http://elizadventures.blogspot.com/ - Elizabeth's blog.
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Saturday, November 14, 2009
So long, and thanks...
So, they’re home safe. Team Cruachan finished the Adventure Race World Championships 2009 at around 9:30am this morning. They’ve endured 6 hard days of trekking, mountain biking, kayaking, canyoneering, inline skating, climbing and abseiling. They’ve taken all the rain, wind, cold, heat and all the other niceties that the Portugese landscape could throw at them, and they’ve come through it smiling.
It’s not been without its ups and downs. The portaging of kayaks seems to be a particular thorn in the team’s side. Sleep deprivation doesn’t suit Philip, we hear. Elizabeth’s knee is hurting. The sleepmonsters came to visit a couple of times. They’ve got sore, chafed backsides.
We’re back at Vila Bicuda, where this adventure started, sorting the kit and sleeping ahead of the prize giving and party tonight. In due course the team will let you know in their own words how they feel, what they enjoyed and didn’t, and spill the stories of faces in the walls and disappearing support people, but for now, they need to sleep and bask in the glory.
I’ll sign off for the week, and post a few more pictures in the next day or so. From me, thank you so much for following us and lending your support, I can assure you it meant loads to the team. But I’m sure they’ll tell you that themselves...
So, until then, ladies and gentlemen, I present to you Adventure Race World Championships 2009 finishers Lizzie Rose, Elizabeth Adams, Philip Price and Dan Gates: TEAM CRUACHAN.
Cheers
Pyro
Friday, November 13, 2009
Words
As promised
Caught up with the team at T14 having been chasing them for a day. They're looking great, happy and smiling, joking and sharing food round. They've had a few 'moments' so far, crashing on skates, wearing out brakes, overshooting the end of kayak stages, nav errors, but they're thinking well - Joe will be proud - and aiming to preserve themselves enough just to finish.
As an example, they deliberately missed the T14 cutoff. Elizabeth's knee is a little tender, and the big (60km) trek they would be routed onto if they arrived 2pm wouldn't do it any favours. So they stopped a short distance away from the transition, found a small building to get into, and had half an hours sleep. That way the can not only get some shuteye, but they can stick on the bikes and save the legs for the last trek stage to the finish.
That said, the bikes are taking their toll, their behinds "a little tender and a bit chafed". But they will finish, and finish well.
The current leaderboard, up to the end of Stage 4 puts them 45th (out of 59 starters), ahead of the Costa Rican team.
Pictures!!
Thanks to my mum for the update below - we had no net access and I wanted to post quickly as we'd FINALLY caught up with them!
Pictures from our brief meeting today, words to come. Cheers!
Thursday, November 12, 2009
They're going!!
Just caught up with Gill and Russ who've been skating and paddling with Cruachan.
The guys are looking tired but happy, a comedy paddle overnight when everyone was starting to doze off. Dan had a scare on the skates having worn his brake block down to nothing and then finding a long downhill. He managed to hold it, but scared himself and Lizzie.
They left at around 8pm, so they're very much back in the pack. They're tired but moving and happy. There's been a few nav errors, but unlike a lot of teams all four members are still moving.
Yey!!
Sources
Gill from Ippon/Inov8 just updated us on the team
They're at A4, heading off for the next stage. They snoozed a little on last night's paddle and have ridden directly from A3 to A4 as we expected.
If they're out of A4 before midnight, they have a trek-paddle-MTB stage. If not, it's an MTB all the way. WE're heading out to the transition and we'll let you know!
The daybreak
Just had news (11:30am Thursday) that Cruachan and the two English guys from Ippon/Inov8 (NOT the Swiss & the Portugese as the race marshals assured me last night... damn organisation...) have arrived at A3, the end of the paddle down the Targus river. We're assuming that they slept somewhere last night, either on the river or at the transition from the skates to the paddle.
Rather than undergo the monster 160km MTB section, they'll be routed straight to the next assistance point, A4, as they missed the 3am cutoff. BUT, waiting for them in the transition boxes was a lovely printed sheet of all the messages you guys posted through on either the ARWC website or on here, so huge thanks for all of those. I hope it perked them up in the night.
