Adventure Racing World Championship 2016
Race to the Finish Line
Rob Howard / 13.11.2016
It’s going to be a close finish, in adventure racing terms anyway! (There can’t be many sports where two teams 12km apart are close!) The established, all conquering, powerhouse of Seagate still lead, and the odds are it will be another win for them. Anything could still happen of course, but it tends not to with Seagate – their racing savvy and experience are such they won’t let concentration lapse at the last.
They have stayed ahead of Adventure Medical Kits through the last couple of days, despite all that the American squad are doing to chase them down, and have also had more sleep. They are also quicker on foot and the final stage is a trek.
At the second last transition, where teams finished the paddle down the Shoalhaven River AMK were given a major boost to find Seagate still in transition, so at least they had sight of their elusive quarry, but Seagate did sleep for an hour there and they now know just how close AMK are ... both things which will make them go faster!
That sleep may have been necessity, or it may be they felt they needed the rest to be sharp to the finish, just to ensure there were no mistakes at the end. They weren’t saying, and had decided to sleep prior to getting in. That is one aspect of adventure racing that is definitely unique – in what other sport can going to sleep be a tactical masterstroke?!
AMK didn’t sleep – they can’t really. How can you sleep while chasing Seagate? How can you not? It’s that pressure Seagate put on others with their consistency and speed which so often breaks teams. But it’s not broken Adventure Medical Kits and they are still in with the chance of a win.
The battle for the final podium spot is even closer and Columbia Vidaraid are still in 3rd. They’ve slept less than other teams and look so desperately tired, but they keep going and are not making mistakes – you can feel it is pure willpower moving them forward.
They’ve been battling Sanlam Painted Wolf all the way down the Shoalhaven River and while the US team pushed through transition (yet again) onto the final bike stage, the South Africans took a sleep. That is a hard call to make. While racing for a podium in the World Champs and side by side with your opposition you let them go ahead of you, by choice ...
On the face of it, it didn’t seem to do the S. African team much good, as they made a navigational error at the start of the bike stage, losing valuable time. This team have been so determined to pull up into the top positions, but they’ve made it so much harder by making too many mistakes. (Nav errors and John Collins doing the trek in his bike shoes.)
That mistake has let French team Naturex get back with the S. Africans and both are chasing down the weary Colombia Vidaraid on the final bike ride. Naturex have had a steady, almost under the radar race, but they could yet get on the podium.
It is all set for a great finish in Ulladulla today, where the finish line will be set up by the Civic Centre which serves as race HQ. There will be a big crowd there, and many thousands of dot-watchers around the world wanting to see how this great race turns out and who will be the 2016 AR World Champions.
SleepMonsters
