[AR] - World Championahips in Equador

sconhome

The HUAIRASINCHI Explorer 2014 ARWC's official roster has been published. Fifty teams representing twenty countries will participate in this world class expedition race. Seven of the top ten ranked teams will also take part in the 2014 World Champs. The route will pass through the three continental regions of Ecuador: the coast, highlands, and Amazon, and will cross the equator line 0°

Looks awesome!!

More dot watching planned for 7-19th November as we follow the Irish team led by Avril Copeland.

sconhome

Live tracking will be open on Sunday 9th http://live.huairasinchi.com/

Enduro

Pictures from the start are making me jealous. Looks like it'll be a fanstastic experience.

So far its a very interesting group at the front. Team France look to be well up for (effectively) defending their title. Seagate aren't dominating, which is good for us neutrals as it makes it a more interesting race. Addidas Terrex are staying in contact with the front group nicely too.

IrishAR seem to be in the main pack and progressing steadily, thankfully. Most teams look like they've made it through the high altitude sections without going to pieces (probably the biggest worry for most teams on this course).

Course looks to be running fast. Will be interesting to see where the landmines are (there's always something!).

sconhome

Great reports coming from Sleepmonsters and the video of the start was class.

sconhome

Actually one of the logos caught my attention for some reason

http://www.adventuremag.com.br/

sconhome

From Sleepmonsters:

Team Haglofs Silva are withdrawing from the race due to a wrist injury to Josefina Vikberg sustaining in a bike fall on stage 2.

It's a huge disappointment for the team who pulled out in Costa Rica last year for exactly the same reason and injury. Disappointing for the race to lose one of the top teams so early.

That's a rough dose after all the training and racing in the build up.

Enduro

Oh man, that's awful. Twice in a row is really tough luck. And for a team who a right up there as one of the best in the world.

sconhome

Is it just me or has Irish AR stopped for the last few hours?

I hope it's just a tracker issue cos some of the earller tracks looked very haphazard.

Enduro

yeah, it hasn't updated in a while. Not sure how long. They're in a valley so it will most likely pop up again.

Breathe magazine seems to be giving great reports again. Sound like there will be contreversry about rules and route choices into the last trek->bike transition, with seagate having lost time by taking a strict rules interpretation.

shotgunmcos

Only got around to the dot watching now. Bloody hell its an epic course and an amazing route. The treks are all offroad mountain marathons in the Andes! The bikes are IM distance, vertically!

Savage standard of teams. The 6 up front in a good battle. Interesting to see Seagate not belting off out of sight as usual.

Enduro

Looks like seagate are virtually in control, if not on the ground, with lots of sleeptime banked and all their competitors with a looming 4 hour penalty to be served at the next TA.

Best Nav of the race award so far goes to the swedish armed forces. They took a unique route on the last MTB leg that, judging by the dot spacing, was way faster. Well found! They're the big movers on the race too, having being destroyed by altitude sickness on the first leg.

Technu look to be backtracking (or are extemely lost, but I doubt that), so they might be out. That would make them the second American team to do that.

IrishAR still in the middle of the big bunch of backpackers, but have a big task on their hands to make the next cut-off. No room for mistakes, but I fear they might be heading off line. We'll see soon enough.

Weather sounds brutal. heavy rain will make absolutely everything harder. Currently night time there, and it must be horrendous.

sconhome

Team TriHarderAR claim to fame:

Team USA Tecnu must have been following our dot through the Beast and were picking up some nav tips

http://www.breathemag.ca/flashblog/2014-adventure-racing-world-championships/usa-tecnu-having-serious-problems/#.VGIPHsny1gx

sconhome

The first race cutoff is today at 1700 at TA4.

"There is a cut off on this leg. Any team that hasn't left this TA by 1700 on Tuesday the 11th of November will be transported to CP28."

Looking at some of the bike times, there may be as many as 18 - 21 teams who likely won't make the cutoff.

CP28 is at the start of the final trekking leg. Teams will just have the very difficult 40 km jungle trek with GPS and then the final 59km paddle to the Finish

From Breathe.

I wonder if the 4hr penalty is partially to blame for the pressure on the cut off? Seems like an unreasonable balance of teams that could get shortcoursed..

Enduro

Yowser.... Irish AR are right on the boderline for making the TA4 cut-off.... come on!!!! Fingers crossed. The 4 hour penalty is server at TA5, so it won't affect TA4 cut-offs. I'd guess that backpapers won't serve it there and will be allowed through to have the time added on at the finish.

Looks like Technu did get lost, but got it all back together again.

Lead teams look to be arriving at TA5. Should see Seagate establish a commanding lead at this point as their immediate rivals server out their penalty. They've also got plenty of sleeptime banked.

sconhome

Team Irish have 5 hours to make it to TA4 before the cutoff.

Had a post, delayed post, posted and see I missed the cutoff!

They are cutting it fine, wondered if they would slice across the plateau rather than following the trail around.

Haul ass folks!!

shotgunmcos

Good call Enduro, Seagate way ahead now. Boss tacticians! Checked out the Swe armed forced bike route vs the other top teams, way to steal a march!! Still good racing there and with the Amazonian mangroves yet to do, anything could happen..

sconhome

Cut off was extended from 17:00 to 00:00 due to weather but a 2hr penalty is being applied for arrivees after the original cut off:

The first time cut off of 17:00 has been extended to 00:00. According to the race direction, here at TA4, the decision was taken because of the bad weather conditions on the first section. Here are the new rules: teams arriving after 17:00 and before 00:00 will take a 2 hour penalty but will be allowed to continue on the full course and they must leave TA4 before 05:00. Those team arriving after 00:00 at TA4 will be shunted by car to Y de Cubes.