So, they're holding the lantern rouge but they're still in it, and with this cut option, they'll be drawn back into the pack. More news as soon as we get it, thanks for all your support!
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Nighty night!
News at 20:12 - Team Cruachan are just leaving T9!! They arrived about half an hour ago, and are on the skates, headed for the paddling section. They've got a 20km skate and will be paddling overnight to A3.
Keep the messages of support coming in, if I can't deliver them in person, I'll at least leave them notes with their kit boxes.
Third night blues
Holy mackerel.
A race can organise wi-fi hotspots for the staff and press at transitions, but can't work out where a team is on the course. Bizarro.
When we left T9, two teams were missing - Cruachan and Ippon (who have Gill Watson and Russ Ladkin with them). Despite sat tracking, SI download and marshals at each transition, the organisation couldn't tell us even what time they left T8. We've asked for a text, but god knows whether we'll ever get it. Frustrating as hell...
So, what we DO know is this. Once they came in to T9 they had about 20km of skating, then they hit the longer paddle on the Targus, down the Portugal/Spain border. I'm sat at Assistance 3, and as soon as I hear anything, so will you.
To all supporters - thanks!
Another good way to tack the whole race is via the new Sleepmonsters TwitAR function. They're pulling down Twitter feeds from a bunch of sources (ARWC, Team Cyanosis, Untamed New England included) and displaying the whole lot at the Sleepmonsters TwitAR page.
You don't even have to be a Twit(?) yourself...
Update 2
Dammit, last night's blog didn't post - damn sketchy networks...
Anyway...
The team are doing great so far. Both nights so far have been long and cold - like the UK it's been getting dark about 5pm. The first night was spent up in the Serra de Estrella area, up above 1600m and the wind and fog made for a horrible place to be. Navigation was hard, there are a lot of access tracks and mountain roads, and the maps are quite hard to read - anything other than a major tar-seal road is just marked as a thin black line, which by head lamp is quite hard to distinguish. BUT...
Unlike 7 or 8 teams so far, Team Cruachan are still in the race. There've been a handful of dropouts, including a number of the leading teams - Multisport.Fi, Team Finland and Explore Sweden included. It looks like a couple of the village fountains weren't quite as clean water, sickness in the teams being rife. There's been a few nasty crashes on the skating sections, people are wearing out brake blocks on the descents, and those who started the race with niggling injuries are finding them a little more niggling than before...
Cruachan missed the kayak stage yesterday, a 20km paddle down the Rio Zezere, because it closed at 3:30pm and they missed the cutoff, so they've had an extra 15km of trekking. I'm waiting at T9, the end of an MTB/start of a skate transition, and the updates I've had from the organisation say they're still moving okay (despite the Sat Tracker showing them still being at the start!) and I'll post as soon as I see them!!
Thanks for all your support, any messages, post comments and I'll get them to the team when they arrive.
Cheers!
Monday, November 9, 2009
Day two - The learning curve
It's been a long day, and the race has only just started!
After a late night last night at Louzan, waiting to get to the team kit (the bus transfer arrived, the kit transfer took quite a bit longer...) the team got some shuteye and were up bright and early for the restart today. A lot of the planning had been done already, with the basic idea to miss out a lot of the non-mandatory checkpoints in order just to make the cutoff times for the sections, and especially to make it in time to do the 'thrill' activities, today's canyoning stage being one. Everyone is pretty happy and upbeat, and the plan seems to be going well.
Most of the day has been on big trekking legs, a lot of undulating terrain and some fairly high ridges, along side the wind turbines that produce a lot of the electricity for the 'Schist Villages' of this area. The weather's been bright but cloudy, windy and cold on the tops but more pleasant in the lower altitudes. As the night pulls in, everyone's facing their first proper overnight of the race, so I'll let you know tomorrow how they got on. It's looking like it will be a long cold one, most of the night is going to be spent on a 100km MTB stage. There were a few discussions before the race about sleep strategy, and the idea was to push through and try and sleep at the assistance points, where they've got access to ALL of their kit, but also to look at carrying a shelter for if they need sleep on a couple of selected stages, particularly the 160km MTB that is coming up later in the week.
