LA RUTA MADRE EXPEDITION RACE
Raid International Gaspésie Team 2nd At La Ruta Madre Expedition Race in Mexico
Press Release / 28.11.2017
On November 16th a team of 3 racers from Endurance Aventure, the organisers of Raid International Gaspésie (RIG) flew to Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico, to take part in the first edition of La Ruta Madre Expedition Race, organized by Javier Barreda of Yeti Adventure and his team.
The team was composed of Race Director Bastien Michau, Daniel Poirier who is Head of Television Production at RIG, and Arnaud Boisvert, a next generation athlete who has twice raced RIG. They were supported by Patricia Desgagné (as assistant), who is the Head of International Relations and Communications for RIG.
Taking part allowed the RIG organizers to experience the racer’s point of view and the emotions felt by the athletes and their support team. Their first observation: it’s much more relaxing being on this side of the stage than it is behind the scenes of the organization!
La Ruta Madre was an intense high-calibre race, where orienteering skills and the knowledge and experience of Bastien Michau in rope work and canyoning proved to be essential to successfully complete the course.
Daniel Poirier’s experience at international races, and his strength and endurance, helped to plan the race, and also to pull his team mates up a steep 18km bike ascent. The impressive fitness of the young Arnaud Boisvert, 22, a skimo skier and adventure racer, added to the team dynamic. Arnaud has completed the RIG 300Km race and won the RIG 150Km in 2017, but this was his first experience on an international raid.
The team was assisted by Patricia Desgagné, whose knowledge of Spanish was very useful, especially when the maps were distributed ... and the team realized there were no checkpoints were on the map! These needed to be put in by hand while listening to the descriptions, which were orally given, and only in Spanish ... there was no road book! Fortunately, we also had two Mexican assistants, Javier Barreda, super driver and his pick up, and Eduardo Hugues Gudiño, who spoke excellent French.
The area around the village of Santiago, where the race took place, is full of beautiful canyons with turquoise water. The organizers, who are canyoning guides, used them well and the competitors spent 8 hours in canyons, climbing cliffs, rappelling, and making slides and jumps.
The start was at midnight on Saturday November 20th, and the RIG team crossed the finish line at 11pm on Sunday night, after 23 hours of non-stop racing. They were warmly congratulated by the first-place Mexican team, who knew the area very well with the following comment: "Well done guys! You have not even been afraid of snakes! Impressive because the place is full of rattlesnakes and coral snakes ... but fortunately, it was a little cold so we did not see any. " … Ah, yes?!
Congratulations to the Yéti Aventure team for organizing this first memorable edition of La Ruta Madre Expedition Race, and thank you for the exceptional welcome we received.
We are now waiting for the Mexicans in Carleton-sur-Mer for the Raid International Gaspésie 2018! The Vertimania mixed team and the CAE men's team won an entry for RIG. Nos vemos en Gaspésie!
La Ruta Madre Expedition Race and the Raid International Gaspesie are part of the Outdoor World Tour series set up by German Cuevas. The Ruta Madre Expedition Race will be back for a second edition in November 2018.
Results:
Men:
1 - Trepacerros 1.0 - 19 h 01 m
2 - Raid International Gaspésie - 23 h 31 m
3 - Calaveras - 24 h 31 m
4 - Las 3 Cochas del Everest - 28 h 34 m
Mixed:
1 - Vertimania – 29 h 03 m
For more information see http://www.yetiadventures.mx/ and www.raidinternationalgaspesie.com
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