Raid Gallaecia Expedition Race 2017
Raid Gallaecia - Minor mistakes, major moves.
Carrick Armer / 09.05.2017
The early days of Raid Gallaecia have been defined by mistakes made as much as competition. Yesterday it was Sweco, Blackhill OpavaNet and Omjakon's wrong turn on the kayaking stage that radically altered the leaderboard. Today it was Estonian Ace's arrival at the canyoning stage two harnesses short of a full complement that re-wrote the podium positions. They talked of having picked up the wrong bag when leaving the previous transition, but it's hard to see how that means they only had half the requisite number of harnesses, unless their climbing kit was split over two transition bags. Anyhow, with two of the three Race Referees on site doing kit checks of all the teams, it wasn't a mistake they could easily hide.
The solution to keep them moving was a simple one: Close to the refuge where the abseil began was a small zig-zagging path down into the gorge. The first two of the team would descend, then trek back up to give their harnesses to the second pair before trekking back down again to meet them. All of that was accomplished in a little over 10 minutes, but the two hour penalty they were handed (the minimum sentence, apparently) reduced their chances of a podium for now, unless they could shake the chasing pack.
While their fate was being discussed, however, the first component of that chasing pack had seized the initiative and jumped onto the ropes ahead of them. Team FMR had been alongside the Estonians for much of the early going, and must have realised that, with a penalty to be sat out at the final transition, they could stick close on the ground and still have a massive advantage, temporally and psychologically. Just behind them their fellow Frenchmen Team Naturex arrived and, unknowingly for the time being, took second place.
This trio of teams continued to work hard and monitor each other closely for the rest of the day, FMR and Estonian Ace arriving to CP25 together, with Naturex trailing by a little over 10 minutes. A few kilometres later, at a mandatory swim across the upper tidal reaches of the Rio Sor, the three teams had all come together. By the first beach section at Praia do Esteiro, Naturex had take the lead by five minutes, while the Estonians trailed the two French team a little, having paused at a beach hut to pick up some extra supplies, and trekked along the sand and boardwalk munching down on some crisps. They have a long coastal trek, a few more beach sections and one mandatory swim/wade just north-east of Ortigueira before they transition back to their bikes.
At the other end of the field, their were similar issues and mistakes. The British pair, Desert Dogs, had a slow, hard night on the trekking and orienteering, having dropped a headtorch when pulling kit out of a pack. While they've been enjoying the scenery, and particularly a beautiful sunrise this morning after a short snooze, the amount of micro-navigation has been taking its toll, and they were forced to drop a checkpoint, so are technically out of the race but continuing unranked.
Also out, with three memebers on course and one relegated to spectator, are Marqués de Vizhoja Cornelios-Puerto Guardés (Team #13). Fatima Paz had suffered some heart palpitations after a lot of coffee, trying to stay awake overnight, and so withdrew from the race. Her teammates have continued, in close contact with another local team, SEO Ordes, to stay on course.
We have also seen that Sweco, the initial leaders of the race until their nav error on the kayak, have also been marked as unranked. We'll update as soon as we have news on that, but for now the remaining teams are headed into a potentially stormy night, either in the hills or on the beaches, as the cloud base has been rolling in, and some small thundery showers have already blown through the area.