RACE QUOTES

Andrew Cameron, Untamed New England – FINISH (6th)

In Canada you can get to pretty remote places, but this seems to raise the bar once more. For a sport like this you can’t get anything better. It’s just perfect.

 Harper Forbes, Untamed New England – FINISH (6th)

The best part of the race has to be the views. They were amazing. You wouldn’t know where you were, but all of a sudden you would get into a place with a massive expanse of snowy peaks in the background that look like they’ve been photoshopped in there because it doesn’t look real. Today, seeing little islands dotted in the bays with wind whipping in the ocean. Time and time again, it was beautiful views with animals laughing at us! The spectacular scenery is the number one thing I will remember. The most beautiful views I have ever seen in my life. It was pristine and untouched. We even come from Canada, which is pretty nice itself and pretty isolated, but this is another level.

 Team GearJunkie.com – FINISH (5th)

Steven Reginold: We thought it was cool that we saw the whole scope of Tierra del Fuego, from the northern tip to the southern tip, everything from desert to rainforest to sea coast.

Chelsey Gribbon: Everywhere we looked it was overwhelming and raw in every sense. It was amazing.

Jason Magness: There were a lot of times in the mountains when we felt we were guests to the Guanacos. It felt like we were in their home, their trails were how we got through half of the trek – following their trails.

Chelsey Gribbon: They were our spirit brothers, leading us.

Daniel Staudigel: It was all their trails and not ours, and that was pretty amazing to be in a place where if you see a footprint you would be pretty surprised if it was a human’s.

Jason Magness: Coming from America, it’s nice to come down here and see places like this. As yoga instructors, there is a lot of talk of Karma, the life energy that connects everything. Down here, on the first two days, when the wind didn’t go below 60kt, it was just blowing us off ridges, off our bikes, and there were a couple of moments where I just thought this is like the breath of the Earth down here. We block that so much in a lot of the places we live, and it’s nice to come down here where it’s in your face, pretty raw, pretty beautiful.

Chelsey Gribbon: The mountains, rivers, everything gave us energy. I’ve never had this much energy going through a race than I had in this race. I was amazed by the pure beauty and what I got from it inside, that I could keep going and I never wanted to trek through the night because I didn’t want to miss any beauty.

Steven Reginold: We lucked out on the weather, but my feet have still been wet for six days in a row now and I don’t know what they are going to look like in the morning. I am not going to run ever again I don’t think!

Chelsey Gribbon: I’m going to have dreams about this for ever.

Daniel Staudigel: It’s going to take me weeks to go over in my head all the terrain we covered. Even walking at the pace of 1km/h for days on end is still not enough to soak in what’s there. There is just so much terrain, so many passes, so many mountains that you just can’t even begin to explore because you are on this trek, which is cool!

 Jason Magness, GearJunkie.com – FINISH (5th)

It was pretty amazing to go that far into places where people never go. There are a lot of reasons why people never go back there – it’s hard to get to and pretty brutal, but at the same time to have a reason to go through those places, to struggle and to find a way to get through is pretty spectacular. To be outside and see that much stuff it kind of all blurs together. We got to do yoga in the Turbal, and I doubt anyone has ever done acrobatic yoga in the middle of a floating swamp. So that was like being on the moon or another planet. That was pretty spectacular.

 Jason Magness, GearJunkie.com – FINISH (5th)

The hardest moment was that mussel beach about five minutes before we got here! We collectively had one working headlamp by the end of this race, and it felt like the race organisers had purposely figured we wouldn’t have any headlamps and put the worst possible obstacle in the last 100 yards of the race. I really thought we were all going to fall and break things, and not finish right there!

 Jason Magness, GearJunkie.com – FINISH (5th)

This adventure race is unique in that the maps suck! We realise it is a struggle to actually get maps of this area, but navigating on a 1:200,000 scale map in the mountains is not very easy! But that’s part of why we come – to get lost and to overcome all of that stuff! It’s cool though, the maps are cool colours. I don’t know what any of the colours mean, they don’t seem to correspond to anything – maybe pain levels?!

 Marc Pschebizin, Team Germany – FINISH (4th)

It was a very hard race, probably the hardest I have ever done. The last stage, the orientation, it was really hard. It was really painful, we were a bit sore. We had a good team and made it in the end. We had a bit of luck and found team Nord Water who were guiding very well, but they were too fast so we had to let them go. But we had an awesome race. We are really, really exhausted. We looked around, we didn’t shoot through the areas, and the kayak today was amazing, to see the mountains right by the water it was absolutely amazing. Three of us had never done an adventure race before, so the goal was just to finish. We were quite high up at times, but it was really hard. The orienteering was just amazing. In Europe we have trails all over the place, but here there is nothing.

