Andorra Raid Series Report Written on August 21, 2005, by admin.
Andorra Raid Series
Finishing second in any race can be a mixed emotion. When the race covers over 220km and climbs over 9000 metres of ascent, leaving you less than 14 minutes adrift of first place, you can’t help but play the ‘If Only’ game a few times. The Andorra Raid was just such a race for us.
We had already experienced Spanish hospitality once this year with Dani Buyo from Taragona taking complete care of us when we competed in the annual Servidrum Race he organises each Spring (very recommended whatever your level of racing). Dani had just recently been crowned the new 48 hr Indoor Cycle Guinness Book of Records Holder (snappy title, eh!), but his new title didn’t stop him from driving back and forth between Andorra and Barcelona to greet us on arrival and help us in every way possible. It says something very special for Dani, the Catalans and Andorrans that he was first amongst all of us to express his thanks at spending time with us at the end of the race. In 4 days he had driven us over 1000km, cooked, cleaned, directed, translated, bought, hired, shared, encouraged and helped us, never once complaining at our poor Spanish, our special requests for this or that or anything. What a guy! Even before the race had started he was, in our estimation, on that rare pedestal occupied by our trusty support crew, Tim and Jon.
With a Saab Salomon GB team just having won in Greenland, another just having competed in Edinburgh, our runners breaking records in France and winning on Snowdon, the Raid squad for Andorra had a lot to live up to. Whilst we like to enter these races quietly with no trumpets and no pride or arrogance, there was no hiding the fact that our past results on races with lots of altitude climbing meant that there were expectations of us that we could not easily hide from. There was a palpable sense of pressure, for sure. But we were also looking forward to the race, a lot more than had been the case when racing on the flat in Australia or skiing in Sweden.
What a nightmare start! No, not because it ‘all went wrong’ or because we lost any significant time, which we certainly didn’t. But as dark was finally losing its battle with day at 6000ft in the Pyrenees, and the 6am hooter rang out for the start of the first mountain bike section, Saab Salomon was confronted with one of adventure racers nightmare scenarios. The road book appeared to forbid teams from using the main road down to the left, so Jim, Pete and Helen had made the decision to take a ‘special gravel dirt track’ up the climb immediately to the right. Whilst most teams would surely be heading left at the start and then, after some 0.5km, begin to swing round to the right, it was likely that at least a couple of the local teams would be heading immediately right with Saab Salomon. It was a cunning plan and one that we hoped would gain the team valuable minutes over the stage. But as the 58 teams sped off in the adrenaline frenzy that always accompanies the start of these races, not ONE team was heading right. Not Les Arc Quechua, not Ertips, not Mont Blanc. As EVERY team hurtled DOWNHILL to the LEFT, our trio were left wondering whether to swim with the shoal, or singularly take their own route in completely the opposite direction. It had worked before, after all. But as everyone accelerated, and still no one deviated, the split second decision that might win or lose a race within minutes of the start, irrespective of physical ability, had to be made.
The pressure to conform and play safe might seem a little weak for such an experienced team, but there was just too much to lose. Already the hesitation had cost places in the peleton and the team was barely cruising along somewhere near the back. So Saab Salomon ditched its game plan, and just ‘went where everyone else was going.’ And the moral to this introductory story? Barely 250 metres from the start, in the murk of dawn, a police motorbike appeared, joining the Peleton and leading it every inch of the 35 minute climb up the TARMAC switchbacks of the MAIN road to the top of the col. Obviously not forbidden then! Had Saab Salomon gone with the map, their interpretation of the road book, their initiative, their ‘cunning’ , then disaster might so easily have befallen us so early on.
The Raid races tend not to ‘pull tricks’ or very difficult navigation, and sometimes the road book can seem very ambiguous. But to the credit of the team, they were able to weigh up the risks and make what turned out to be the right decision. You see, these races, like the ones you might have done, are often raced on a knife-edge of gut feeling, irrespective of your orienteering or physical ability.
