Subaru Primal Quest Adventure Race Update

July 8, 2002 (11:00 am; Mountain Standard Time)

Greetings:

I have been out of touch for awhile due to a thunderstorm that knocked out power in the house for the last 16 hours (and is still not back on). So, I am sending this message from elsewhere.

Overall, Team Santa Fe is doing very well. The latest information that I have is that they are in 31st place somewhere after CP6, and on an extremely long 104 mile mtn bike leg.

I just received a message from Jessica Harrison (the support team Dr.). She met the team at 3 am this morning at CP4 which is the initial transition area from trekking to mountain biking. She said that the team came through the initial trekking section in generally good shape. Although Joel Krypel apparently fell on a boulder a cut his hand – he is apparently OK (He is "soldiering on" according to Jess.) It appears that the race is designed to separate the elite teams from the rest of the field. Jess also commented that she is seeing scenic Colorado from a parking lot and that 5 of the 7 transition areas are in parking lots.

All right, let me summarize what I can piece together about the first section of the race.


Crowd at the start of the race (photo credit: SPQ website www.ecoprimalquest.com)

The race got started at 3:11 pm (MST) on Sunday at the parking lot of the Telluride ski area (9,500’ altitude), and apparently most of the teams decided to follow the gondola line that takes them to the top of lift 6 at 11,500’ – obviously this is a tough uphill start. This was the start of the 24 mile trekking section that took teams over 12 13,000’ passes to hit the four check points (CPs) of this section, with CP4 being the transition area back at Telluride. The transition area is the point where the teams can rest, eat and switch equipment before the next grueling mtn bike leg.


Team Stryker moving up the ski hill (photo credit: SPQ website www.ecoprimalquest.com)

The initial leg from Telluride to CP1 (at 13,000’ in a saddle above Lewis Lake) was 8 miles. Apparently, the different teams took different routes, but the top 24 teams arrived at CP1 within a half hour of one another. The top 2 teams arrived at 6:01 pm (2 hours and 50 minutes after the start). Team Santa Fe arrived at 6:59 pm in 35th place, but bunched with a number of teams. This is frankly good strategy to hold back a bit to be able to complete the race, especially when adrenaline wants to push you on. To put this in perspective, the last team to arrive at CP1 was Team Kinetic Energy, and they arrived at 2:17 am. Some of the teams are going to fall victim to bad navigation, accidents and altitude sickness.

The next 3.5 mile leg took the teams to CP2 at Black Bear Pass (at 12,500" elevation). Team Santa Fe arrived there at 8:26 pm in 29th place. At this point on, the teams have to navigate in the dark. The trailing team (Team Anhinga) just arrived there at 9:22 am this morning.

The third leg to CP3 is 4.5 miles but was very tough, particularly in the dark. Team Santa Fe arrived at CP3 (Tomboy, 11,000’) at 11:56 pm in 34th place. There are still 6 teams that have not reached CP3 at this point in time.

The final leg of the trekking section is 7.5 miles and took the teams back to Telluride (CP4 at 9,500’). This is the transition area to the 104 mile mtn biking leg. The leading team (Montrail) arrived at CP4 at 9:41 pm and took 30 minutes to transition to the mtn bikes. Team Santa Fe arrived at CP4 at 2:43 am and left at 5:05 am, and was in 33rd place. During this period the team ate, rested (hopefully slept a bit) and got the mtn bikes ready. The longer rest period at this point is strategic in terms of banking the rest for later. At this point in time 48 teams are through CP4.

Team Santa is currently on the mtn bike segment and passed CP5 (9,200’) at 5:28 am in 34th place. They passed CP6 (8,300’) at 6:19 am in 35th place. They are probably near CP7 at this point but it is not listed yet.

Injuries are starting to take their toll in the race. One of the top teams, Earthlink, had to withdraw due to severe altitude sickness and dehydration in one of its members. Three other teams are listed as injured on the website, and it is likely that they will have to withdraw at some point.

 

More later

Darrell Henry – Team Santa Fe e-mailer