Bernard Hug, Switzerland – FINISH (3rd)

We led the final trek to the finish for the whole time except the last two kilometres, when we lost three hours. Just one mistake and, yep, we are a few hours back. But we made it. Our experience of this race, oh, you can’t describe this in just two or three minutes. We lived through so much, it’s unbelievable, a lot of highs, a lot of lows. We are from Switzerland and we like the open space more, the mountains, and the forests here are so dense, and getting lost in the dense forest it is the most horrible thing for us. We were yelling at the forest! For us it was the first expedition type race for all of us, and considering that I think we all did a very good job.

 Jon Ander Arambalza, Air Europa Bimont – FINISH (2nd)

Everything was so beautiful. Every day we had wet shoes, every day thinking about what to do, where to sleep, how to eat, how fast we could go, so many experiences. It was incredible to go through this wilderness. It was just a dream to come to this race, so getting to the finish in this position is just incredible for us. Our goal was to finish as a team. The best part of the race was the trekking, and the worst part of the race was the trekking! You can be very fast on bike, or on kayak, but you must be very good in the trekking. You must enjoy this experience. You can finish all the races, but you must remember things too. It is important to have fun with your partners, and take note of everything you see and just enjoy it. And we did.

 Ingrid Stergard, Nord Water – FINISH (classified 8th)

It was a very unique experience. The kayak had really strong wind at the end, we were pretty tired when we got to the shore, then we had some food. Then we started to follow the path but we couldn’t find it. So we went up into the mountains and it wasn’t hard to find the pass and then we just took a look and said we should go roughly there and got on the right path. It has been like this the whole race.

 Marc Pschebizin, Team Germany – PC16 (running 4th)

I loved that kayak. It’s beautiful scenery and the wind was not that bad. The waves were choppy on the last part but the rest of it was pretty easy, so I enjoyed that. We are not really good at kayaking, our girl had never done it so we took the best kayaker on our team and he coached her. Everyone is tired now, so the last trek is not going to be easy. We are fourth, so I hope we can retain that place. I don’t expect we will gain anything, this is a short part – but I don’t say short any more. It is good that we don’t go up the mountain, because we all have problems with our shins. So we are lucky not to have to run too far. I think we should finish sometime in the middle of the night – it depends how many mistakes or wrong turns we make. It has been a very hard week actually, very, very hard.

 Bernard Hug, Switzerland – PC16 (running 3rd)

It was a little annoying at the start, nobody knew what was happening. We all had to stay together for the first fifteen kilometres. There was two boats missing, we waited, we got cold, we just paddled ourselves. We got a solid lead fairly quickly and maintained that. The wind changed a lot, sometimes there was no wind, it changed every 20 minutes or so. It was good to relax, a pretty comfortable paddle. We all have minor injuries, sprained ankles, blisters, at the end of the long trek we all had problems. So this is going to be tough. The last day is usually easy but this will be a hard bit.

 Steven Reginald, GearJunkie.com – PC16 (running 5th)

I was learning to kayak fast because they were teaching me a new technique. But it went well, we blasted it, I think we did about 8km/h. Our focus now is to push hard and chase second or third place. This kayak definitely helped us, and trekking and orienteering is our strength. We are pretty happy we don’t have to go up the mountain. It probably could have helped us, but the race end is in sight now so it’s give and take there.

 Quotes - Feb 14

Tomas Sovijarvi, Finland, Nord Water – PC15 (running 7th)

I injured myself after the rappel. We walked in the canyon and I slipped from the rock that was covered with water and I hit my leg quite hard onto another rock. It hurt a lot but I didn’t think it was serious, but it seems there is a minor fracture in the leg. I have walked about 80km from there to here on it. We were in seventh when we arrived. It’s painful, walking is too slow at the moment. We did six hours and 50 mins from checkpoint 14 to here. My team-mates have been carrying my things and supporting me and pushing me forward, but I didn’t even think to quit before I got here, but now I realise it is quite severe. I have a tent about 50m from here and it took me five minutes to get down here, so it’s a bit nasty. I want to still kayak, I could still steer. When you go up or flat it doesn’t hurt, but when you come down it hurts. The pain is so great sometimes I almost passed out a few times. It affects how you think and you cannot drive yourself anymore when you are too tired. I believe if I kayak it will be for the experience, then after that I would quit.

