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Daybreak brought foreboding news: the weather report was unfavorable (unless you are a duck hunter) with winds at 40-45mph, temperatures around 35 degrees and freezing rain. At the summit of White Top Mountain (elevation 5520ft), the visibility was down to 50ft, and racers have been reported walking right past the CP without seeing it.

Lead team Pharmanex/Salomon left CP 15 for a 25 mile hike at 7:24 this morning. For most of the day, Mike Sears and his expert camera crew, media members, and race organizers waited anxiously at the dramatic rush of whitewater for Pharmanex/Salomon and Team Explorer to arrive.

The river crossing at Buck Dam will see a lot of action in the next two days. Following the crossing, competitors will be met with a 1000ft rock scramble ascent (hand line assisted) up a steep face. At this stage in the race (which race co-director Joy Marr thinks racers will encounter during the day time), competitors are beginning to experience legitimate suffering. Hallucinations are the most prevalent reported medical condition thus far. No teams have dropped out at this point, but that may well change as the cold, inclement weather lingers.

"Asked how he was doing, he husked, almost inaudibly, "suffering a little." With eyes swollen nearly shut, it was a brave use of understatement..."

Chris Scott, a solo racer and pro mountain bike racer competing in his foirst adventure race, was lost yesterday for some time, but checked into CP 10 at 12:30am and is doing okay.

All eyes are focused today on the river crossing where camera crews, the race director and media wait for the leading competitors. The river crossing takes place between two dams in the Buck Dam area of the New River, the second oldest river in the world and the only river in the United States that flows south to north.

Mike Mather, a race crew member, set the rope line that spans from one shore to another, providing safety for the passage. Racers will wade, swim, and negotiate eddies, small rock islands and swift rapids — and even fish-eating snakes as they head across, only to meet a serious escarpment on the other side, a loose, 1000ft climb that they must summit. Because of the loose rock, helmets will be mandatory on the scramble.

Before they cross the river, teams will be given two vital pieces of safety information: be downstream of the safety rope and, if you clip in, don't attach, just provide a loop to hang on to.

Mather works with Wildwater Expeditions, Chris Dragan's company and the oldest river running company in the area. An experienced boatsman, Mather made an expedition with National Geographic in 1995 on the first descent of the Shuiluo He River. Don Mann and Joy Marr, Beast race directors, arrived and gave some field updates while we awaited lead team Pharmanex/Salomon.

"Racers will wade, swim, and negotiate eddies, small rock islands and swift rapids — and even fish-eating snakes as they head across ..."

Just behind Pharmanex/Salomon are Explorer and Complete IT Solutions. All three have been trading leads. Cathy Sassin of Complete IT Solutions had some observations about the course, and especially about the navigating.

"The course seems to be designed for the middle of the pack," Sassin said. "Because there aren't any super, super gnarly sections. There are lots of trails and roads, and that's good, because everyone can do that stuff. Still, it's long and difficult, definitely arduous."

Sassin should know; she's finished over 10 multi-day expedition races of this kind and is considered among the most experienced in the world.

Reports have come in that at ACP 5, people have been really cold, seeking shelter from the wind between the parked cars of the assistance crews. Robert Nagle, Ike Wilson's teammate on Pharmanex/Salomon, has suffered a severe hematoma on his shin.

Don Mann and Joy Marr gave reports about the race from the river crossing. "No teams have dropped out. Randy and Terry Hurd are at the back, and just ahead of them is Janeen (Janeen Steffen). Really there are two races going on right now, one by professionals who are about 15 hours ahead of everyone else, and then the race behind them by everyone else."

The leaders are smoking this course, but neither Mann nor Marr are surprised by the speed with which teams are moving. Marr figured fast teams could cross the river and make it to the top of the mountain in two hours without much difficulty. Leaders will likely finish the 300+ mile course in less than four days.

"A bike leg and paddle to the finish are up next, to be encountered by teams on the very edges of their physical and mental capacities ..."

Mann pointed out that the person who looks strongest of the entire field is Dominick Arduin, despite some difficulties yesterday when she had to fire her flare. She was assessed a penalty, but remains in sixth place.

"She came by and said, 'I must pass the solo ahead of me. I have been sick, very sick once, and I may be sick again in the future. I have to do this.' This race is really an analogy for what she is going through in her life. She is all alone, and it is a total struggle," said Mann.

At 6:16pm Pharmanex/Salomon and Explorer pulled into CP 16 together. Ike Wilson looked tender on his feet, and his face bore wore the look of excruciating pain he must be experiencing. Asked how he was doing, he husked, almost inaudibly, "suffering a little." It was a brave use of understatement whispered with eyes swollen nearly shut.

Explorer was only a few yards behind, looking the fresher of the two teams. Asked how it was going the last leg, Jacques Boutet said, deadpan, "it's a little boring right now." Perhaps the river would wake him up. Lying on his back, Will Burkhart called the course "long and tough."

On Pharmanex/Salomon, Nagle looked the fitter of the pair; he quickly shuffled gear around, and dealt with the details of passport signing, then took instructions from Marr.

Both Pharmanex/Salomon and Explorer changed some clothes and shifted gear to dry bags, preparing for the submersion to come in the river crossing. Pharmanex was out first, heading into the rolling stream as gorgeous afternoon light played off the river stones. Tracyn Thayer clearly looked the most lucid of Team Explorer, dressing quickly, talking with clarity and snap. Thayer and her husband Norm Greenberg, winners last year, have teamed with the two Team SCAR members to form a tenacious team. Thayer herself said, "I'm a little surprised we're up with these guys since there are four of us." Then she pointed to her feet. "These are a little blistered, but we feel good. We're moving well as a team."

Just after that, as they prepared to leave, Burkhart and Thayer were in a heated discussion about whether or not to store some gear in a dry bag. Burkhart's arms waved in huge circles, but his words were muted by the river roar. Through CP 17, just across the New River at the bottom of the very difficult climb, Team Pharmanex/Salomon held a slight 40 minute lead over the pressing Explorer. Behind Explorer, Team Complete IT Solutions showed up near sunset, about a half an hour back. Anything could happen from here to the finish, and the final result is still very much in question. A bike leg and paddle to the finish are up next, to be encountered by teams on the very edges of their physical and mental capacities.

— Buddy Levy, Reporting from Beast of the East

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