Raid Gallacecia Expedition Race
Seagate Second at Raid Gallaecia
Rob Howard / 16.05.2015
Team Seagate crossed the finish line to take second place at Raid Gallaecia on Friday evening. Race winners Haglofs Silva had waited to congratulate them, sitting in the sun with their backs against the cathedral wall, and there was a large crowd of supporters to cheer the popular Kiwi team in.
As they sat down to some food Stuart Lynch said, “It has been a great race, one of the best organised we’ve been to. It’s not quite the result we wanted but has been a spectacular course, especially the coastal sections. We would have liked to have seen Trece beach in daylight, but arrived there after dark, and we could have done without so much gorse too!”
Nathan Fa’ava particularly liked the white water and coastal paddling, although it turns out there was not meant to be so much white water. Race Director Pablo Lopez explained; “The power company controls the flow and although we asked them not to release too much water they did it anyway.” (Which explains why the river paddle was harder than expected for the teams.)
Fa’avae also commented on some of the historical and cultural sights they had seen. “It’s great to include the castles, lighthouses, archaeological sights and little towns and villages. It gives you a better impression of the area and those places are really memorable.” Speaking about the race he agreed it was very well organised but did say it would have nice to see more teams finish the full course. He wasn’t impressed with the hilly orienteering right at the end either!
Sophie Hart said, “I think the canyon was the most memorable, one of the best I’ve done in a race.” She added; “I enjoy the challenge of racing, the time I spend with my team mates and the amazing places we go. We do have some down times but also some hilarious moment and a lot of fun.” The team were still laughing about an incident at the last transition when a camera drone flew alongside them and straight into some power cables. It ended up on the road beside them and though not so funny for the cameraman it was for Seagate!
Hart has suffered most on the team with sore feet and when I asked how they were she just said, “Disgusting!” Then added, “I want to take my shoes off but I know if I do you’ll all take photos of my horrible feet.”
It wasn’t long however before the first two teams were transferred to the race hotel on the outskirts of the city and could clean up before sharing a meal together and getting some sleep.
SleepMonsters
