News from the course passed on from our friends from Nga Rakau (Annie and Sonja):
The race is now underway, after some logistics issues to start with.
The big boat that was to take the teams to Dunk Island this morning broke down yesterday, leaving the organisers to make alternate arrangements at short notice. This meant ferrying competitors across in multiple trips on smaller boats, which then meant that the race didn't start until 11:50 am.
Annie spoke to all the Kiwi teams before the start, and each one claimed that they weren't going to go too hard on the first day, as the advantage gained would be minimal due to the restart tomorrow morning. Then the horn sounded to start the race and they all went off hard!
"Brent reports no issues at TA1 where they came through in first place.
Merrill were right behind them on the island, but holed their boat on an oyster-covered pylon."
The first leg consisted of a run up around and over Dunk Island, a kayak round the back of the island, two legs of snorkelling around some pieces of reef that were apparently pretty spectacular, then back to the island. Then paddle back to the mainland.
The team has completed the snorkelling and kayaking stage and have just headed off (4:28pm local time) on a 100km mountain bike ride. At the end of that there is a dark zone where no team can start the rafting section until 6:30am tomorrow morning. So the focus at this stage will be getting through the bike ride in good shape so they are ready to really start racing hard in the morning.
Brent gatecrashing the Girls on Top photo!
The calm before the start...tropical holiday on the beach anyone?
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