GASPESIE INTERNATIONAL RAID
Lyne Bessette and Benoît Simard Win Overall
Press Release / 11.09.2017
It’s under the stars and lightened by the moonlight that the athletes from the fourth edition of the Raid international Gaspésie (RIG) have started this last day of ultimate efforts. The teams had to camp at the Nouvelle Horse Race Track in order to take the start there at 5 am for the 300 K and 1 hour and 30 min later for the 150 K.
The race course today was fun and a lot less “wild” then the last day, but according to many, it was the most difficult day of race. Starting with a trail running section, the raiders had then the pleasure to canoe on the Nouvelle River until its mouth, in the Saint-Omer Barachois, in order to take 4 CP, among which one set on a zodiac. The raiders especially enjoyed the bushwhack sections today.
When it came to orienteering, it was not easier than in the huge Parc national de la Gaspésie as the windmills Plateau is a challenge even for the local teams! The raiders even had to find some surprise CPs (control points) as the one into a lobster case in the fish shop Poissonnerie de la gare, but all of them arrived with all their fingers! Later on the course, a big surprise awaited them on the Carleton-sur-Mer wharf, when one participant per team had to climb a firefighter ladder and jump into the water before crossing over the water on a slackline on which a CP was fixed. To end nicely this extraordinary adventure, they did coasteering at the Tracadigash Point before crossing the finish at the Carleton-sur-Mer Lighthouse.
Overall, for the 300 km, the Olympian cyclist Lyne Bessette and her teammate Benoît Simard won the race. The two leading teams who generally form one single team of four have raced all the way together, so it is not surprising to note a slight gap of 6 min 22 s between them, Team Espresso Sports (CAN) finishing with a time of 19 h 47 min 51 s, and Team Raid Azimut with a time of 19 h 53 min 43 s. Very close behind, Outeractive/Dynafit/Espresso Sports (CAN) (Patrick Lussier and Alexandre Provost) finished in third position with a time of 20 h 02 min 20 s.
Overall, for the 150 km, after three days of race, Team Vélo Café/Dynafit SkimoEast (CAN) (Arnaud Boisvert and Jeff Rivest) has maintained its rhythm and managed to finish before the Italian Team Pedini-Iret by … 35 seconds, after 3 days of race! Team Pedini-Iret (ITA) (Emanuel Lang and Alexander Keim) has done all it could to beat them, in vain. The final time for Vélo Café/Dynafit SkimoEast is 11 h 50 min 37 s and for Pedini-Iret is 11 h 51 min 12 s. Power Raid/LFG Construction (Jean-Sébastien Dion and David Litalien) are not far behind in third place with a time of 12 h 27 min 11 s.
All the Raid international Gaspésie Team wants to CONGRATULATE all the participants and invites you to live again the experience next year, from September 6 to 9, 2018. See you!
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