As is usually the case when there are no communicative seconds (Bimbache is an unsupported race), news is scarce. I don’t really know what is happening except that we (‘we’ referring to Team Cyanosis and Merrell Adventure Addicts) are currently heading towards 36hrs of racing and we’re on the third, of eight, mountain bike stages.
The race started off yesterday (Sunday) morning with a short urban orienteering event; then the teams got on to their bikes for a 75km ride. Then, another orienteering section, this time a little more tricky. The one control, ontop of a hill, was missing. Teams with good orienteers realised this and proceeded, instead of hunting for the control for hours. The organisers seem to have been quickly alerted. Then, back on to bikes for a 76km ride.
All through this the tracking showed the teams closely bunched – no major gaps.
The next kayak/trek stage was an interesting one. Our teams probably would have started it in the evening, going through the night. Here teams were split into pairs. The one took to the water for a 10km paddle; the other went off running. Each pair had controls to locate. Yes, this means that teams really need two competent navigators. The first paddle was slightly longer (like by a kilometre or five). It seems like the weather for the first paddling pairs was better – they had the wind behind them. CPs were both on and off the water. Front teams went into dark so those behind would definitely have been on the water at night.
They swopped over somewhere and the running pair climbed into the kayaks for the return journey. Pyro, writing on SleepMonsters, says “despite a shorter paddle and slowly gaining daylight, they had to paddle into a debilitating headwind, with little shelter gained by following the shorelines”. He also mentions that some pairs returned a while before their teammates; they’d be sitting around getting cold and frustrated and the just-arrived pairs would get irritated at behind rushed in the transition.
Team Blackwater (old Team Nike) were in the lead, with Silva-Gerber 10 minutes behind.
Next, back on to bikes for a 63km paddle.
There was a comment on the Bimbache Facebook page this afternoon to say that the tracking devices need to be reset daily and some teams didn’t reset them properly, which explains why the tracking hasn’t been working properly. The units will be reset at T7 – end of bike stage, start of the 5km inline skate section. And then they’re trekking again, which will be at night.
Our teams haven’t been far from each other, racing at a similar pace. Adventure Addicts’ friend from XPD Australia, Orion, are with Cyanosis and Adventure Addicts – or there abouts, which is quite cool as this race is like a re-match (Adv. Addicts beat Orion in Oz).
I’ve just updated the sat map and our teams are approaching T8 – end of skating, start of 9km trek to ropes, then 1km ropes and then a 34km trek. This will all be at night.
Below is an image of the sat tracking (Monday, 19h30). Everyone and then another with Blackwater (#2), Buff Thermocool (#5), SilvaGerber (#6), Merrell Adv. Addicts (#13) and Cyanosis (#15). Click on image for bigger one.
After the trekking/ropes/trekking they have a 22km bike and then a 4hr compulsory rest.
I’ve been tracking Orion but I’ve just seen now that their track is listed under the ‘unranked’ folder! And I’ve just found out why.
“The competitor Nathan Peterson from Team 3 – Orion Adventure, has suffer a bike accident near Pc 21. Emergency services has been adviced immediately. The emergency helicopter and the medical team got to the place as soon as possible and they managed to stabilize him as he has been unconscious for 15 minutes. Nathan is now in hospital (Salamanca Hospital) where doctors are doing the neccessary health tests. Nathan’s bike were lost at the airport when he came from New Zealand. He had to buy a new one in order to compete in the World Championship. Not using his own bike might be the most important factor in his accident.”
Nathan is a friend – I’m trying to get more information. His three teammates have continued.
UPDATE – news just received… “Last news from hospital: Nathan from Orion Team is ok. The doctors made some tests and everything seems to be ok.”
UPDATE – just posted by Pyro on SleepMonsters.com (around 21h00)
While the early teams continued up the hill on their inlines, more serious drama was unfolding further back on the course. As we arrived at the transition we were told that three teams, all in the same area, had pressed the ‘911’ button on their SPOT trackers. This alerts a control centre in the USA, who then contact the race organiser to direct him to the location. Nathan Peterson of Orion Health had taken a spill during the MTB stage, hitting his head and losing consciousness briefly. The race medical team responded very swiftly, despatching a hired helicopter and the race medics to the scene, picking Nathan up and transferring him to a larger air ambulance for transfer to hospital to be checked out. We’re told that on pick-up, he was not only conscious, but alert enough to apologise to Antonio de la Rosa for the inconvenience he was causing!