Race Tales On The Finish Line

Rob Howard / 21.08.2016

The rain didn’t let up through Sunday afternoon, but it wasn’t going to dampen the spirits of the teams finishing ITERA.  They’ve survived the worst possible August weather and while it made for a more challenging race, and not exactly the one which was originally planned, it didn’t stop most of the competitors making the finish line, one way or another.

As more teams came in more stories of surviving the weather were told; some by ingenuity, some by the kindliness of others and some of just plain perseverance.  Jill Westernra of Team EarthSeaSky NZ just said, “I thought we had rain in New Zealand, but I’ve never seen rain like that!” Her team congratulated James Thurlow on keeping the race together in the conditions but were a little sad to have missed seeing so much of the scenery.

Another Kiwi to finish later was Sarah Fairmaid with Godzone Mountain Hardwear and she said, “There was a very brief clearing coming down this afternoon and the views were stunning. I think Ireland is beautiful but shy!”

Several teams told of pulling off the water on the paddle on Lough Corrib – with different outcomes. Some finished their competitive race there but Team Endurancelife got lucky. “We were preparing to camp out,” said Anthony Emmet, “when someone from a nearby house rescued us and took us into their home. I remember sleeping by the Aga with my feet up and sometime in the night I woke up and the lady of the house was putting pink woolly socks on my bare feet!”

The same team found an outhouse with 12 old mattresses in a stack, and Daniel Carrivick was christened ‘Princess Pea’ after he slept on top! There were stories of teams sleeping in box rooms and storage rooms, outhouses, hostels, B&B’s and Hotels, and of local people helping in all sorts of circumstances.

Godzone Mountain Hardwear, the defending ITERA champions, finished in the late afternoon, with Warren Bates looking haggard but happy to have completed one of his toughest races and breaking into a coughing fit as soon as he had dibbed in. “That wasn’t a race,” he said, “it was an ordeal. I remember on that first trek feeling so ill and thinking I’d got another 4 nights of it! Still we got through with good team work and the others have been great. Nick has carried my pack nearly the whole way.”

Bates shook James Thurlow by the hand and thanked him for all his efforts keeping the race going in such extreme conditions. “Who’d be a Race Director,” he said, “it’s a terrible job!” Bates is the Race Director of Godzone Adventure so he knows just how difficult it’s been behind the scenes.

Both Fairmaid and Kevin Stephens said they’d been blown off their feet on the final trek, and on one occasion the team tracker was lost off Stephens’ backpack. (It was replaced at the next transition.)

When they finished I asked Nick Gracie where he thought they’d finished, and he said, “Maybe second.” And he was right. Having a time out at the ferry crossing gave them a full night’s sleep during the race and once that time credit was taken into account their final position was 2nd behind FMR, finishing an hour ahead of SWECO.  It’s not a bad result considering they’ve had a sick team member the whole way, and the second place is in part the result of some smart tactical thinking when presented with the time-out situation at the ferry crossing. Gracie assured me they really did try to make the ferry crossing ...

Among the last finishers of the day were Rachel’s Irish Adventures, who were the first Irish team to finish, coming 6th on the full course. They’d had adventures right up to the end of the race, losing a paddle in the rapids and having to go ashore and carry their boats all around the lake shore!  The dared not go out onto the lake with a single paddle as by now the wind was high once again, and the race had to once again shorten the paddle and move the take-out point.  (Which was lucky for Rachel’s team as it was a shorter carry with the boats.)

At the close of the day the paddle was closed early, again due to extreme winds, but it will open again tomorrow morning at first light.  This means most of the remaining teams will have another night bivvy in their damp gear, but at least they have the prospect of an early finish tomorrow.

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