 James Galipeau, Untamed New England – PC15 (running 6th)

It was a long, long trek and it was certainly the longest and most difficult trek I have ever done. We had to start rationing our food towards the end, so we didn’t have the fuel we needed to keep us moving how we wanted to move. Both of the nights ended up being the same time we wanted to get through the mountain passes, so we searched most of the night for the pass then would have to scramble for a place to pitch the tent. We ended up on rocks that were at angles and didn’t get much sleep. It was super windy, blizzard conditions last night, a white-out, which was a real problem. We were getting colder and colder and colder. We found a flat rock – well flat for the top of a mountain. We decided not to get up at first light because it was still a white-out but one team came past and said they could see ok, so we scrambled quickly and got up but it was still very difficult. We are worn out from the long trek but our spirits are high. The views up there on the mountain passes are phenomenal, the views are exceptional. We are average kayakers for a field like this, so we are excited about the possibility of crossing the Beagle Channel in a kayak and doing something even more epic than what we have already done. There aren’t too many other words that can sum it all up except for just saying it’s epic every time you walk around. Every time you turn your head you see another view and you say ‘oh my gosh, this is epic’.

 Stephen Reginold, GearJunkie.com – PC15 (running 5th)

We woke up in a snowstorm and ended on the beach – it’s been a long journey today! It’s going really well. We’ve been sleeping more than we anticipated, more than other teams. We had seven hours the other day, which is crazy for a race like this but it seems to be working because we’re doing ok. We’re speedy during the day and we kind of realise we can’t navigate at night in this terrain with this kind of map, so we’ve just been going to bed an hour or two after the sun sets and getting up around sunrise. It’s been going well. Today we went 45km to 50km, we ran probably 25km of that and trekked and bushwacked the other portion. We slept at PC12 last night, we made it there around 10pm and slept near the lake. We woke up to two inches of snow and big winds. My feet have been wet now for three or four days straight. Hiking out of there into the snow, up the pass through a blizzard and then into semi-frozen turba, with an ice crust and soft turba underneath, where we trekked along through a blizzard in a swamp – so that was a low point, it was really a low point. I was actually really afraid of frostbite this morning and hyperthermia last night. We thought we had almost run out of food so we didn’t eat a lot and it was hard to keep going without a lot of calories. It ended up I still had food in my pack and the last section went better than we thought it would. We didn’t expect to be here in the daylight. The worst part was the last couple of miles because we kept thinking we were almost here. The best part of the day was CP13, the river, when the guy told us about how quick the rest of the route was and planned our strategy and knew we could be here tonight. But the mountain trek was insane – we saw every type of terrain you could imagine – it looked like New Zealand, the Alps, Colorado, there were jungly sections, the turba was crazy, it looked like the set from the movie Avatar, not to mention walking on it, just a strange pallet of colours and a weird experience. Patagonia has extremely diverse terrain, every valley looks different, and it’s just very remote. We didn’t see any sign of humans, we didn’t even see other teams for days sometimes, so it felt like we were racing by ourselves.

 Daniel Staudigel, GearJunkie.com – PC15 (running 5th)

This is what adventure racing is, man. You can define it as going so long on one thing that you are dying to do the next, and doing that so long that you’re dying to do the next.

 Melanie Hohenester, Herbertz – PC15 (Running 4th)

I am hoping the clouds are so heavy and the rain and the wind that we don’t have to kayak because I am not a good kayaker. I want to rest. The trek was very hard. The valleys were very hard to go through. The swamps were very deep, I sank up to my waist in the water because the beaver dams made it very difficult. The mountain passes were spectacular, a very nice area, but it is hard to go through there! I liked the mountains, because there was no swamp, but the long valleys were very hard. I have very swollen feet and legs, because of the long trek in the swamps, I cannot bend it very well. We are in fourth. We must look at how the last trek is. If the points are easy to find then I think we can hold the fourth place. If it is hard to find, maybe not.

 Alex Gisler, Switzerland – PC15 (running 3rd)

We are quite happy that we are here now. There were some moments when we weren’t completely sure we could do it, but we are quite proud that we did it. Four days always with wet feet was quite tough because you got cold quite a lot and we were also stuck many times in the forest, it was almost impossible to get through, navigation was not easy. We have thick forest in Switzerland, but it’s different here. And the bushes are tough. The turba was not so bad, we could find the way through, nobody sank, so that was ok. The weather was actually quite good, we had nice views. The mountains are like at home, but bigger. Checkpoint 12 was nice, but a little bit later on it started to snow and I was walking backwards, then it was a long way. It was cold, but we just had to keep going. We didn’t stop much, the goal was always to get to the next PC as soon as possible. Yesterday evening, at PC13 we were on the other side of the river and we didn’t see the hut, so we stayed there overnight. We walked through the river then, we found a place – we preferred it to swimming! Now we have to think of the kayak. I think in our minds we see now maybe the finish line is not far away anymore. During the last couple of days, such a long way, we have been wondering if it is possible. Now we are quite near, and hopefully we can get over this Beagle Channel without a problem. I think our teamwork is quite good, we talk together when we can and when we just go on.

