ITERA Ireland
ITERA 2016 Sets Off From Westport House
Rob Howard / 17.08.2016
After a long (5 hour) early morning coach ride the teams racing ITERA 2016 arrived at the start venue, the historic Westport House, with plenty of time to spare before the midday start.
This gave them time to look around the impressive rooms of the country house, admiring the portraits, chandeliers and period furniture, and to relax on the grand steps before the serious business of racing began.
The weather for the race start was very overcast with some light rain, but the temperature was pleasant enough so teams didn’t mind waiting an extra 12 minutes to set off (this was due to some local issues beyond the control of the race). There was ample time for a captains briefing and they were told the paddle was perhaps 50/50 to continue the full distance, and that they’d be against the tide for much of the time! (Teams will trek down the coast from a pre-determined pull out point if the Coastguard decides against them continuing.)
As they waited the teams were either relaxed and cheerful, glad to be getting going, or pensive and withdrawn, wondering what lies ahead and how they would cope. Race favourites Godzone Mountain Hardwear said they were not in the best shape. “I’ve been under the weather for a couple of days,” said Warren Bates, “and could have done with more time to recover from flying from New Zealand.” Nick Gracie had just returned from an extended family trip to South America, and the team had pulled Kevin Stephens to race with them for the first time at the last minute. All in all they didn’t seem to feel they were in good shape for the start!
For many of the racers the 50km sea paddle through Clew Bay and then down the Atlantic Coast is the longest they have ever done. Nigel McKernan of Team Misadventures told me, “You quoted me two years ago at Expedition Africa saying a paddle was twice what I’d done before. Well you can use the quote again as its true now as well!”
The only all female team, The Bob Kittens from Canada showed me their team mascot pinned to a rucksack strap and when I asked what a Bob Kitten was they said, “We’re not sure, we think we invented it during a long night adventure racing!”
After the slight delay the race set off at 12.12 with teams racing around the parklands of Westport House and the town on a 5km loop, running back past the house, and then out along the river to The Quay to pick up their kayaks.
The French teams seemed keen to get paddling and lead out the run, which the teams tackled with varying degrees of enthusiasm and athleticism, some of them carrying around much of their paddle gear, which I’m not sure they need to do.
By the time they arrived at The Quay it was raining a little more and the views out into the bay were misty and murky. It was low water so once they’d prepared to paddle they had to carry the two person sit on top kayaks out to the channel before setting off on what will be a full day of paddling, assuming they are able to continue the race as planned.
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