Raid Gallacecia Expedition Race
A Successful First Raid Gallaecia
Rob Howard / 17.05.2015
Through Saturday teams continued to finish the inaugural Raid Gallaecia, running in front the cathedral to the finish in the corner of the main square. So many tourists and pilgrims were doing the same thing, reaching the end of their pilgrimage to this famous holy destination that the race finish attracted relatively little attention, it was just part of the scenery in a square where millions of travellers have finished long journeys over many centuries.
After their finish line photos and celebrations with friends many of the teams walked a few yards to eat and drink at one of the hundreds of surrounding bars and cafes, sitting out in the sun to relax for a while.
Philippe Chod of the Issy Aventure team told me about his race on the finish line. “We became unranked quite early when our girl pulled out of the race – I think she found the long sea paddle very hard, over 10 hours paddling in a plastic boat. Anyway, the rest of us carried on but couldn’t do the next kayaking or the canyon as there were only 3 of us. It was really frustrating not to do the canyon as we got there in good time and I am a canyoning fanatic! I will have to come back to do it another time now.
“So we rode to the start of the coasteering and our objective was to complete the race from there, which we did, getting 53 checkpoints in a row. It was good training for us for Raid in France later in the year and we enjoyed the scenery in Gallaecia – it is a good area for a race. It is even good for night time racing, which is often boring. Here you could hear the sound of the waves and the farm animals, feel the wind and smell the gorse and eucalyptus, it all added to the experience.”
British team ‘After Work Athletes’ were sorry to miss the canyon too, and said it was something the elite racers were used to but occasional racers like themselves rarely got such opportunities and they valued the chance to do them even more. They’d also bought and carried with them a lot of equipment which wouldn’t now get used.
Kevin Stephens said; “It was different to the UK as the countryside was very open – there were no gates to open and few fences. There were a lot of noisy, chained up dogs too and once when we tried to sneak away from a team in the dark, the dogs gave us away. We listened and 2 minutes later heard the dogs again, so we knew how far behind the chasing team were!”
“The maps were tricky as a marked track could be paved, dirt road or completely covered in dense gorse – you never knew what you are going to get!
“All of the people were very friendly and if we’d spoken some Spanish it might have helped to ask the way. We came to one closed road and they wouldn’t let us through so we faced a 3km detour. Then a Spanish team arrived and talked to the workers, persuading them to let them through ... so we followed them!”
All of the teams except the top 3 were not sure who they were racing against or their race position, and when the team from the Czech Republic, Fenix Multisport adidas, finished they told me they’d completed all of the course except the canyoning. Pavel Paloncy waited on the finish line to talk to me, agreeing with the general opinion that it was a fantastic area to race in. He was there long enough for the provisional results to come through and when he was told his team were 4th his face broke into a broad smile. “We missed the canyon by a little bit,” he said, “but thought if we could keep going 4th was still a good position. We had no idea if we’d been fast enough – but you never know with adventure racing and we were! I must go and tell my team.”
All of the teams made the course closure time of 14.00 on Saturday, managing the short course to fit their route into the available time and in that respect the course worked well, allowing the teams to race as much of the route as they could. The results were also produced very quickly. (This isn’t always the case at races in this format and can cause a lot of frustration.)
Teams were transferred to a hotel for the afternoon, but were back in the main square for the evening prize giving, which was held in the Paradores Hostal de Los Reyes Catolicos. This is a former hospital, built by the royal family for the care of pilgrims which is now the city's top hotel – it’s where the king stays when he visits. It was a fitting location for the final social gathering of a race which has explored both the scenery and the history of Gallaecia and there was time to explore the many corridors and courtyards, all full of fabulous artworks and fittings.
The race video was shown in the auditorium before the three top teams were presented with their prizes. Race Director Pablo Lopez couldn’t say anything however as he’d lost his voice after spending all his time the past few days briefing staff, answering questions and talking on the phone!
To wrap things up tapas were served in a courtyard with a central fountain and everyone had the chance to view the race photos and chat about their experiences. The consensus was the race was a great success, well organised by a committed team and that Gallaecia has lots more opportunities for future races which those who were here would be happy to return for.
Quite a few racers also said they were thinking of returning to explore or for family holidays so it’s clear both the organisation and the setting have made their mark on the Adventure Racing World Series circuit.