Mark Burnett, Race Director (profile)
"Team Spie is really good. Team Salomon/Eco-Internet from America is really good. The New Zealand team is very good. The Australians are very good. The Finland team is fantastic. Also, I think another fantastic team is the Spanish team. The Spanish team was third in '98, second in '99, and they could win it this year."
Ian Adamson, Team Salomon/Eco-Internet (USA) (Team Salomon/Eco-Internet Bio)
"Our teammates from New Zealand will be (our top competition), the Kiwi team, which is called Fairydown Fleet CookieTime. There's a lot of good teams. I'm thinking that the Fins will be competitive. The Spanish Team Red Bull-Playstation will be competitive. I counted off about ten teams who could potentially win. The dark horse is probably the Malaysians. They're incredible on their feet."
John Howard, Team Fairydown Fleet CookieTime (New Zealand) (Team Fairydown Fleet CookieTime Bio)
"The Fins are probably a team that we're keeping our eye on. There's a dark-horse team from Sabah (Team Sabah 2000 Bio). I think they could be a factor. They're very very fit. They're very very good in their own environment. They've probably got some secret remedy that stops the leeches from getting on them."
Petri Forsman, Team Nokia (Finland) (Team Nokia Adventure Bio)
"This time it will be John Howard's team, the Spanish Red Bull team, Team Spie, Team Vail/PacketVideo. Also some Australian teams and some Kiwi teams. I think there must be at least 10 teams who have a very good chance to win."
Pasi Ikonen, Team Nokia (Finland) (Team Nokia Adventure Bio)
"There are very many good teams. It will be a rough race, I believe. Team Spie is a good one."
Jason Middleton, Team Earthlink (USA)
(Team Earthlink Bio)
"The Aussies, for sure, both the Aussie teams. Jane Hall's team is unbelievable. This is a paddler's race and Jane Hall is the best woman paddler in the world, bar none."
Jane Hall, Team AussieSpirit.com (Australia) (Team AussieSpirit.com Bio)
"We never look at ourselves as favorites because every year, the race organizers say there's a stack of paddling in it."
Billy Mattison, Team Vail/PacketVideo (USA) (Team Vail/PacketVideo Bio)
"Red Bull-Playstation from Spain is extremely tough, although their paddling skills aren’t that great. But boy, they're fast on bikes and on land. Team Spie from France are huge, strapping mountain guides from Chamonix and they're just made of steel. The Australians, I think will have a huge lead with the paddling, if it starts off in the paddling. The Kiwis, John Howard's team, they'll be the team to beat."
Antonio de la Rosa, Team Red Bull-Playstation (Spain) (Team Red Bull-Playstation Bio)
"I think that the strong teams are the teams of John Howard, one of the favorites (Team Fairydown Fleet CookieTime), the Ian Adamson Salomon/Eco-Internet team, with Mike Kloser and Robyn Benincasa, and the team from France, Team Spie. They are also a very strong team."
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