 Mark Humphrey, Helly Hansen-Prunesco – PC15 pre kayak (running 1st)

We’re in quite a sheltered bay at the moment but when we get out in the open channel it could be quite big, but these guys know what it’s like out there, they will have had a forecast from one of the boats perhaps, but we’re going to give it a go. It’s going to be safe otherwise we wouldn’t be going. I’m sure if it gets any worse they will pull us back in or pick us up. In these conditions you just need to get your head down and just go for it really. Get it over and done with. It’s going to be pretty cold out there, I think.

 Nicola MacLeod, Helly Hansen-Prunesco – PC15 (running 1st)

This year’s race has been fantastic for the scenery and the spectacular surroundings, for sure. The high passes around checkpoint 12, on the Paso de los Lagunas were amazing. We reached it at night, which was a bit of a shame because we couldn’t see the 360 degree views, but in some ways we saw the most amazing constellation of stars we have ever seen, surrounded by a crown of mountains. It was beautiful up there.

 Bruce Duncan, Helly Hansen-Prunesco – PC15 (running 1st)

There were some little lakes up there and with the stars reflecting, oh, it was just amazing. We stopped for two or three minutes and just looked at the stars and thought this is cool, this is why we’re here. Then we got really cold, so we got going. Patagonia is rewarding. You earn your view. It’s beautiful out there, but to get it you have got to work hard.

Nicola MacLeod, Helly Hansen-Prunesco – PC15 (running 1st)

Patagonia is austere. It’s obvious this is at the tip of a continent – big wind, big weather, big sea, big mountains. Everything is extreme, but beautiful.

It was a long, long trek and it was certainly the longest and most difficult trek I have ever done. We had to start rationing our food towards the end, so we didn’t have the fuel we needed to keep us moving how we wanted to move. Both of the nights ended up being the same time we wanted to get through the mountain passes, so we searched most of the night for the pass then would have to scramble for a place to pitch the tent. We ended up on rocks that were at angles and didn’t get much sleep. It was super windy, blizzard conditions last night, a white-out, which was a real problem. We were getting colder and colder and colder. We found a flat rock – well flat for the top of a mountain. We decided not to get up at first light because it was still a white-out but one team came past and said they could see ok, so we scrambled quickly and got up but it was still very difficult. We are worn out from the long trek but our spirits are high. The views up there on the mountain passes are phenomenal, the views are exceptional. We are average kayakers for a field like this, so we are excited about the possibility of crossing the Beagle Channel in a kayak and do something even more epic than what we have already done. There aren’t too many other words that can sum it all up except for just saying it’s epic every time you walk around. Every time you turn your head you see another view and you say ‘oh my gosh, this is epic’ everything you do and everything you see.

We woke up in a snowstorm and ended on the beach – it’s been a long journey today! It’s going really well. We’ve been sleeping more than we anticipated, more than other teams. We had seven hours the other day, which is crazy for a race like this but it seems to be working because we’re doing ok. We’re speedy during the day and we kind of realise we can’t navigate at night in this terrain with this kind of map, so we’ve just been going to bed an hour or two after the sun sets and getting up around sunrise. It’s been going well. Today we went 45km to 50km, we ran probably 25km of that and trekked and bushwacked the other portion. We slept at PC12 last night, we made it there around 10pm and slept near the lake. We woke up to two inches of snow and big winds. My feet have been wet now for three or four days straight. Hiking out of there into the snow, up the pass through a blizzard and then into semi-frozen turba, with an ice crust and soft turba underneath, where we trekked along through a blizzard in a swamp – so that was a low point, it was really a low point. I was actually really afraid of frostbite this morning and hyperthermia last night. We thought we had almost run out of food so we didn’t eat a lot and it was hard to keep going without a lot of calories. It ended up I still had food in my pack and the last section went better than we thought it would. We didn’t expect to be here in the daylight. The worst part was the last couple of miles because we kept thinking we were almost here. The best part of the day was CP13, the river, when the guy told us about how quick the rest of the route was and planned our strategy and knew we could be here tonight. But the mountain trek was insane – we saw every type of terrain you could imagine – it looked like New Zealand, the Alps, Colorado, there were jungly sections, the turba was crazy, it looked like the set from the movie Avatar, not to mention walking on it, just a strange pallet of colours and a weird experience. Patagonia has extremely diverse terrain, every valley looks different, and it’s just very remote. We didn’t see any sign of humans, we didn’t even see other teams for days sometimes, so it felt like we were racing by ourselves.

