XTrail Expedition Race China
Speed Records Being Set at Xtrail Expedition
Press Release / 25.09.2016
The first AR World Series race in Asia began at 10am local time with a 53km mountain trek and top teams set a blistering pace. The first 4.6km was uphill, all 631 vertical metres of it, on a popular 4.6km tourist trail to the impressive "Viewing Fish Platform". The final section of 1,060 stairs were so choked with Chinese tourists that athletes were forced to constantly weave through them.
The tourists however stopped at CP1 and as though stepping through a looking glass, teams entered the isolated mountain wilderness. The hammer fell for a lead bunch of 7 teams who spurred each other to a blistering pace navigating cross country through the mountains. ARWS Director Louise Foulkes said "this is the fastest I have ever seen them travel!l
Team multisport.fi were the first to reach the Lake Kanas transition in a time of 5 hours and 20 minutes This is an incredible average of 10km/hr navigating cross country through hilly terrain and carrying race packs of at least 6kg each.
A $50,000 prize purse will be won and this could be the motivation spurring teams to these incredible speeds. Though it could be argued that when you put many of the worlds best adventure racers together in a race then sparks will inevitably fly.
Unfortunately team Tiger Adventure International Renegades began Unranked with only three members as Julie Ardoin was forced to withdraw before the start due to illness. Despite this set back team captain Trevor Mullens yelled to officials on the ridge trail past CP1 "Just look at this scenery it's amazing!".
China is represented by two teams who while experienced in stage racing are new to the non-stop expedition format. Team Koosa started strongly in the top third of the field. Team Xin Jiang chose to skip a number of early checkpoints, incurring heavy penalties, but likely with the aim to ensure they make it to the finish line within the three day limit. They are not the only team to make this choice - adventureracing.co.nz and Liquorice Tiger Adventure have also opted to take time penalties to hopefully reach the finish line.
Leg 2 of the race is taking teams onto Lake Kanas for a 34km kayak leg and many will complete this in the dark of the first night. The initial pack of seven has started to spread but are still within 2km of each other.
Like the famous Loch Ness Monster, Lake Kanas also has a legendary creature lurking in itís depths and officials will be monitoring the tracking closely to ensure no teams disappear.
Disappearances are the order of the day with all teams being sent an extraordinary emergency message to their YB tracking devices to keep a lookout for two tourists who have gone missing in the region covered by their leg 3 trek. The safety devices teams carry are satellite based and capable of communications in the most remote corners of the earth. They have a two way messaging function allowing them to contact the race organisation in an emergency, but also for the race organisation to contact teams directly.
Watch the race unfold live at http://live.arworldseries.com/xtrail/
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