

This race takes as much out of you as it gives back to you...

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