This is what adventure racing is, man. You can define it as going so long on one thing that you are dying to do the next, and doing that so long that you’re dying to do the next.

I am hoping the clouds are so heavy and the rain and the wind that we don’t have to kayak because I am not a good kayaker. I want to rest. The trek was very hard. The valleys were very hard to go. The swamps were very deep, I sank up to my waist in the water because of the beaver dams made it very difficult. The mountain passes were spectacular, a very nice area, but it is hard to go through there! I like the mountains, because there was no swamp, but the long valleys were very hard. I have very swollen feet and legs, because of the long trek in the swamps, I cannot bend it very well. We are in fourth. We must look at how the trek is. If the points are easy to find then I think we can hold the fourth place. If it is hard to find, maybe not.

We are quite happy that we are here now. There were some moments when we weren’t completely sure we could do it, but we are quite proud that we did it. Four days always with wet feet was quite tough because you got cold quite a lot and we were also stuck many times in the forest, it was almost possible to get through, navigation was not easy. We have thick forest in Switzerland, but it’s different here. And the bushes are tough. The turba was not so bad, we could find the way through, nobody sank, so that was ok. The weather was actually quite good, we had nice views. The mountains are like at home, but bigger. Checkpoint 12 was nice, but a little bit later on it started to snow and I was walking backwards, then it was a long way. It was cold, but we just had to keep going. We didn’t stop much, the goal was always to get to the next PC as soon as possible. Yesterday evening, at PC13 we were on the other side of the river and we didn’t see the hut, so we stayed there overnight. We walked through the river then, we found a place – we preferred it to swimming! Now we have to think of the kayak. I think in our minds we see now maybe the finish line is not far away anymore. During the last couple of days, such a long way, we have been wondering if it is possible. Now we are quite near, and hopefully we can get over this Beagle Channel without a problem. I think our teamwork is quite good, we talk together when we can and when we just go on.

We’re in quite a sheltered bay at the moment but when we get out in the open channel it could be quite big, but these guys know what it’s like out there, they will have had a forecast from one of the boats perhaps, but we’re going to give it a go. It’s going to be safe otherwise we wouldn’t be going. I’m sure if it gets any worse they will pull us back in or pick us up. In these conditions you just need to get your head down and just go for it really. Get it over and done with. It’s going to be pretty cold out there, I think.

This year’s race has been fantastic for the scenery and the spectacular surroundings, for sure. The high passes around checkpoint 12, on the Paso de los Lagunas were amazing. We reached it at night, which was a bit of a shame because we couldn’t see the 360 degree views, but in some ways we saw the most amazing constellation of stars we have ever seen, surrounded by a crown of mountains. It was beautiful up there.

There were some little lakes up there and with the stars reflecting, oh, it was just amazing. We stopped for two or three minutes and just looked at the stars and thought this is cool, this is why we’re here. Then we got really cold, so we got going. Patagonia is rewarding. You earn your view. It’s beautiful out there, but to get it you have got to work hard.

Patagonia is austere. It’s obvious this is at the tip of a continent – big wind, big weather, big sea, big mountains. Everything is extreme, but beautiful.

We’re in quite a sheltered bay at the moment but when we get out in the open channel it could be quite big, but these guys know what it’s like out there, they will have had a forecast from one of the boats perhaps, but we’re going to give it a go. It’s going to be safe otherwise we wouldn’t be going. I’m sure if it gets any worse they will pull us back in or pick us up. In these conditions you just need to get your head down and just go for it really. Get it over and done with. It’s going to be pretty cold out there, I think.

Duncan: We just set off on the trek at a comfortable pace and we thought after the first day, when we got where the Tyrolean should have been at around 9pm and it wasn’t there, we thought we were in for a four day epic.

MacLeod: We used the sat phone, then we got the GPS out as well, because we were in the right place, according to the map we had and the bearings and distance, we checked four kilometres of river and tried to find it for hours and hours. It was 9pm we got there we came down a ridge on the far side and we could see the whole river, then we went way further and didn’t see anything. We went back to the track because we thought we’d get any incoming teams, then had a sleep, but we checked again in the morning and daylight didn’t reveal anything so we swam. At least all our gear stayed dry – we have some amazing kit. We were mainly naked, so you just change and we had a 1000m hill to climb straight after, so we soon warmed up – and as we got out, two other teams came in looking for it, so they were all wandering around the cliffs. I think we lost about 12 hours.

