Raid USA Idaho

Well the second race in the USA trip was in Idaho and was the second of three races in the Raid World Cup.

Idaho was beautiful place and a lot lower than Vail – I started feeling better as soon as we arrived although my cough still hasn’t gone.

Two hours drive from Boise the race was based out of a new resort called Tamarack – it’ll be really nice when it’s finished but somewhat resembles a construction site at the moment.

Idaho still has plenty of snow and although the mountains aren’t super high it was obvious there would be a few ups and downs in the race. Another frustration for the organisers and us was because of so much snow they had to design the course at the last minute. Mixed with the translation from French to English it resulted in some rather interesting typos in the racers handbook.

We received the course Friday evening and spent until almost midnight plotting the course, route etc. The Raid races are unique in that GPS is allowed and rather than make it easier they always seems to add to the work and frustration both before and during the race – guess we should learn how to use them better!

Race start was 6am with a paddle in inflatable canoes down a glassy lake, French Team Helly Hansen pulled way early and then we managed to pull away from a small group of 4 and head into transition in clear second.

The in-line skate was my cue to sit out a leg as throughout the race only 3 members from each team race at a time with the fourth helping in a support role. This extra person rotates in and out with the other team members depending on the fastest configuration of racers for each leg. The only rule regarding this is the female team member may only sit out 3 legs.

French and 2005 Raid World Champions Les Arc hammered the skate and moved into the lead and started a tense few hours between the leading teams and the race organisers.

I was back in the mix for the next leg and it was a surprise to find ourselves leap frogged by three teams – including Les Arc when they left the mandatory route and took a short cut. The penalty stated in the rulebook was a 1-hour penalty for this but in a strange twist, the organisers instead just removed the section from the results putting us into the lead for the first time. Rule interpretations for French Teams and other teams often seem slightly slanted towards the French

The following run was tough and we hit plenty of snow and the top was starting to head into the thinner air as we raced up to about 2700 metres. We chased down Les Arc and the other teams that headed out early from the transition and finished 1 minute clear. Then we encountered another interesting rule as Les Arc cut our lead on the section from 4 minutes to 17 seconds buy taking a rest at the top of the rappel? No one could quiet explain that rule?

The rest of the day improved for us though and with no more rule twists we extended our lead on the next two sections. This included 14 minutes over a 2 ½ hour MTB where Mike, Michael and I raced like a X country race and enjoyed some incredible descents after two brutal 10 km climbs – we were rather fortunate not to encounter any traffic coming the opposite way as it could’ve been ugly on the twisting dirt roads.

A cold beer and a hot shower were waiting at the finish of day one and it wasn’t long before we were enjoying a short sleep before another early morning start.

Day 2 and we had a great canoe down some solid class 3 rapids; we managed to get down without flipping although our boat resembled a bathtub after the final rapid.

Another long climb and again we were able to put time on the field as we again climbed for over an hour to the highest point of the race.

I got another rest as the other 3 completed the final run for the race and then it was off for a 2-hour flat-water paddle in our ultra slow inflatable canoes.

At the finish, we were just over 35 minutes clear for a comprehensive victory. Les Arc we second and Nike Beaver creek held on for third despite a last minute penalty for losing a punch control.

Overall, it was a great race, a good course, less altitude, hence less suffering and some close racing between many different teams on each section. For us it was mission completed, as it should have secured a place for the team in the Raid Final in Quebec in mid September.

Now all focus turns towards Primal Quest in a couple of weeks. I’ll be racing in a slightly different line up with Sari Anderson (USA), Gordon Blythen (NZ) and Martin Dreyer (South Africa) as Team Nike Beaver Creek. The race is shaping up to be long hot and brutal so before any team can look towards winning everyone will have to work out just how to survive.

We are still looking for some funding for this team as well so if anyone has any leads let me know – email or you can get me on 970 376 8603 until the race

Hope you are all well

Cheers

Rich