Adventure Racing team Helly Hansen Prunesco have retained the Wenger Patagonia Expedition Race title after a gruelling 6 day race in Tierra del Fuego, becoming the first team ever to do so...
Treated like celebs before the race with lunch at the Santiago Polo Club courtesy of local sponsors Prunesco between flight connections, followed by pre race interviews for TV in Punta Arenas, we tried to keep expectations in check, at least in public... It wouldn't be very British to be public about our desire to win the race again, and it would also be very presumptive - this is a very tough race and much can disrupt even the best laid plans.
However the fact was that we were in Chile for 2 reasons; to see parts of Tierra del Fuego that are difficult for even adventurous tourists to see, and to win the race again. To be honest anything else would have been a disappointment. We could not know the calibre of the opposition but had the experience from last year to build on so would not be giving it up without a serious fight. The previous experience also allowed us to make some changes to the kit we´d use, and which ultimately meant less suffering this year than last...
Right after the race my head is fried – 10 uncomfortable hours sleep over 6 days will do that to you - but in summary it turned out much like we´d expected. We knew that the race would really shake out in the mountains - specifically the big mountain stage. But prior to that they were some big miles to be clocked up on foot and bike.
The first stage along the beach was fast as 6 teams sought to establish some form of psychological advantage. In hindsight the pace was daft, it´s fairly pointless fighting over a few minutes at great physical expense when there are hours to be gained and lost later in the mountains. The Germans shot off into the distance only to lose it all with a nav error, the Swiss, Spanish and Canadians also finished the stage in close proximity. This had shaken out those teams with aspiration from those with just personal ambition. We kept ourselves in the mix and set off first on the bike after a swift transition.
The long bike sections are linking stages and reminded me of some of the horror of last years race. The wind is incredible and just incessant, it howls in your ears like a banshee for hours on end and sends you slowly mad. It also make actually riding quite difficult at times, at times we averaged just 10kmh into the wind on the flat despite best efforts at a chain gang, and many times we were just blown off the bike or into a ditch. Extra challenges cropped up with the lack of a transition bag (and hence food and maps for stages 3 &4) but we kept plugging away, knowing that the mountains were all that really mattered.
By the time we arrived at the Cordillera Darwin we had a few hours over other teams and they had already started to crack a little. We were in good shape and set-off into the mountains in the company of Mike Kloser (filming for Hatch TV) in the early hours - perfect timing. We knew that daylight in the mountains is the most valuable commodity as there would be many times that navigation would only be possible with the benefit of daylight with the maps provided. Bruce later endeared himself to a checkpoint volunteer by describing the maps as cartoons, to find that the volunteer was also the cartographer...
I could spend a week describing this and the following stages and in no way do them justice. They're a sublime mix of extroardinary beauty and extreme physical and mental challenge, both expected and unexpected. This included finding the promised Tyrolean was not in place over a fast flowing river which delayed us by many hours before we decided to swim it - not something I was keen on...
Exiting the stage after 2.5 days, we had build a massive lead as the other challengers struggled to cope. So the last 2 stages should have been fairly comfortable, but that is never the case with Patagonia, and unsurprisingly there was a sting in the tail... We were told the final foot stages were mainly marked and easy trails so relaxed, cut our kit to a minimum, and looked forward to some easy running and an early finish. Cue yet more decimated forest, disappearing trails, beaver dams and a howling blizzard for good measure as we fought our way finally to the finish. Quite a subdued affair in the early hours, and not great TV, but this final twist had drained the last of my mental and physical reserves and I could barely stand as I fought back the tears on the finish line. My 42nd birthday and what way to celebrate it.
Keep an eye out for the TV programme which should air on Channel 4 and Sky later in the year. We had a sneak preview of some of the footage at the post race party and it is spectacular, especially the helicopter footage. More photos are available at the event website and via the team website.
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