Duncan: We were all pretty scared about the river crossing because we had been told it would be an impassable river, so you think what are we doing, this is wrong. Nic is really strong in the water and she knows how to read a river. I was really worried about diving in and being so cold you can’t swim and it was running so fast. But once you were in it was fine and everyone did it fine. If we’d have know it wasn’t going to be there we would have been fine, but it was a bit frustrating. After that we had a really good day, we just cracked on. We learned from last year how to get through the forest - you don’t spend five minutes looking left and right, you just decide where to go and go because it’s always bad.

MacLeod: The route was absolutely stunning. There was a lot of big high mountain passes, bits of snow, beautiful knife-edge ridges, zig-zagging through the Darwin Range; it was beautiful. The valleys were sometimes full of Turba moss, sometimes trees and sometimes little clumps of rusted grass, so generally the going was easier in general. I don’t think we found this easy by any stretch of the imagination. We were pushed mentally to the limits.

Duncan: It was harder than last year. There was one section last year, the forest, that was really tough, but the rest of it was alright. This one was just relentless, just up and down, and the beavers, the dams everywhere, you just don’t know where to go. There was still a lot of nasty forest out there and with the extra climb up and down you’d hit a lot more and it was really tough.

Duncan: The weather has not been very windy, a couple of showers but nothing much. We had the kit this year for it, so we have been super comfortable out there, we’ve had plenty of sleep, enough to function well in the terrain.

MacLeod: It’s really pleasing because it’s such a strong field of teams we were expecting to have a really big battle on our hands – and of course we may still do – but it’s nice to come out of it having done well. Especially as everyone was together, within minutes of each other, during the long bike, then it was the trek that split everyone up.

Duncan: The relentless up and down was hard work, but the weather was good and it was so rewarding. We were going as hard as we could and we got to the top and you had a stunning vista, and you wouldn’t feel the pain – you’d take in the view rather than feel the agony. The big thing was that mentally we knew it was coming. That was the real big part of the battle. We knew what did work and what didn’t, we’ve tried to move as fast as we could but we had better sleeping bags, a better tent, better clothes. And the big thing is better weather. Very flat, very windy, quite fast, then all of a sudden you hit the big wall of the mountains, which was just stunning. It was quite amazing how little there was in Tierra del Fuego, then to get into the mountains it was unbelievable.

MacLeod: We prepared ourselves for bad weather because that’s what we had last year and we were ready for that if it happened, but we are really glad it was nice weather because everyone enjoys it more. Now it’s raining, hailing even, and it just worries me that other teams are out in that, because it’s horrible and you really feel for the teams who are going to have to sleep out there. Going for the expedition approach is good, but it means you have four days of wet, cold, nasty feet instead of two and a half. Going heavy carries its own risks.

We have been moving so, so slowly so far so hopefully we can speed up a little because otherwise I don’t know if we can meet the deadline. It has been difficult and we have had some difficulties. We all have a bad knee - everyone has one bad knee at least. I think we got it first when we were pushing with the bike and then we have had a lot to carry.

With a short break that trek took us 13 hours. We left the bit where we left the bikes and we walked in the dark yesterday and we slept a few hours. We have our tents and sleeping mats and sleeping bags. Luxury! It was quite wet on the ground but it was ok. There was a lot of Turba at the beginning then after the rappel there was a lot of beaver nests and so it was quite wet. But we could cross over the beaver dams so it was quite nice. We have had great luck with the weather, so we are not cold. Now we are going to have a nice swim on this tyrolean.

We've got pretty wet. I fell in pretty deep. I think we all did. It was a river, I think, a river valley. I've had enough of water for now, I'd just like to be warm and dry now. We've had a lot of luck with the weather - but I don't want to say that out loud, I don't want to curse it!

It was a rough night. We had a hard time getting down the canyon from the rappel. It got a little hairy in there and we got cliffed out a lot. The terrain was tough and the map's 100m for contours, so you don't know if you're walking off a ledge or a step. We did the rappel late last night. We got done probably around 9 o'clock then it took us a good five hours to get to the other side of the valley and proceed to this checkpoint. We decided to just take the time to sleep because we couldn't make out any features and we didn't know exactly where we were in the valley and it looked like people were having a lot of difficulty. We could see lights up at the top of the pass you had to make and we didn't really want to get caught and get cliffed out again. SO we slept, woke up, found it this morning then made it across to this tyrolean and had three hours looking for it because the checkpoint moved. So it's been a tough day. Now we head into the Darwin and we have a plan. There's a recommended route and I think we're actually going to veer off that. We had success when we did that before. So we're going to take a little bit of a different route, I think, than most people. We think it's going to be faster. I think we are a couple of hours behind a couple of other teams and we would like to podium for this race so we're in it for the long haul and we think that our six hours of sleep over three days is enough to hopefully enable us to carry on through the night then maybe take a nap tomorrow and maybe be able to finish the trek tomorrow night - but we'll see what happens! We have a lot of food, food won't be an issue. We packed for worst case scenario and I'm not going to complain about the great weather we're having. We heard horror stories about hyperthermia and things like that so we loaded our packs with loads of clothes and now of course we don't need them. Who know what will happen tonight though..."

