Drama overnight at ARWC 2009 ...... and most of the drama seemed to be around what was happening with Orionhealth.com! During the night the team have become separated Check out our blog page for all the details, reports and possible interpretations of it all ...
ARWC 2009 gets more complex!This Portuguese Race Director has obviously got a bit of an evil streak! Keep checking our Blog page for the latest updates and reports Racing is getting more complex and results more confusing as the final race cut off looms at the end of a monster 160km mountain bike leg. Teams (apart from Nike/Beaver Creek) are starting to miss checkpoints (CPs) and Bonus CPs as they try to make sure that they reach the end of Stage 4 before the midnight deadline (1pm NZ time). Orionhealth.com are still amongst the leaders but at the end of the 60km trek that commenced Stage 4 they have dropped another CP which has pushed them into 4th place. This is according to the Leaderboard - extract below. (Note: things are changing so fast that the Leaderboard is probably not going to be keeping up perfectly ... Annie (Nga Rakau support crew member) has just released another update (below) which explains that at least a few things might not be correct on the board.)
The most recent Sleepmonsters race report said that Wayne, Stuart, Brent and Anna were looking reasonably fresh which is great news as they will definitely need to keep their feet and their minds moving fast to make sure that they keep in the hunt to defend their World Championship title.
Orionhealth.com "storm the castle" ... gently! (Photo courtesy of www.ARWC2009.com) Click here for the full Sleepmonsters report: http://www.sleepmonsters.com/racereport.php?page_action=rep&race_id=7511&article_id=6216 Annie's latest update ...
Waiting for end of Stage 4This morning we dropped off the team's bikes up a big hill at a castle that was huge and still largely intact, was probably the best spot we've been to so far, but it was at 2am in the morning. Would have loved to have seen it in the daylight. The teams were trekking to there, and 'storming the castle' by abseiling up one of the walls. Would have been fabulous. We're now waiting at TA4 for the leading teams to arrive. We are expecting lots of teams in by 9pm, so they can catch some sleep in transition before the next cutoff at midnight tonight, although this 105km MTB leg is taking longer than I think people expected. Several of the teams' GPS don't seem to have reported for some time, so it's a bit hard to know where things are at. The leaderboard as at the end of the last leg looks sort of correct. Two things that I know are wrong are that (1) Lundhags pulled out last night [Lynne - See correction below], and (2) Nga Rakau haven't been credited with the CPs from the big MTB yesterday at this stage, several of which they definitely did get. At this stage I think Nga Rakau are intending to short cut the first part of stage 5. Short-cutting doesn't put you out of the race, it just means you don't have the opportunity to get the CPs on that leg. The stage begins with a short trek to the river, then a 45km paddle. Given that the paddle yesterday was about 25km, and took about 7 hours, this paddle doesn't look like a good option, with the race notes saying it includes a lake with 'tricky navigation, especially at night' (which it will be), and reportedly includes a 2km portage. The Portugese boys who are transporting the plastic kayaks around tell us the teams won't be able to use the kayak trolleys for that portage because the ground is too rocky. Carrying those things for 2kms could be ugly. The weather forecast for today was light rain (which didn't happen, actually it was a beautiful day), and more rain for tomorrow and Saturday. If that eventuates, it will make things even tougher for the last day. correction...? (From Annie)Oops - I may have been a little hasty in reporting that Lundhags has pulled out ... although I was told that by a 'reliable' source, their transponder is showing them well into the MTB course, so that might be a better indication ... Off the water just in time ...Orionhealth.com have completed the latest leg of the Adventure Racing World Championships - kayaking their way to the latest race cut off with a bit of time to spare!f f(Photos courtesy of www.ARWC2009.com)
Wayne and Brent sort their kayak Portage Wheels
Anna keeps up her end (of the kayak)
Wayne and Brent haul their kayak up from the water You can check our Blog page for details of a conversation with Karyn who is crewing with Roy Edwards which includes a little of my "interpretation of events". There is also another update from Annie (crewing for Nga Rakau). The latest race reports from Rob Howard of Sleepmonsters are also available here: At Assistance Point 3 - Time is Tight: http://www.sleepmonsters.com/racereport.php?page_action=rep&race_id=7511&article_id=6206 Rush Hour: http://www.sleepmonsters.com/racereport.php?page_action=rep&race_id=7511&article_id=6208 Updates keep coming through on a tactical and tough race
