Subaru Primal Quest Adventure Race Update

July 12, 2002 (5:30 pm; Mountain Standard Time)

Greetings:

Team Santa Fe has been out racing for 121 hours and is likely about at mile 192 of the race, near CP22. There was only one recent update of the website, except for the finishers so it was difficult to find out what had happened. At that point Team Santa Fe is listed at 28^th place. Also, I knew that the support crew was out of cell phone coverage at CP21. So, I had to wait. Once I saw that they were out of CP21, I called the support, and they were on the road to CP 22 (mile 211). So here is what I knew up to this point

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Team Nokia on the Animas River and Team Gravy Wheels on a biking section. (photo credit: SPQ website www.ecoprimalquest.com)

The team members are still in good spirits, but very tired. Apparently, along the kayak route it was extremely slow going due to the low water. The teams had to push or carry the kayaks very often. Team Santa left the beginning of the kayak section (CP19) yesterday (Thursday) at 8:20 am and appeared to arrive at the end of the kayak section (CP20) at about 1 am. However, because they were not supposed to be on the river after 9 pm, they received a 7 hour penalty that they had to serve at CP20. So, they were there until 8 am this morning, trying to get some sleep in the cold without any sleeping bags or cover. They did not get much sleep.

There was a 10 mile hike from CP20 to CP21 and they arrived at about noon. Fortunately, they took hiking boots with them unlike many teams that made that hike in kayaking booties. Apparently, they were followed out by a crew from ESPN who was interviewing them. They rested at CP21 until 2:30 pm and then started the last 37 mile mountain bike section. After that they have to gear up for a 400’rappel at CP26. However, they have to trek for 24 miles to the rappel, with all of the climbing gear, and finally hike out to the finish with the gear.

The current best estimate is that they will finish sometime late Saturday or early Sunday. As they get through a few more CPs the estimates will get better. The support crew said that anyone coming out to meet the racers is welcome to join the crew at the Mountain Village parking lot.

16 teams have now finished the race. The top 10 teams finished in record times. It looks as if Team Stryker, the other team from the Team Santa Fe organization, is about to finish with a superb 17^th place finish.

If you would like to view any earlier e-mails (with a few pictures), they have been posted on the following website: http://www.lawired.com/csr/home.htm .