From our experience last year we have gained wisdom. We intentionally pushed a little less hard to here and stopped a little more often than most teams to make sure we had perfect feet when we got here and rest. We're not tired, we’re not hungry. You're allowed only one spot ahead of the bike and the trek to prepare for it and I knew teams were going to underestimate that stretch and not take enough food and stuff. And people underestimate the trek and the bike, so people ended up starving, pushing hard and not getting enough rest. We're going into this stage completely well rested. We actually had too much to eat last night we almost got sick because we were stuffed to the brim. So it's all good. We're happy. Navigation wise, now, I am not underestimating this trek. Me and my dad navigate really well together. We're going to take time to analyse the map when leading, so we don't blow it, so that's going to be key. He's pretty crafty in the woods, so I'm looking forward to following him and getting it right. He's crafty at finding animal trails or just good paths. And we're good as a team at having small objectives each. Like, Val, your job now is distance, so we're doing two kilometres. We're going to say half-hour kilometres because it's real thick woods, so it's Val's job to keep his eye on the clock. At 45 minutes we will be looking at thee features and we know we will be approaching our 2km mark and you need to remind us when our 45 minutes is up. Then someone else will be looking for other features. Keep everyone involved and keep all our minds thinking.

We have 24-hour bags roughly, which are gallon ziplocks which have an MRE meal inside and lots of goodies including sport beans, energy bars, snickers, cranberries, favourite snacks. They've been right on the money so far. So as you eat you stuff you put trash in side pockets and things, then when you finish the 24hr food bag you have a big bag of trash and at the next checkpoint and then, as the organisation requires, we have a big garbage bag and we collect up all the trash. I also pick up trash wherever I can.

The race is going quite well. We've started off a bit slow but now we are gaining speed, we've been banking some sleep and taking care of our feet and finding food on the course. I ended up holding a conversation in Spanish with a person who turned out to be a Kiwi girl who was working at an Estancia. So I asked her if we could have some eggs or something, and next thing we know we're having like six eggs, rice and chickpeas and some lamb chops and spending an hour and a half. It was just wonderful. And then we went and banked some sleep, there was a nice rest stop, there was a campsite, the whole thing, out of the wind, out of the rain, ready to go, We've been seeing Japan and the other American team, Almost Famous, really haggard. And we're just having a good time, and we hope that will serve us well in the Darwin range. We packed big packs and we have been planning everything for this stage of the race. And now here we are. Guys who went light will struggle. We're not with the leaders, we're not even close to the leaders, but the leaders don't even have 30 hours on us, you know, and this first checkpoint is supposed to be given 22 hours to attain. So that's pretty incredible when you know that other teams have been coming here with smaller packs and less amount of food and rest and in fact I was talking to the girl in the Estancia and she was like "Holy cow, there was a Brazilian team that came in and a Spanish team that came in and they were just crazy. They were ravished. You know, I talked to the Brazilians and less than five minutes later they were asleep. Then the Spaniards came past and I took them into the kitchen and they fell asleep on the table! They hadn't even eaten. But you guys are all jovial!" The first aim is always to finish, but we also think that with our preparation and strategy we will catch a few teams here.

The 178 kilometres of mountain bike was hard, very hard, the hardest we have had so far, but what’s really important is that we are gelled, we are all together as a team

The last section - the 178 kilometres of mountain bike - was very windy and the distance quite long. We were falling asleep while riding. We are very tired. But everything is on the mind. We just hope to finish.

Oh my God, wow, are we in some kind of paradise here? This is unbelievable, just beautiful.

The section in mountain bike was long, the longest I have ever had in my life, and there was a lot of wind in the first 100 kilometres. At times we were having to pedal down hill because the bike was stopping the wind was so strong. Later, when we were closer to the Darwin range, it was nicer, the wind was less. I think it was worthwhile, now it’s getting better because we are seeing what we were looking for, which is different to what we have in Brazil. We read a book about an adventurer who was here, and we imagined the way it would look and now finally we are here. I think the next section is going to be the hardest, but what’s important is keeping calm.

