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It was a fittingly uplifting end to the Eco-Challenge Sabah 2000. Under bright skies, with just four hours remaining before the race's final noon cutoff, a sunburned but elated Team Worldview [go to Team Bio] calmly paddled into the dock at the sprawling Dragon Inn, PC 32.
As noisy wooden motorboats sputtered like floating lawnmowers across the hazy morning horizon, the four members of the last-place British team exchanged heartfelt and joyous � if somewhat exhausted � embraces before disembarking their Perahu outrigger for the last time.
"We've had no sleep for three days," said bearded team captain Paul Wilkinson, a service desk analyst in real life. "We've been too busy trying to make all the checkpoints."
Indeed, the team had been skirting disqualification for days. At PC 14, the end of the mountain bike leg, they made the mandatory cutoff by an hour. They left PC 23 with three hours to spare and PC 28, the beginning of the final Perahu paddle, with less than an hour before the cutoff.
But now, celebrating at the finish line, the close calls quickly faded into memory; team members had more important things on their minds. "I might just go for breakfast and have a beer now � because I can," said a beaming Guy Marriott, 35.
The moment was particularly poignant for Marriott and Wilkinson, who had capsized during the final ocean leg at Eco-Challenge Australia 1997, failing to finish. "We ended up coming out 15 kilometers from the end," said Marriott.
At the finish line, Juliette Brown remained as hard-nosed as she had some 36 hours earlier at PC 25. Suffering from a painful, potentially race-ending knee injury, race officials had encouraged the 24-year-old � in no uncertain terms � to stop racing. But she stubbornly refused, and now she was savoring the reward. "I'll be hurting for a while," said the radiant brunette. "But it'll be fine."
Marriott hinted that the team had considered pulling out. "The thing that really kept us going was when we read our messages," he said. "That was one of those tingle-down-your-spine moments." At the PC23 transition area, the team had been presented with an encouraging stack of email from well-wishers both at home and abroad.
Though clearly relishing the team's finish, Wilkinson admitted the grueling race had taken its toll. "Now that I've completed one, I don't think I'd want to do it again," he said, looking over the shimmering water in the morning light. "But if these guys came knocking, I might have to say yes. It's not a decision to take lightly."
Depleted but giddy, members of Team Worldview gathered their dripping-wet gear and darted for the showers. The crowd dispersed quietly.
And then, rather suddenly, leaving hundreds of broken and blistered competitors in its wake, the Eco-Challenge was over.
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