Update from the Supercrew

So I finally couldn't take it anymore so when I could see the guys were in the MTB to Roller blade transition I put in the call to Rob's mum for an update. Today was the first real day that they got a chance to see and talk to the guys and here's what I managed to scribble down.

At the end of Stage 2 - Trek - MTB - Trek Blackheart were the 2nd last team to arrive but from what could be worked out (by the Supercrew) may have been the only team to get all of the CP's - Nike and Orion included - although this can't be confirmed. The problem is that they have spent heaps of energy on what the organisers described as the toughest part of the course in the high mountains. Unfortunately the tactic may not have paid off and while to team took 90mins sleep at the end of the stage Rob's Dad (also Rob) plotted a new course for the guys on the major MTB leg of Stage 3 that they just completed to give them a chance of making the cut-off.

So at 1am (12pm today AEST) the guys left on the Downhill MTB leg then had to Trek the paddle before starting the next MTB . Unfortunately the guys skipped 10-12 CP's by smashing along a main road to catch up some time. All of the legs have been longer in time and distance than the organisers predicted. Unfortunately the couple of bonus CP's the guys have collected aren't "worth" as much as the mandatory ones they missed today.

If they don't make the cutoff in 8.5 hours then all the early effort will be wasted. It seems that right from the start tactics will prove to have been really important and the teams that dropped the last couple of hard Trekking CP's at the end of stage 2 and got most of the MTB ones today probably made a better decision. Still, it's very easy for me to say that from the couch.

The guys seemed to have worked out how to race and have a better plan for the remaining stages (still possibly 500km and 60 hours racing). All seems to be going well considering it's day 3 / 4 with no reported issues. Damon's pre-race health scare seems to be having no impact, Kim's really keen for some Chicken Noodles (apparently), Rob broke a couple of spokes on his new MTB but the guys managed to "borrow" a replacement wheel of a Finnish Team that was pulling out only losing about an hour in the process, now that I write, I realise I got no word on Josh so assume the Donkey's ok too. The official opinion of the Supercrew was "I wouldn't say they're unhappy" which is good enough for me at this stage.

I think there has been about 10 teams withdraw at this stage leaving about 50 teams still on the course. Some of the GPS trackers have been a bit on and off so what we really need is an update from the organisers .... but ... Don't get the Supercrew started on the organisers (I learned that the hard way). From the ground the race is a "Shamozzle" and in fairness to our guys this same opinion has been published by No. 1 Twitterati and also an organiser of the Untamed New England World Series AR Race on his blog. Anyway, apparently the rules are quite "fluid", there's not a lot of helpful information for the support crew and the "bending" of the "rules" during the apparently "unassisted" gear drops as one example is ridiculous.

At this point I must clarify that the 1 hour car navigational mistake by the Supercrew on night 1 was a result of the organisers directions saying turn left in "11 km" instead of "1.1 km" leading to everyone (except the organisers and the bus) getting lost.

So back to the current situation, I was getting this entire update while the Supercrew in the Supervan were following the guys on Roller blades with their hazard lights (mandatory for this section) on for safety so the story included a running commentary, most memorable were "oh sh!t cobblestones" then "round-a-bout, 2 of them went around and 2 through the middle" and "railway line" and "whoa downhill they're picking up speed now" and "traffic light - Josh and Rob got through and Kim and Damon stopped" and finally "phew ... the open road, that's a bit better, time for a photo".

The race is on for the cut-off. And to add even extra confusion, all of the reports say that the teams have to have finished Stage 3. However the word on the ground is that not only do they have to have finished the last leg (kayak) but they have to have actually started the next Trek. For clarification to make it even un-clearer, in case this was still to obvious, the Supercrew were told that they have to have even reached the first CP (which looks like a ropes section) 3km into the Trek. How much of this is fact, can't say, but I'm sure we'll know soon enough.

So while I still have no idea where the guys are placed, we do know they are healthy, "not unhappy" and still racing as hard and fast as they can.