Orionhealth.com (on right) and Nike/Beaver Creek matching one another pace for pace. (Photo courtesy of www.ARWC2009.com) Kiwi supporters following the race on the ground in Portugal continue to send through regular updates on the teams progress as they battle through a long, hilly and challenging course at the World Championships in Portugal. Orionhealth.com are mixing it up with the race leaders which include arch rivals Nike/Beaver Creek. As expected pre-race tactical decision making is beginning to show the importance it will play in this race as teams start to realise they may not be able to collect every checkpoint/bonus on the course and still make key race cut-offs. Visit the Blog page for updates from Karen and Annie Sleepmonsters have also got two new reports on the race up ... http://sleepmonsters.com/racereport.php?page_action=rep&race_id=7511&article_id=6194 http://sleepmonsters.com/racereport.php?page_action=rep&race_id=7511&article_id=6195
Follow the team by BlogWell the team's defence of their World Championship title is under way just outside Lisbon, Portugal, with the race prologue having been completed. The team are resting now for a restart of the remainder of the 900+ km course at 8am local time (9pm in NZ). Brent's dad Roy and Karyn Burns (whose partner Neil is racing in NZ team Nga Rakau) are crewing for Orionhealth.com for what looks likely to be an epic race. Karefn is going to send back reports as often as she can for posting on the team's Blog page so keep an eye on that for "on the ground up to date" accurate information about how the team is doing as the race progresses. The first messages from Karyn will be up there shortly. The official race website is http://www.arwc2009.com/en/ with race reports being posted on the usual other sites: http://www.sleepmonsters.com/racereport.php?race_id=7511 and http://www.sportzhub.com/site/ Annie (Mark from Nga Rakau's partner) is also supporting out on the course and if she's able to get enough internet access will no doubt be keeping an excellent blog on the race updated: http://www.kiwixpdportugal.blogspot.com/ You can leave messages for the team on the race website which are apparently going to be delivered to them - so feel free to send them lots of "go fast" messages!
CLOSE UP with Orionhealth.comAlthough they're busy on the other side of the world in Portugal preparing for the start of the 2009 Adventure Racing World Championships on Sunday Wayne and Anna will be on New Zealand television show CLOSE UP tonight (TV1, from 7pm 6 November) - talking about adventure racing past, present and future. We gave the reporters lots of past race footage so hopefully there'll be plenty of interesting adventure racing visuals to go with the interviews. If you miss seeing the show live you can access it on-line at http://tvnz.co.nz/close-up/adventure-racing-its-toughest-3116688/video.xhtml
Intrepid AR51 map board review
I've written a review on the map board that we use for all our on bike navigation. You can find it and lots of other good articles on the area51 website here.
Reports up
In the reports section theres a full report on our win at Primal Quest, and on the blog theres a brief report on the desert race in China that I have just returned from. Enjoy.
5th in WulongWe placed 5th at the Wulong Mountain Quest, after 4 very fast and hard days of racing. We're satisfied with 5th given the level of the competition and the lack of specific speed training that we've done. We raced well as a team and really enjoyed a very well organised race. The other Kiwi's at the race did really well and it was awesome spending time with them all and our other international adventure racing friends. Next up for us is Porrtugal in November, which is the Adventure Racing World Champs. We need to improve our rollerblading and learn a lot more about racing in Portugal before we head over. Finally, sorry for the lack of updates on our website from China, for some reason it seemed the website was blocked from within China ... probably because of all the political content A Big Thanks!!!After a couple of good nights sleep I'm starting to feel a little more normal again, and can reflect on an awesome race. It was tough, on our bodies minds and towards the end our supporters. Oops, sorry about that. We didn't want to deviate from the course prescribed by the maps (and shown as a brown line to all of you via tracking), and we just couldn't find the trails that we needed to string together to match that line. In the end we waited for daylight and set about 'knocking the bugger off'. I've got a few sore bits, mainly blisters and bruises. I've lost a heap of weight due to a case of diarrhoea for days 2 and 3 where I had to avoid eating in order to avoid shitting. So I lasted on a few brave moments where I gobbled a jelly snake or glucose tablet. My wonderful team looked after me well, they are marvellous. We slept 2, 3, 3, 2, 1 and 45mins for each of the days of the race, which is pushing the boundaries, but I guess that's what we do. For me the most memorable moments of the race don't come from the course, but from the supporters. We had people all over South Dakota cheering us on from their pickups as they drove by, from their front lawns as we passed their houses, from out on the trails, from wherever we met them. On the final ride around Rapid City we rode up a steep winding hill and there were chalk drawings on the pavement spelling 'Come on Orion' and even a picture of our star logo. It was fantastic. Looking at comments on our website, the PQ website and Sleepmonsters, we've had a lot of support from people all over the world. We all feel very lucky. I wish we could thank you all individually, but here's a BIG THANKS to you all, your support will always be cherished. Check out the Blog for messages from the rest of the team. |
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reunited 
and have continued on this epic adventure. 
f