When I last caught up with the guys, they were waiting to drop off the edge of the earth into the canyon, a hundred feet or so of abseil. Last minute tips, team orders and readjusted kit were passed around, then one-by-one they made their way off the edge and down to the river below. There's no sign of any problems, they're still smiling and joking, and everything is going according to their plans so far. Long may it last!
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Day One - What's Portugese for 'Rat Race'
Day one's been a bit all over the place!
We started early, boxes all packed for a pickup at 6:30am, so the team were up and about sorting out from 6. Last night after the briefing there was a bit of a repack, realising the kit boxes didn't have to be one per discipline, but could be one per person. So, a slightly late one but everyone was in bed by 11pm so all good, although Phil was bouncing with excitement for most of the briefing...
This morning's stage was a bit like a Rat Race prologue! Lots of activity checkpoints around the streets of Cascais - throwing tyres at dumbells, abseiling, dirt jumping, petanque - and you had to make 100 point to get the bonus checkpoint. The guys got the bonus and set off on the blades, looking pretty seamless on the cycle tracks, although the local stone on some of the pavements is pretty low on grip on shoes, never mind skates. Still, looks like the lessons paid off and the section was despatched pretty neatly.
After that came the tactical choices - the guys skipped a lot of section 2 checkpoints (I'll explain the difference between 'stage' and 'section' in another post later on) because today was a time-limited early stage - everyone had to be back by 6:30pm and it was a 60km day. Skipping the checkpoints(which AREN'T mandatory) means less points scored, but faster transfers between transitions (which ARE) and a chance to save the legs for later bits. That was especially true today, the first trek was a pretty brutal coastal affair with a lot of undulating climb-and-descent. Skipping the CPs mean a straighter run through to the start of the bike.
On the bikes everything seemed to be going well, and also at a high-ropes/zipline/Trikke section, unfortunately the descend and final trek back to Cascais took slightly longer than we would have liked, and the team were about 20 minutes over time at the finish. How this translates into point scores or penalties I've no idea as yet, but I'll update as soon as I know.
But, the important part is that the guys seem happy. Lots of activities under the belt, a few minor errors and a few minor niggles, but they're happy to admit to them and accept them. They weren't the last team back (not by a long margin, about half an hour!) and they've now got a coach ride from Cascais to Lousa to plan a little for tomorrow, to mull over the day, and to get some sleep.
More updates tomorrow as soon as I get wi-fi back - with pictures!
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Team Cruachan est arrive
We're now here in Portugal, resting up, prepping gear and sorting ourselves out for the impending adventure. We've got a nice little villa at the Vila Bicuda, our team reporter (Pyro) is alternating between kipping on the sofa and drinking coffee, and the sun is occasionally showing its face. The pool next to the villa is a little bit cold to go and play in today, but there've been Kiwis and South Africans skating around it and Americans jumaring up the trees nearby, so at least we've been entertained.
Lizzie and Phil drove down, all the way from Bonny Scotland, in a very small van containing a very large pile of gear. Not a particularly enviable task, especially since they have to do it in reverse with a very large pile of smelly gear on the way back. Dan and Elizabeth took the easy option and flew over to Lisbon on Thursday. Now we're all safely ensconced in Cascais, getting ourselves ready. We've all been working on our gear and food - Dan's estimated a ridiculous 60,000 calories intake for the weeks racing, Lizzie's packed her 'toilet trowel' and cooked her pasta, Phillip's got the First Aid Kit (we think) and Elizabeth's trying to sort out when to wear glasses, when to when contacts, and when just to be plain blind. We've got the race distances and times plotted out on graphs, we've packed out huge food bags, our climbing and paddling kit, our bikes tows are rigged, and we're just about ready to go. The official welcome and briefing starts at 6pm tonight (Saturday), and we set off on stage 1 of the race at 9am Sunday morning.
There should (hopefully!) be daily updates, pictures and commentary on our progress on here, but if you don't see anything, have a look at the Sleepmonsters and ARWC links to the right, there'll be reports from a variety of people up there as well.
Lastly, a big thanks to all our supporters and sponsors - Tunnocks, Nav4, LochVisions, Try Skating, Outside Edge, Seafreedom Kayak and Glenmore Lodge - for all your support and help in just getting us here. We couldn't have done it without you.
Cheers - wish us luck and cross your fingers!
Team Cruachan
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