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07-Sep-2010 11:43:51 |
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Warren’s Bates account of winning the World part 4 |
| 16-Dec-2009 11:32:38 |
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Arriving at
the next transition we were met by Petri Forsman who insisted that Nike were in deep do-do and highly
unlikely to make the cut off as they had been running things so tight. Oh….my….God…. We would be
winning. Could this be true? We left the transition in quick time and collectively underwent a severe
bout of verbal diarrhoea. What about this? What about that? Yap yap yap we went. I’d previously been
supping painkillers for my feet like Tic Tacs but no need for that now. The endorphins were charging
through my veins and I skipped from karst to limestone outcrop like Fred Astaire.
About half way through the trek we passed through a control and were told by the organisers that Nike
had made the transition by a minute. I felt like Buster Douglas had smacked me in the mouth with a fillet
of Portuguese fish. The emotional highs and lows that seemed to characterise this race were coming thick
and fast and none of us seemed to know how to cope. What could we do to stop the Nike onslaught?
Nothing it seemed. We simply had to keep the pressure on, execute our strategy and hope that they
messed up.
Funny how things turn out.
They messed up. As we arrived at the penultimate stage changeover it was relayed to us that Nike had
boobed big style and that we were now leading the field by 3 checkpoints (though there seemed to be
much confusion about this fact and I have it on good authority that our support crew was doing
everything in their power to ensure that reams of misinformation was kept to a minimum).
With a cushion like that we could afford to take another short break and we lay on the tiles of transition
zone, appreciating the rug that Nick had stolen from a nearby lounge carpet. In hindsight, 6hrs of sleep
in over 5 days racing was probably on the light side of things but the emotions were keeping our tanks as
full as they needed to be.
I can’t describe the last couple of sections as they now seem to blend into a 16 hour period of disbelief
and self doubt. Could we really have beaten the very best in the world, the strongest line up ever,
according to Mike Kloser? Nicola had developed all the symptoms of paranoid distrust that you’d expect
in a mental asylum and it was all I could do to persuade her that she was indeed walking along the beach
with us and that the finish was nigh. It just seemed so hard to accept.
As the line, crowd and rumble of cheers gathered it suddenly became much more real and then the
maelstrom of the finish descended upon us. Hugs, kisses, congratulations (most notably from a very
gracious Team Nike), tears (for the boys, stoic stiff upper lip for the army girl), ensued and the
celebrations could begin. For once I was lost for words in front of the camera. After a few minutes I
took myself away from the scene and headed back to our van. It had been a tremendous team
performance but I was not really used to this kind of fuss. I hid myself in the back, kicked my feet up
and called my wife, a voice of sanity in the madness of the last 5 days.
Some teams and spectators have been ill at ease with this race format but you won’t be surprised to find
that we disagree. One of my enduring memories of Team Nike’s webpage for the 2006 Primal Quest was
its motto – “Race Smart”. Well, here was a race that finally provided every team the same opportunity to
do just that. Far too often in the past teams have been encouraged to play follow my leader over longer
and longer format races which allow little in the way of adventure and far too much in the way of a
hardcore beating. Where is the fun and challenge in that?
n a ‘traditional’ adventure race, conversation between team members often dries up in the first 24hrs
and then it’s simply a case of keeping in line until the next transition point. Despite the fact that most of
the teams followed similar paths for much of the route in Portugal, the choices on offer meant that we
endured an almost constant dialogue between team members to discuss options and their pros and cons.
This conversation was often heated, confrontational and downright annoying, but it made this race so
much more inclusive than any of the others that I have done. The glory of being a world champion will
be fleeting but the fact that I have once again discovered the joy of adventure will hopefully live with me
for far longer.
Buffs off to:
James and Nic – our amazing support crew – who did so much to keep us out front
Helly Hanson, Prunesco, Marin, etc – our sponsors – who have shown faith in us over the years
Our partners – who have all experienced the depths of our selfishness in achieving this dream
and finally….
to my team mates who proved that a collection of individuals can achieve so much more when they pull
together |
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