Team Irish were just outside the cutoff. I hate to imagine the stress and strain of pushing and being so close, being despondent coming in and then being told "ah, 2 hr penalty but you can rest now til midnight!" Try sleeping after that!!

Arriving at TA4 at 17:08, team captain Avril Copeland could be heard bellowing, ‘Oh my god!” when she learned of the extension. Her team had a rough time on this last section as one of her teammates had severe intestine issues. They remained calm, focused and positive despite the set-backs on this section and are preparing to sleep.

sconhome

Seagate are hauling ass!!

Seems to be spot on with tactics. Gonna come off the paddle before being darkzoned, majority of teams seem likely to get caught with darkzone on the river so they can bank whatever sleep they need with a comfortable 5 hour (virtual) lead and discharge required sleep.

Class act to follow.

shotgunmcos

AKW wrote: »

Seagate are hauling ass!!

Seems to be spot on with tactics. Gonna come off the paddle before being darkzoned, majority of teams seem likely to get caught with darkzone on the river so they can bank whatever sleep they need with a comfortable 5 hour (virtual) lead and discharge required sleep.

Class act to follow.

They are on course to put this course down in a shade under 5 days. Frickin incredible! Not out of sight yet though, the last trek is the one with no maps. Amazon jungle :eek: followed by mangroves :eek:

sconhome

Seagate are smoking!!

Some tactis and race planning, everything seems to have gone bang on for them right the way through. I'd love to be a fly on the wall to their race conversations.

Team Irish AR had a few nav errors during the night which means they might get caught in today's DZ on the paddle, just 14 hours to get through a 160k bike and 69k paddle in white water, but likely by my reckoning to hit the water just as DZ takes effect giving them a full 11 hours discharge.

Not sure of cutoffs from here though.

Enduro

I can't remember the cut-offs, but I suspect that IrishAR will get caught in one of them since I don't think they're moving fast enough to complete the course in the remaining time. They are pretty much the back markers of the remaining ranked teams now. They had the maximum sleep possible in TA4, which indicates that Eoghan was very sick. They're giving it their best shot anyway. Hopefully the massive bike leg goes well for them and they will get out onto the whitewater.

Seagate have no-one to beat but themselves, and it's been that way for a while. Simply the best. As long as their health holds up they should win. Their darkzone timing was freakily perfect. There was a lot of luck in that, but luck always seems to favour the teams in front in these things. Great preformance from Columbia to keep some pressure on them, and to get in front of team France. Good battle for 2/3 still to be played out.

Moviestar will be cursing their luck to miss the darkzone by such a small margin. Should have them stuck in 4th place, with big gaps in both directions. After that its a massive bunfight for the rest of the positions. They'll all basically have mass started on the kayaking. Will be great head to head racing down the river. Good battle between Technu and Aididas. Unusually both have made big enough nav errors on the way.

No "team eating" stages like the mangrove swamps from last year so far, Just steady attrition from the weather. Good to see the vast majority of teams still competitive.

sconhome

Awesome performance from Seagate.

Unfortunately it looks like a serious nav issue for Team Irish

Enduro

Yeah, something very wrong there. No chance of them making the next cut-off now, so they'll be shunted forward whenever they get there (which could be a while now that they're heading back down the course in the wrong direction). It's going to be interesting hearing the stories!

At the other end of the field, it looks like team France are having severe problems too. Moviestar have managed to eat up the entire darkzone difference and overtake them. I wonder did their motivation collapse (sounded like they were having issues earlier in the race after the penalties etc). Great racing still going on there. Good to see Addidas get to the front of the big chasing pack.

Great racing from Columbia. The only ones to get close to Seagate. They've really built themselves into a world class team over a few years.

tunney

Would it not have been a whole lot easier just to do Gael Force?

sconhome

tunney wrote: »

Would it not have been a whole lot easier just to do Gael Force?

No team event

sconhome

Short coursed, to be expected but tough all the same. Would love to know what happened.

career move

AKW wrote: »

Short coursed, to be expected but tough all the same. Would love to know what happened.

This is from the sleepmonsters report when they were just over the 17:00 cut off at TA4

In the transition room Avril said “You wouldn’t believe what happened to us out there,” and then went off to tend to Eoghan (pronounced Owen) who was obviously doing poorly; pale and unstable on his feet as he stood by his bike. Richard Nunan finished the conversation that Avril had started as she went off to fetch chicken noodle soup from the street vendor out front.
Richard said that they had had a comfortable three hour margin on the time cut-off and had even stopped off in a small town to eat. Then Eoghan got violently ill with the runs and as he was navigating, things went badly pear-shaped from this point on. Richard said that there were tense discussions as his map reading ability went temporarily south with the contents of his intestines. When asked if it was something Eoghan had eaten, Richard said, “We all ate the same thing, I wish it was because then it just be out of his system soon, but I think he just “bonked” hard, and that means it could happen again.

Might be one explanation for it anyway

Peterx

tunney wrote: »

Would it not have been a whole lot easier just to do Gael Force?

Yes. So much easier in fact that GaelForce is not even the same sport.

I went for a cycle with Avril a few weeks ago, she is in flying form. Team racing is tough, all 4 units have to be able to function. For instance : four people fly all the way to Equador and pull out on day one or two with an ankle problem. Sickening.
Fair play to the Irish team, it's a very tough race.

sconhome

After trekking through the jungle I reckon TriHarder AR would be glad of my kayak capsising abilities to clean the muck off!!

shotgunmcos

Does this class as outside assistance in AR?! .

Are Irish AR done or hiding under a rock at the last Paddle start

tunney

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2846228/Meet-Arthur-stray-dog-followed-extreme-sports-team-grueling-430-mile-race-Amazon-rainforest-refused-leave-finish.html