|
| |
 |
Nine teams out of forty-one
starters finished the Adventure Racing World Championships in Zermatt,
Switzerland. The race was won by Finnish team Nokia Adventure, in just under
97 hours for the 420 km course.
Feature article by Murray Thomas, from NZ’s team
Parallax. |
 |
Well we didn't end up on the podium in
Switzerland but we did give it a good shot for the first couple of days.
Unfortunately our team, much like many other teams, was affected by
sickness, which we think was picked up from the water we were drinking from
the streams etc.
|
| Our race started well with us comfortably staying with the lead bunch of
teams during the first trek, that saw us descend from a ski field at 3000m
down to about 1500m, then straight over a pass at 3100m, then another at
about 3000m. It was 56kms of climbing and descending that lead us to the Canyoning section at first light the next morning. We were lined up with
about eight other teams waiting for daybreak. It was to be a frightfully
cold experience to abseil down 75 into the canyon and a bitterly cold swim
for 1 1/2hrs that was to be our first problem. Tony got hypothermia, which
forced us into a 2hr transition while we waited to get some circulation back
into his body.
From there we had a Mt Bike that saw us riding and pushing our bikes in
the pouring rain, to heights that no road in NZ would even get close to. All
the time we were pushing hard to meet the rafting dark zone of 9pm. We
needed to reach the transition by 6:45pm to guarantee that we could get off
the water by 9pm. We knew it would be close and it was disappointment to
reach the transition at 7pm, which effectively split us from the lead teams.
The next day with spirits high, we rafted, cycled and trekked our way
forward, capturing ground on the lead teams, knowing that the we had at
least had some rest. Unlike the teams ahead of us.
The trek led us up onto a glacier, which was becoming harder to navigate
because of the whiteout conditions and fresh snow. The weather had closed
in, yet we continued on and over the passes. But as we were clawing our way
back toward the leaders, one of the team was slowing and becoming ill with a
stomach bug that would eventually determine our fate. Bill, probably a
hardest of us all, could not hold anything down and was becoming
increasingly weak as we climbed yet another pass. The team worked together
to get to the checkpoint at the top of the hill and at the top we decided to
rest for just 1hr before attempting the decent down the glacier. After the
rest Bill tried in desperation to force some food and water down but it all
came back up so we decided that we must rest Bill longer before attempting
the decent.
7hrs later we headed down the mountain toward the next transition. A
number of teams had passed us that night but our goal was now to get to the
finish line. At the transition Bill received some medical attention then we
were on our way again on the bikes over Sustain Pass, a 2000m climb. It was
on this climb that I too was affected but the mysterious stomach bug. We
boxed on and into the night and the continuous pouring rain, trekking over
another pass only to be thwarted by a maze of bluffs and dense fog on the
decent. Again we were forced to bivvy out in the cold and wet, until we
could find the route down to the transition.
|
| We now knew that it was physically impossible for us to beat the cut off
times for the final trek, but we mounted our bikes for the final time in an
effort to get as far as we could toward the finish. We were finally told
that we could not continue because of the cut-off times could not be beaten.
It was disappointing, but we never gave up. |
 |
| It was one of the wettest and coldest races I have done and one that we
had to fight all the time just to continue.
The most amazing aspect that come from the race for me was that, even
though our feet were continuously wet and subjected to constant inclines and
descents with heavy packs on our backs, none of us suffered from blisters or
chafing on our feet. There were a few small blisters between toes etc but
nothing to worry about. We all wore the Bridgedale socks and were impressed
with the comfort, cushioning and fit of the socks. Personally my feet are
the best they have ever been after such a race. Not often can you pound your
feet for 400km in the wet and not get any blisters or trench foot. |
 |
I would like to thank you on behalf of Tony, Bill, Maryanne and myself
(Team Parallax) and I know that from now on there will only be one sock that
I'll use in these races. I will be putting my body through it all again in
the Southern Traverse in November. It's New Zealand premier Adventure race
and this year is based around Queenstown.
The World Champs race was shown on Discovery Channel March 2002.
<<< Back
|
| |
|
Copyright
© 2002-2010