Raid in France
A Hot Start at Raid in France
Press Release / 05.09.2016
The first night of race went very fast for the leading teams: New Zealand team Seagate, defending world champion and leader of the world ARWS ranking, French team 400 Team Naturex (ranked 6th in the ARWS ranking) and the surprising Cap Opale team. After the ascent of the highest point of this 8th edition of Raid in France, these three teams ran close to the bottom of the Carlit peak on Sunday, around 5:00am.
During the day, these three teams managed to maintain the lead of the race, even if their competitors, among them AR Team Polska and the Swiss team R’Adys, are following behind, from a fair distance.
As in many races of this type, the gaps are widening quite quickly. The intense heat of the day affected racers and slowed their progression.
In total, Raid in France’s racers - their goal being to reach Saint-Pierre-la-Mer on the shores of the Mediterranean sea - will go through 430 kilometers and will face
16 000 meters of vertical gain. The first day took them to a 76 kilometers-long inaugural trek in high mountain. All teams recognised the beauty of the Pyrénées Orientales and Ariège departments’ landscapes: “In the morning, we had the chance to benefit from an amazing view over the Dent d’Orlu”, stated Arverne Outdoor’s racers.
By the end of this Sunday and probably next night, all the teams should get close to Raid in France’s second stage: a 12 kilometers-long raft stage on the Aude river, which will begin in the Saint-Georges gorges. As navigation is forbidden at night, they will be stopped until Monday morning, 7 :00am, in the same order they arrived at the blocking point. Program of tomorrow: rafting, and then a 91 kilometers-long mountain bike, quite rolling but with some orienteering complexity, that will allow racers to reach the Puilaurens castle, and then the Creu and the Llose cols.
Today’s sentence
“This region is both amazing and savage… We are enjoying it in the best way possible but handling our progression speed since we will be staking everything in the second part of the race”.
Best places to see the racers tomorrow
Tomorrow morning, racers will start the raft stage from 7:00am.
The beginning of the raft will be given a little above the Saint-Georges gorges, on the left side of the Aude river, between roads D118 and D17.
To see the racers in mountain bike, the Counozouls village offers a unique point of view, racers will reach this point through the Feuilla col.
Follow us live http://live.raidinfrance.com
SleepMonsters
