|
|
 |
The Eco-Challenge Sabah 2000 is proving to be harder than even the most experienced expedition racers had imagined. Heat, rain, pterodactyl-sized insects, and unpredictable weather are conspiring to make conditions trying for experts and rookies alike. As the lead teams continued to hammer away at the course, the rest of the field struggled to stay aloft, with more than twenty teams still coming out of the water to the beach at Silam. Teams streamed into the Danum Valley Field Center all day, relieved to dismount their bikes and refuel for the haul into the rainforest.
By early afternoon, the erratic regional weather was at it again. Debilitating heat and humidity gave way to a massive thundershower and skeins of rain soaking everything to its core. When it rains here, it's as if a bucket of water the size of the sky is sloshed from above. When it hits, everything is drenched. Race Director Mark Burnett said as he looked out over the massive jungle canopy, "They'll be pleased to cool off, but tonight they will be cold."
| "This is the best team I've ever raced with by far." He looked at his watch and noted that his team was in the lead. "Hell, we're the best team in the world right now." | | Team Salomon/Eco-Internet [go to Team Bio] pulled into PC 18 tonight at around 11 p.m., leading the toughest race on earth, and were welcomed by a flash-frenzy of adventure Paparazzi. Ian Adamson, navigator extroardinaire and self-proclaimed "Jack of all sports, master of none" had this to say about the course: "Physically, this is a very hard race. The navigation isn't too tricky though." As he spoke, he was pulling leeches out of his shoes and quaffing large quantities of Alpine Aire self-heating food, which heats to edible with the pull of a string.
Ike Wilson, racing with Salomon/Eco-Internet for the first time in an Eco-Challenge said, "This is the best team I've ever raced with by far." He looked at his watch and noted that his team was in the lead. "Hell, we're the best team in the world right now." He said this knowing that perhaps the most talented field ever assembled in a major expedition race, including Team Fairydown Fleet Cookie Time [go to Team Bio], Team Spie [go to Team Bio], Team AussieSpirit.com [go to Team Bio], and Team Red Bull-Playstation [go to Team Bio], were just a few hours behind.
Salomon/Eco-Internet's Robyn Benincasa, a former NCAA springboard diver and U.S. Judo Champion, used her typical humor: "Everything is going according to plan: we're making it up as we go along." Referring to Adamson's accurate navigating, Benincasa said, "I'm never lost when I'm with Ian, unless we're driving in a city. Then he has no idea where he is."
The team tried to sleep last night for about two-and-a-half hours, but found it difficult on moist ground rife with leeches and other "crawlies." Once at the Borneo Rainforest Lodge, they wolfed down food, sorted wet gear, had blisters lanced and drained in the medical tent, and hit the rack for two hours of sleep before setting off on a jungle trek to PC 19, the Danum Valley Field Center (which serves as both PC 14 and PC 19). From there, they will swim and trek down the Danum River to PC 20, where they enter native Sampan dugout canoes for a wild whitewater ride down a roiling river.
Behind them, a pack of piranhas is gnashing their teeth.
Go to Teams // Index
Go to Home Page
|
|