With that close shave and a 1hr 40 min bike ride over with, the team settled down to our bread and butter – not the edible variety of course, but the fell running variety. In fact, 3hrs 45 min of it, a stage that saw us score the quickest time and edge into second place. It was perhaps the furthest ‘off track’ that we had run in any Raid Race this year and the rough terrain must have had many teams tip-toeing their way down through the rocks and uneven ground, whilst Jim, Pete and I found our form.
Schedules get broken, and by Stage 3 of the first day it was obvious that unless our team sped through each transition, we might find ourselves timed out somewhere later. This type of scenario can lead to serious dehydration and lack of adequate eating, particularly in the hot temperatures that we were experiencing. Having reached our support vehicle, our heart rates still very high, it was difficult to eat anything – but this is when it becomes crucial to do just that. So as we tramped up to the next 330metre high via ferrata stage, there was a Hansel and Gretel trail of food that we just couldn’t squeeze into our dry mouths. All credit to Tim and Jon for nagging us to eat and drink.
Via ferratta – 1 hour of climbing and very little traversing. How could we lose 10 minutes on something so straightforward? But lose 10 minutes we did. At the end of the race, factoring in such losses makes sobering reading and helps us pin point where to focus our attention next time. Mind you, we had just completed the fastest time on the last stage so perhaps that might have accounted for some of the 10 minute loss?
Poor ol’ French team Ertips. They’re super talented and when you consider that invariably they ALWAYS have the top 3 or 4 fastest times in every discipline, it’s surprising they’ve not beaten Les Arcs to the number one spot in any race yet. Day one was quite a stormer for them. Then it came to light that one of them had not been clipping in his karabiner properly to the via ferratta and a 30 minute penalty stung them out of the top spots, again. Every time, something seems to go wrong for them, but we all know they are an awesome team – perhaps with the best paddling helmsman in the whole Raid series. One day we hope it all comes together for them – a sentiment we feel ourselves too!
A gruelling 4,500ft climb on our mountain bikes faced us next and despite a ‘measured’ effort (knowing that there was still a long way to go) we had to take our hats off to Les Arcs who took 19 minutes out of us. They must have busted themselves. Just watch their orienteer Rudi climb on his bike….its ugly!
Now, hydro-speeding seems a bit of a gimmick in these races and it was certainly just gorgeous to submerge in some cold water with the air temperature outside etching around the 80 degree mark. But rather than just rest on the floats there’s a definite 30% extra speed to be gained by swimming crawl on the slower bits and by ‘flipping’ with both legs at the same time (dolphin like) rather than kicking alternate legs. Some grade 3 or 4 rapids later, several unfortunate capsizes in the kayak and we were set for the last two stages of the day. Another 4 hour mountain trek with ‘aggressive vegetation and difficult navigation’, followed by a 40km bike. It was already 12 hours after the start of the race and at 6pm, we knew it was going to be a long, long night.
Pete, Jim and I bee-lined it up the first 4000ft climb, with Jim practicing his sherpa technique and performing like an ox. Pete had already put in a hard day’s work and so it was left to Jim and me to tackle the ‘difficult navigation’ as we topped out on a heavily vegetated 20km crest. Well, the nav. couldn’t have been that tough as we managed it pretty much spot on. A gruelling night and hard running saw us finish as night fell. With 56 teams behind us, some of them hours and hours behind, the last section were called off and I can tell you – no-one shed a tear!
I think we were placed third after day one, but there were just minutes between the top five teams. It’s both galling and testament to the level of competition that after 16 hours of racing, with maximum effort, less than 60 seconds can separate two or three teams. You go to bed knowing that the extra effort you made in a climb, the reckless canter downhill or the sound navigational decisions have basically left you on the starting blocks with the tops teams, just like day one. When you get up on day two, as always, it’s like all that effort on day one just didn’t matter as its day two that’s important.
Day Two……2hrs mtb, then 4hrs run, and finally another 1hr 45mtb. Was it going to be enough? We knew that we were going to have to give it everything on the run, as it’s just so hard to pull out any big times on the bikes. A 3,500ft climb on mountain bikes was enough to wake us up, but not before a tricky junction had lost us 5 minutes and sent my blood to boil. Now Helen’s just a machine on a bike. It’s just point and shoot with H. Jim is Mister Cool and it’s just as well, as I tend to make reactionary responses to errors. That is to say, we go wrong, so I beast myself and tow and do anything I can to get back the time. It might sound a good idea, but Mr Cool is thankfully often on hand to remind us that there’s still a long way to go… stay calm… don’t burn yourself up… we’ll get it back.
