Here we are at the start of what
was Nick's first race.
We drove that morning to the
start of the race and I could tell that Nick (aka my boss) was a little
nervous. Having raced for the last two week ends I was a little more relaxed
but not that much more. I knew it was his first race and mostly I knew he
hasn't train much for it having just got a newborn .
The start was a bike start and
there were two of the strongest co-ed teams around, Pentathlon des neiges and
Kinetic. These two teams also had Male team registered and my partner for
Untamed new England (a four days race to come mid-june) were also racing in a
male team. A couple of solo male were also racing and my housemate Peter was
also racing co-ed for breathe magasine.
We started in the front of the
pack with the fast team and I don't know how (and I am talking for me here) we
managed to stay with the front pack in almost all the first technical section.
And that's even with the pathetic attempt of Active Steeve to make me fall over
by riding in wheel behind me at the start ;). My technical skills aren't the
best so I was surprised to be staying with Kinetic for so long. Nick had no
problems to keep up and was waiting for me when it was too muddy.
After a little more than an hour
and a little hike your bike section we finally got to a dirt road. I was happy,
that was the end of the tecnical stuff so the real race was starting there. I
must say it was bloody hot and fairly hilly.
After a couple of hills I could
tell that Nick was struggling but I didn't have a tow system on my bike and
didn't think I would need one...But then came The big fat Hill!!! 1.2km of
climbing straight. At the start of the hill Nick is going very slow and in no
time i see him walking. I turned back to stay with him and start walking with
him but he isn't walking very fast. He hit the wall and pretty bad. I take his
bike thinking that it would help but half way through the slop I turn back and
Nick is far behind. I wait for him, put him on the tow and push the bikes up
the hill. I don't know what it is in these kind of moments but something makes
me a lot stronger than usual. As I am pushing and pulling up I am feeling good
and we even pass a guy who was pushing his bike. He looked at us and I heard
Nick asking "you didn't take your beast huh?". He was
joking...meaning he was still kind of happy to be there :)
I kept saying to him "we are
almost there" which worked for the first couple of hours but he told me after
6h of racing that it wasn't working anymore...We went through the bike section
with me pushing Nick as I could. I tried and learnt how to push someone on a
bike which is not easy when it's your first time.
We made it to transition where we
were going to start a trek/bushbash section. From the start of the trek I put
Nick on the tow. He had regain a little more energy by eating and drinking lots
but the towing system is still faster. I am very happy with my navigation in
this race. I found the CPs pretty easily without mistakes but half way through
the trek Nick started cramping and I didn't know if he would make it through
the trek... He drank, ate and I could tell he was in pain but there was nothing
I could do but find the quickest way out. Towards the last CP of the trek we
saw Carl and his team mate that we knew. We stayed with the guys a little bit
and that was a great thing cause it took Nick's mind away from the pain and
gave him a little boost of energy. Jogging down to transition we saw Kinetic running
towards us. They had made a mistake and forgot a CP on their way...we could now
beat them and we were quick enough on the last bike and on the paddle. Nick is
a very good canoe man so I wasn't worried about that part but the bike to get
there was going to hurt.
We finished the run with Dany
Laviolette, jumped on our bikes and pushed through to get to the paddle
section.
There was an advanced section at
that stage and we were still on time to do it. For once the advanced section
was all in the water. Thanks god...or should I say thanks Thierry :)
We went through that section very
well and I was happy once again with my navigation and route decisions. At the
end of the paddle was a little EVIL run up the stairs where I was the one to
cramp in and THERE was the FINISH line.
We made it through the line in
7h. Thanks to Kinetic mistake we got on the podium in 3rd co-ed place. A big
congratulation to Nicholas Raby for finishing and doing a podium on his first
race ever and hopefully he will do another race with me...after a little more
training perhaps ;) ?
My future team mates "Mundial St
Raymond" finished 1st male team. Well done guys.
Untamed new England (4 days
expedition race) watch out!!!
Time for more and more training
before the big race...
N.L.
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