Some news from ARWC, i include the last posting from sleepmonsters below. C
---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Lisa @ AR <[email protected]> Date: 2009/11/13 Subject: [advracesa] News from Alex in Portugal To: ADVRACESA <[email protected]> This came in last night (Thursday) so keep in mind for references to today/yesterday. I'm offline the whole day. There may be more news tonight. Lisa > Hi Lisa > > Definitely the calm before the storm of the last stage for the seconds. > So quickly... > > In terms of the race, I'm nervous about this cutoff. Our tracker died at > 9h00 this morning, so we have no idea when to expect them. They have to > be out of our assistance area by 24h00 (is 20h45 here). If they make the > cutoff they will do a ~12km hike to a ~50km paddle to a big MTB. If they > miss the cutoff, they have to carry on biking to the start of the big > MTB, skipping the hike and paddle. So they would be on bikes since about > 10h00 this morning. It could be a really long bike leg. > > There aren't many short cuts on the proper course that we can use to > make up lots of time. Having said that, many CPs are split into A, B, > and C. To get 1 CP you must punch all 3. So even though they aren't far > off the course to the next transition, it is time consuming to get them. > > Nic and Ryno are going to have to be on form to play this one right. I > think the pressure of cut-offs will be stopping them from sleeping. So > far they've had ~2h on Tuesday night. They might have slept after we saw > them last night. > > In terms of position, we know the standings after stage 3. It finished > last night. We are 18th with 23 CP's. 10th position has 25 CP's. First > is Nike with 31. Helly Hansen, Buff and Orion follow with 30. Optionals > aren't counting for much at the moment. > > Exciting and tense times. Hopefully they come in soon. And hopefully > they're not completely knackered and can finish strongly. > > A > [image: Yahoo! Groups]<http://groups.yahoo.com/;_ylc=X3oDMTJkZWE5cTgwBF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzM1MzY2MDQEZ3Jwc3BJZAMxNzA1MDY1Nzg2BHNlYwNmdHIEc2xrA2dmcARzdGltZQMxMjU4MDg5Njg0> Switch to: Text-Only<[email protected]?subject=change+delivery+format:+Traditional>, Daily Digest<[email protected]?subject=email+delivery:+Digest>• Unsubscribe <[email protected]?subject=unsubscribe> • Terms of Use <http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/> . Sleepers and Weepers *By Rob Howard* There was a touch of déjà vue about the end of stage 4 tonight as the teams raced to beat another cut-off. Tonight the timing was later than last night, as teams had to leave Assistance Point 4 by midnight to avoid being routed around the next trekking and paddling stages, but there was the same intensity and the same pressure on all the teams, supporters and the race staff. This Assistance Point was much less spacious and the team vans were parked all the way down a narrow street beside the sports hall being used. Inside team support had set up their own spaces with kit boxes opened and ready, clothing and shoes laid out, and food prepared. Some had even set up tents inside to have some privacy and several teams who had arrived in the few hours before the cut-off were getting some sleep ahead of the cut-off. These included Orionhealth.com who had decided to sleep out of the hall, though I'm not sure where. However, they appeared just before midnight looking very sleepy and warmly wrapped with full waterproofs on to check out, then walked slowly up the road carrying a plastic bag of food each. It looked like they were not going far and planned to sleep again, but it was now raining again, so it was not so easy to find a place to go. Nike only just made the cut-off, arriving at 23.40 and leaving themselves just 20 minutes to transition. They made it with a minute to spare but only after Chris Forne spent a minute or two shouting loudly for Mike Kloser and telling him to run! George Christison tried to persuade the marshals the team could check out then sleep in the hall – but they were having none of that and the Race Director instructed teams to move at least 150m away from transition. Nike shuffled off carrying sleeping bags (which they will throw away rather than carry) and settled down on the kerb by a roundabout just outside transition. They asked the Race Director if there were any more cut offs to come, and inquired of anyone the spoke to if there was a hotel nearby. Christison was saying he was cold and needed to sleep, and they moved slowly off across the roundabout, and then back again. Over half an hour later 3 of the team were seen asleep in the car wash and Chris Forne was wandering around nearby asking the way to the town centre! Other s were having a tough time too and the girls on both Quechua and Adventureracers.dk were in tears, not wanting to go out again. They won't be the only tears shed at transition tonight. Lundhags may shed a few after missing the cut by 26 minutes, which will move them down from their high position on the leaderboard. Cyanosis, another well fancied team, also missed the cut. Those teams who made it out in time face a 10km trek in the darkness, crossing the 'gold fields' of Portugal and then a long paddle through the night. They still have another cut off to beat, at the start of section four of stage five, which they must start by 14.00 tomorrow. __,_._,___ -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "DarkAndDirty" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/darkanddirty?hl=.
