Raid Gallacecia Expedition Race
A Long, Hot First Day
Rob Howard / 12.05.2015
The skies remained clear and the sun shone all day as teams in Raid Gallaecia cycled towards the Atlantic coast, where much of the action in the race will take place. After the opening stage the day was divided between MTB and kayak stages, with frequent stops for orienteering challenges.
The ride from Cuntis to the South West passed through typical Gallaecian hill country, full of self sufficient farmsteads dotted with fruit trees and vineyards. The teams were on a mix of country roads and dry and dusty dirt tracks and had the opportunity to stop at small shops and bars to eat and especially to drink on such a hot day. (Although in the heat of the day its siesta time and the shops are mostly shut!)
We found several of the teams around CP8, which was set in the eucalyptus forest above a small reservoir and the scenery was colourful with the yellow gorse and broom in full flower along with the purples of the foxgloves and heathers.
The teams had already spread out on the first trek and during the long ride the leaders quickly pulled far away from the back markers and several teams opted to miss checkpoints and move to the short course on the first day of competition. Generally the times were slower than predicted, more so for the later teams who are already looking candidates for the first cut offs.
On the ride Haglofs Silva held their lead with Seagate gradually closing them down and when they came into transition both said the same thing about the maps; that you had to concentrate really hard on them. (They are exceptionally ‘busy’, full of detail which isn’t always useful to the teams, and the colour scheme isn’t very well differentiated.)
Mattias Nystrom of Haglofs Silva said, “The maps seem very accurate but you have to focus hard all the time.” He added, “We had a problem with CP18 which was in the ‘eastern mill’, but it was hard to find and we looked in a few ruined mills, spending 10 minutes before we found it.” His team had only just left the sports hall transition when Seagate arrived, and both were exceptionally fast in transition.
I timed Nathan Fa’avae and it took him 4 minutes to disassemble and pack his bike and be ready to go again! He said, “We’ve had no issues, it’s just been a bit slow with stopping to check the maps all the time but we are going well.”
From this transition teams walked with their kayaking kit to the put in before paddling down the river to the estuary and out to sea. The leaders passed through at low water, moving quickly, but mid pack and later teams will have to contend with an adverse tide.
The first stop on the paddle was the island of Arousa where teams were issued with another orienteering map. The teams came ashore in a sandy bay surrounded by rocky outcrops and the short and easy run around the nature reserve allowed them to break the kayak stage and stretch their legs. It was a beautiful setting as the whole southern part of the island is flanked by sandy beaches and the checkpoints were reached by tracks through the pine forest.
Seagate had very slowly been gaining on Haglofs Silva and arrived back at the beach after the run with the rivals in sight and they were quickly off in pursuit. Adventure Addicts arrived just as Seagate were leaving, so it is close at the top and Team Sport HG were not far behind, though they were very disorganised setting off on the run, perhaps a sign of their lack of experience compared to the top 3.
Through the rest of the evening and the first night teams will be out on the water, as the stage continues with a stop on the north of Arousa and in the town of Villagarcia for more orienteering, before going on to Portegade island and finishing at Pontesesures. From there teams ride north towards the reservoir and river paddling stage and the canyoning on day 2.
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