yesterday having had difficulties understanding the race instruction
since the beginning of the race.
All teams spent the night with their support teams near LA GARDE
GUERIN the site of a 12th Century village which has been partly
restored. The enforced stop was because the canyon had a dark zone and
teams were forbidden to start until 5.30 in the morning. Many teams
made full use of this time to get much needed sleep, before 10 k of
canyoning, 37k mountain biking, 19K of caving hiking and ropes,
followed by more biking, caving canyoning and orienteering.
HELLY HANSEN UK started the day in fine form having at last had a good
four hours of sleep, they were the first team to reach the start of
the canyon, minutes ahead of the other Extreme teams. WILSA SPORT
HELLY HANSEN made a navigation error and took the wrong track as a
result of which they lost around 10 minuits.
The canyon was quite slippery and a few teams had unexpected early
baths although they did have wetsuits to protect them from the cold.
One member of LYS AVENTURE fell off a boulder in a dry section of the
canyon and bruised his hip, the team withdrew from the stage but may
continue as an incomplete team.
LES FOUS DE BASSIN TDR BX had been fighting the sleepmonster since the
start of the race and finally succumbed in the Canyon dropping down to
Raider classification.
All teams enjoyed the canyon especially those that were incomplete or
out of classification.
The second leg of the day consisted of 38 k of mountain biking and the
British team lost their lead when they incurred 14 punctures which
allowed WILSA SPORT HELLY HANSEN, COLUMBIA Lozère Sport Nature and
ABSOLUE RAID Décathlon St Orens to slip past them prior to the 1st of
two caving sections.
WILSA SPORT HELLY HANSEN entered the Dragonnière de BANNE cave during
the late afternoon via a small hole in field but had to wait in a
queue for Adventure and Raider classes who had arrived ahead of them
directly from the canyon.
The results of first three stages show WILSA SPORT HELLY HANSEN, some
four hours ahead of COLUMBIA Lozère Sport Nature who have a one hour
buffer over WILSA WCUP CHTI Raid.
The Raider classification is much closer with SOFERMI - RAID NATURE 46
around one and a half hours ahead of Flying Avent'Hure Palfinger who
incurred a penalty of 1 hour along with a number of other teams for
missing equipment, but they still are ahead of OAHU.
The Adventure class is very close with thre teams in contention BAYER
- Vet Adventure Team, EMSA: RAID'EPERNON and INTERSPORT LIEGE
Ten teams are out of classification including LATTITUDE 55 as they
missed a section yesterday but thy ar still enjoying themselves.
As this press release was issued the latest leaders of the day are
WILSA SPORT HELLY HANSEN, SOFERMI - RAID NATURE 46 and
SPORT-OUTDOOR.COM as they entered the first cave so it is possible
that the lead in Adventure might change.