Raid Gallaecia Expedition Race 2017
The French Dominate Raid Gallaecia
Anne-Marie Dunhill / 12.05.2017
Two French teams have dominated this edition of Raid Gallaecia and in so doing, provided dot watchers around the world with a gripping spectacle of boundless determination. Before the race start, all the teams had commented on the high level of the Spanish and international teams present on the 2017 edition and as the race played out, there were several surprises as mistakes and injuries heavily affected the field.
The French team Naturex headed out fast and stayed at the front of the race throughout. A younger French team, FMR, chased hard and as the race progressed bets were placed to see if these two teams could maintain the grueling pace they’d established from the start.
The Estonians on ACE Adventure Team had been leading the pack up to T4-T5. At this transition in Ortigueira the organization carried out not one, not two, but three surprise gear checks. The first one was done by race staff at the start of the now infamous “I will survive” trek, the second one by the race referees Bette and Greg at the start of the abseil and the last one by race staff as soon as the racers entered the transition building at the end of the trek.
A four hour penalty was issued to the Estonian team at this section as they were missing mandatory equipment: two harnesses. Observing their faces it was clear that this penalty affected their mental game but not the pace at which they pushed forward.
The determined French teams, Naturex and FMR, continued to broaden the gap at the front of the pack and they often crossed each other in transitions. This added to the pressure of racing as they could see how close their competition was, instead of trying to guess or ask race staff. At one point on the last trek they were racing just 7 minutes apart which is almost unheard of in an expedition race of this length.
It was a mad dash to the finish line for all the media who were spread out around the course when Marcos (race organizer in charge of the press) sent out a whatsapp message saying first teams were expected in 40 minutes. Before the race, this last mountain biking section had been predicted to take 6 hours but the horses could smell the stables and the first two teams completed it in under 5 hours.
As we waited at the finish line, all eyes glued to Tracktherace on our smart phones, there was a moment of collective breath holding as the tracker for FMR suddenly started to zig zag all over the place.
Naturex crossed the finish line in As Pontes at 19:28 as the winners of the 2017 edition of Raid Gallaecia, greeted by a large cheering crowd and accompanied by rain which has been our constant companion since the second day of racing.
After the camera flashes and cheers had subsided, team captain Sebastien Raichon said, “It’s been a great race, we started out strongly and we won. In Australia (ed. location of the Adventure Racing World Championships in 2016) we were passed right at the finish line by another team and we were determined not to have that happen this time.”
This was the first time that these four have raced together as a team because Sonia Furtado replaced Audrey Ehanno for this race. Sonia is a veteran French racer who SleepMonsters last saw racing at Raid in France when the race hosted the ARWS World Champs in 2014. Sebastien looked proud as he ruffled Sonia’s hair and said, “We got an ARWS win for the return of Sonia to adventure racing! She’s a war machine!”
When asked what they had found to be the most difficult part of the race, Sonia promptly exclaimed, “The ‘toxo’!” (‘Toxo’ is the Galician word for the prickly gorse bush).
Tom said that they had only slept 2 hours since the race started and he had found that difficult, adding that he preferred races where there is at least a few hours of mandatory sleep. Sebastien added, “We’ve been battling with FMR for the last 2 days, crazy! This race has been memorable! We were faster than we’ve ever been on foot.” Tom looked at me and smiled, adding, “Yeah, I was a bit worried about FMR, they are so much younger than we are, and strong, I’m glad we won this one, they’ve got a few more years ahead of them!”
Sebastien sang the praises of the organizers, saying, “The volunteers have all been so nice and helpful and I really enjoyed the maps. You could tell that the organizers had put a lot of thought into tracing the race route and it really showed in the orienteering choices we were able to make.” (This team is racing with 3 navigators whereas on team FMR Clement Valla navigates solo.)
Naturex were waiting for FMR to cross the finish line and it was very moving to see these two teams who had battled so fiercely for over 80 hours of nonstop racing congratulate each other. Almost immediately at the finish line, while the maps were still in their holders on the bikes, the two teams started looking at the last section and Sebastien showed Clement the route he had taken when Clement has started to zig and zag.
The burning question was what had happened on the final 10km to FMR when the tracker showed them weaving all over the place. I asked Clement as he was sitting on a bench at the finish line extracting a multitude of ticks from his race worn legs. With slightly glazed eyes he said, “Yeah, I had a dip in blood sugar and we had to stop so that I could eat.” As he was the only one doing the navigation for the team throughout the race, and with no mandatory sleep, his concentration had been truly exceptional and reinforces their presence on the international scene after the their win on the ITERA race in Ireland last summer.
With two French teams on the podium, it was quite an emotional finish.
While these teams are now showered and rested, other teams are still pushing their way through the course, having spent yet another wet night out there and we will be bringing you photos and their stories as well.