With the running stage still to go, Les Arcs had an 18 minute lead, and Ertips had spectacularly scrambled back in to second spot (you see, I told you they were good). We were about 1 minute 30 behind them, but Salomon Buff and the hand picked Mont Blanc International were sniffing our heels. Pete had sat out the first leg to catch some extra ‘zzzz’s’, so Jim and I were requesting a top performance from him, map reading and otherwise… and Pete delivered the goods.
Jim had put in the longest day on Day One, and was suffering on the initial climb. By this time we had already climbed over 25,000 ft over the weekend, so any excuses were well reasonable. But crest the hill, face down 1,500ft of Lakeland-like scree (it was just great!) and any suffering that Jim was doing was history. The Saab Salomon Team came into their element and the three teams that lay beyond us were reeled in. By two thirds of the way we had caught up with Les Arcs and Mont Blanc International who were putting in an awesome performance.
The journalists were just lying on the final crest of the run (yes, you Rob Howard), most of them helicoptered up, watching us toil, toil, toil up the last big climb, hands on our knees or pulling ourselves up on rocks. We had reached 3,800 metres and had the chance to look down over Andorra, over to France and Spain along the Pyrenees. But the second we topped out, we were so busy avoiding hazardous tripping rocks, getting our climbing helmets and harnesses out for an imminent abseil that not one of us had even a second to admire what was definitely the most breathtaking scenery we had experienced this year. A helter-skelter descent and we were proud to again pick up the fastest time for the leg… all 4 seconds faster than Les Arsc over a 4hr 20min stage. That’s how close these things are! Ertips had found their Achilles heel – rough descents – so we had gained a full 30 minutes on them… some indication of the real need to excel at the running stages on these races as this is where big margins can sometimes be made.
The final ‘ride’ was most memorable for one thing. On a climb of another 2,500 ft on gravel tracks, perhaps 40% of this was just too steep to ride without tipping backwards or back wheel spin. Not so for Rudi from Les Arcs. He just floated the whole way up. Both Saab Salomon and Les Arcs gave him a big round of applause as we reached the top, having pushed and pushed our bikes up. A rapid descent with Helen adding to her mtb scars and it was a well earned second place behind Les Arcs who must be credited for winning three out of the four races. And Ertips? Well they finished third, some 12 minutes behind us, presumably doing their sums with the 30 minute penalty they had picked up on Day One. Could WE have won? Well, yes, but so could have at least 12 other teams. We like to see our glass as half full, not half empty, so we were well pleased with the performance.
Tim, Jon and Dani had provided flawless support and with seriously warm weather their constant attention and forcing us to drink, drink, drink had paid dividends. We headed back to Dan’s partner’s pad in the middle of Andorra’s small capital where Yzan (his son) and Meriea (his partner) generously had us to stay for another night. Some beer and fags from the Duty Free shopping…….to keep Tim’s builders happy at home of course (NOT for the team!) and we headed home the next day. Job done, or near enough.
Now, I’d just like to say that I’m the only one of the team to have raced in all four Raid Qualifiers this year so I’m going to stick my neck out and say that I’m in the best position to judge who should go to the Final in France. Don’t you agree? Well, Tim’s picked the team for the final and he HAS picked the best team to go. We know we’re fast on our feet, that’s for sure. We know we can navigate with the best of them and we know we can fight a good fight at any discipline. Most of all, we know that there’s a little matter of some unfinished business left over from last year’s final. So I’ll be glued to the web at home and I’m sure Nic and the rest of you will be too when we take on the best of them in the Raid World Final in September. It’ll be a last shot at it for a couple of the team, so let’s hope they can pull it off.
As for Nic and me, we’ll be out on the Lake in Jim’s double kayak getting ourselves ready for the other World Champs in New Zealand in November. More unfinished business, you might just say!
By Phil Davies
