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Wednesday, May 3, 2000 Checkpoint 10 marks the end of the high mountain trek and the beginning of the next biking section as the teams make their way down to the border between Tibet and Nepal. This is also HQ1, which has a fully-staffed medical tent. This is another self changeover for the competitors; the bags that they packed at CP5 are here waiting for them. Originally, it was thought that the top teams would enter this CP around five this morning. Instead, the first team, Nokia Adventure, arrived at 11:52am. They were followed closely behind by Salomon Extrem, Ertips Salomon France and Salomon Land Rover. The teams this year do not carry the traditionally used Raid Passport for check ins around the course, they now carry a control sheet that they turn in upon entry to a CP and are given another on their way out to bring to the following CP, and so on. CP10 is also located in a valley floor, with a small stream running through it. It is a cold and windy spot with no protection other than the tents.
Team Salomon Land Rover Robyn Benincasa: When asked how the horse worked out, "Thank God, we never would have made it without it. No way did it slow us down, it saved our life, we were holding on for dear life." Regarding the team's lack of sleep, "we took 15-minute naps, used the cold as our alarm, when we would start to shiver, we'd get up." John Howard: "It was a very nice horse, he did a lot of work, sometimes towing four people... glad to be at a lower altitude." Robert Nagle: When asked how the navigation was and if the GPS helped he replied, "Keith did a bang up job, the GPS allowed us to find the tent at CP6. We ran out of water when all the bottles froze up." Ian: Admitted to being surprised that they were in first at one point in the night, he said, "we had no clue that we were leading, thought we were in 4th, we seemed to move quite fast." John: He was asked how everyone was getting along and if he was still going to retire, he laughed and admitted that, "we are pretty compatible, no arguments, really good people to race with. I'm always retiring, especially after last night, it was bad, too cold, took a quick nap in our jackets." Keith Murray: Does not talk much. When asked a question about last night he replied, "I'm not very good at talking in transitions, my brain can only go in one direction, I'm sorry." Ian: Looking ahead to the next section with its dark zones and border crossings, "don't expect many teams to make it through the dark zone tonight with this head wind, so we'll be camping with the group, everyone is over six hours past the intended arrival time." Because their bikes are set up and ready to go in their $5 bags, the team has time to purchase some sodas on their way out of the CP at a little kiosk set up by one of the drivers in our crew. The head wind is bad, and as they leave, it looks like the team is going in slow motion.
Team Endeavour Louise Cooper-Lovelace: Immediately says, "I'm wasted, Neil and Nathan had trouble with the altitude and Jeff carried their gear. We decided to take short, 10-minute breaks every couple of hours till they recovered." She has not had anymore problems with her electrolytes, but admitted that, "it is bloody hard to eat and drink in the altitude." Bob Foster: He adds, "the altitude and cold were tough; you couldn't eat on the run because of the high altitude, and it was freezing. I had my water bottle tucked in my shirt, and it still froze. I was so tired, headache, can hardly go, normally you just bugger up and go, but so cold." Neil Foster: Was asked to rate this last section against past Raids. He replied, "It rates right up there. The mountain bike in Africa was bad, but I'm not acclimated... a lot of teams went out too fast on the bikes." While Jeff and Nathan rest on the floor of the large Raid Gauloises tent, Louise is sitting at a table cleaning up and says, "it is the little things in life, like washing your face with an alcohol swab and brushing your teeth." Louise heads to go to the "bathroom" again, but this time she is carrying some crackers in her hands, when she is asked if she is going to feed the dogs, she rolls her eyes, laughs and goes on to her rescue mission. Jeff Mitchell: Asked about their plan for the night he said, "We'll take off and see how we go — like to get to CP11, then get up early and go." He is then seen putting his feet into plastic bags before putting them into his bike shoes, "it's Nathan's technique to keep warm."
Team Outlast Barry Siff: When asked about Liz he said, "We are worried about her, we lost about four places, and it was so cold last night." Billy Mattison quickly added, "If we had stopped we would have died." When asked about their getting lost he said, "I'm so used to glow sticks to mark CP that I made a mistake and followed another team's headlamps, lost 500-vertical feet and about two hours... the horse was awesome, a trooper." Barry: When asked if he was enjoying himself said, "The race is really cool. Looking forward to the water stuff, the altitude was a problem." Liz spends two hours in the medical tent sleeping and warming up, she was shivering badly and the doctor is going to give her something for the nausea. The team, though not 100%, is very anxious to move on, they feel that they are in this race and don't want the other teams to get too far ahead.
Team Human Link But after some initial tests, his vitals suddenly plummet and his pulse drops to a low of 35. He begins to cough up blood and is immediately put into a portable hyperbaric bag. Oxygen is pumped in and the pressure is set to gradually allow his lungs to recover from the pulmonary edema he was experiencing. His teammates are allowed to come in to talk to him through the plastic window. They have decided to continue as four, but only after they know how Michael's condition is. He remains in the chamber for one hour and then is removed and given oxygen with medicine in it that will help the lungs to further expand and heal. I talked to him, and he knows that he is very lucky to have made it to this CP, even the doctor admitted that they don'tknow what would have happened if there had been a difference of even 10 minutes getting to this CP. He continues to rest in the heated medical tent and will remain for the evening. Michael Lemmel is doing much better this morning. He continued the oxygen therapy late into the night and slept in the medical tent under the doctor's supervision. He will be driven with the medical staff later in the day across the border to HQ2/AP2 in Nepal. He wishes to inform his parents and his girlfriend that he is all right. He is tired, but relieved that he received the treatment he needed for his pulmonary edema. His team stayed with him through most of the night and then continued on in the race as a team of four, with his good wishes.
Overnight Action at CP10
Team El Faco Ba Robert Orr: When asked how the team was faring, even at this early morning he was all smiles when he said, "We made it through the mountain. The highest spot in Arkansas is about 800m, we stayed two nights out there, we pushed through to here, got through the dark, to get here and have it start snowing." He laughs and adds, "We found an empty truck (at CP10) and slept in the back, thought the tent would get to wet." He is looking forward to getting to the water, "We are best in the whitewater, one third of the race is what we excel in, when we can breath. We were so long in that headwind, it was the hardest mountain bike ride I've ever been on." He was also excited about how the team was doing overall, "Some of these teams have mega-sponsors; we funded ourselves. Our spirits are good. It was tough last night, and we underestimated the distance from CP9 to CP10. You start to second guess yourself, but we made it." Craig Zediker: When asked about last night he replied, "the usual aches and pains of adventure races, plus my Achilles is a little sore. It seemed like we were marching forever, glad to get off the mountain and the altitude, then it snowed on us. It was straight forward navigation, just took two hours longer." Kent Davidson is sitting in the back of the truck getting packed and singing, "If I ever get out of this place." He does say that he, "never wants to see another MRE." Craig: Thinking more about last night said that, "the hardest part is missing my girlfriend, Elaine. I've got her picture with me. She helped us a lot with retail gear." Greg Eason: About the course so far said, "I enjoyed it, cussed it a few times. I felt crummy in the altitude. I'm looking forward to seeing our assistance. They are all dying to eat Taco Bell." Roberta Orr: When asked how their horse was, he replied quickly, "the horse was so sweet. We loved her so much, we named her Nelly.... that was our second horse, the first one was a bucking bronco. We lost 1.5 hours going back to get second horse. We slept three hours before the horses, it helped and we passed other teams. We aren't racing, but we are going to beat time cutoffs." Kent Davidson: About the race he said, "One fourth of the race is over. I'm feeling less intimidated. We will finish.
Last News — Provided by Raid Gauloises
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