Adventure Racing World Championship Portugal 2009
Sleepers and Weepers
Rob Howard / 12.11.2009
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.
SleepMonsters