We had four hours sleep on the road, we just wanted three hours but we slept in! We slept in a nice hacienda with a bed and a mattress and covers and everything. That was good – and the funny thing was the Spanish team was there too and they left when we arrived! That ride was good actually, we had problems on the first bike ride working out how to be fast because one team-mate had problems at the beginning. We have been towing a lot and today we put his backpack on Melanie’s bike rack because he had problems with the bag and it slowed him down a bit. I think the race starts today really – that’s where the fun part starts! We have no tactics, just doing less mistakes and trying to be efficient and have some sleep tonight as well. We are looking forward to it.

I did the first run on the beach, a couple of the biking segments, the early part of the last one so I didn’t have to cope with the long section, they had a long ride there. We are now entering the Darwin mountain range now and it’s like 120km of trekking and the guys have been going pretty much non stop, got a little rest here last night, but adventure racers know you don’t get much sleep so I guess it’s par for the course. They’ve had a few hours rest, for what it’s worth, and now it’s a long push. If they’re smart, the will get a few rest stops in the middle of this, a couple or three hours of sleep each would be wise for them to do. We will see what they end up doing though. My guess is they’ll probably end up doing this, if they average four or five kilometres per hour, well, 40 hours or so, a good couple of days worth out there I think, so a lot of racing left. I think that bike there was a pretty big factor in how this race is going to pan out, but then there’s the cut-off to making the kayak push and that could be an even bigger factor. But once you get ahead and get a chance to sleep in a race like this, that sleep can be a huge component in the race, and how everybody else has to race your race from behind, you know. From what I could see watching the racers and how they were looking and hearing their strategies, I think it’s about a three or four team race right now. There is still a lot to go, and I think the Canadians, who came in when these guys were sleeping, it will be interesting to see what plays out now, how much sleep they take, these guys are a couple of hours ahead with their rest and everything. But that’s not much when you’re talking about the big amount of racing that’s left. I think navigation wise the Darwin may not be so bad, but so many things can go on out there I think it is going to be a lot down to how the terrain goes and if these guys get tired it could change things. There’s a lot of racing left.

We’re first at the moment. That was a monstrous bike. We got pretty chilly on the final bit. Oh man, the pass was absolutely brutal, it just did not stop. We were slightly worried we’d gone wrong, but we were in the right place. On the way down, oh god, it was freezing, absolutely freezing, so wet and cold. There was no snow, just rain and wet on the ground and stuff was flicking up on us so it was super cold. The plan was just to get that done, we knew we had to get it done so we had to get our head down and get on with it. We had a good run, I think we are three hours ahead of the next team, we heard them come in. We’ve had three hours sleep just now, so that makes four hours in total so far. No we want to get out for first light for this first trek. We just need to warm up a bit now and then get going.

We are going to sleep here, I have to get some dry clothes on, I am really cold. We were at PC7 at around 1am but there was no flag and we didn’t see the arrow that was there. It was by the buildings and we thought it was private so we couldn’t go and check there. I hope we still get it because we did the whole route.

We have had many little mechanical problems and we have lost lots of time in this section. We lost several screws for the gears on one of the bikes, so we are carrying only a big one and a little one, so in all the hills we had to first put the little one then the big one, and we have lost one of the rear derailleurs. But it’s ok – at least we are moving. So first we want to finish this section and recover a bit so we can do well in the next trekking section, but that is probably going to be the hardest part. If there wasn’t any wind, everything would be faster and much more comfortable - but that’s Patagonia. That’s what makes this area so special.

We performed quite well up to this point but we had some navigation issues at night. We slept onehour at night and cooked, but we are progressing slowly.

The trekking section was really good, but we had some issues on the biking section because biking is not Pierre’s discipline. The race is hard and the wind is extreme. We have no injuries and we are very happy to have built the bikes in the wind. We are exhausted, but we don’t want to rest because we want to keep going.

It was nice and we saw some of the local wildlife, Vicunas . We are expecting the next section to be awful, there is too uch wind. It was I have not seen anything like it.

We are physically tired, we haven’t slept that much. But we are mentally good – we just need some sleep! The toughest bit so far has been running on the shore with those 45 knot winds!

That part of the race was like the Swedish mountains...but with thorns.”

The wind was yin and yang, it was fun when you were going with it because it would blow you along and you could coast, but when you were going against it, it was your worst enemy, it just sucked. It blew Chelsea over, it blew me off the road, it sucked. We went north from the take-out up to a little town, almost to the point of Tierra del Fuego, then we went all the way down a paved road. It was about the same length but it was faster and we made up a few places there. We saw it last night when we were looking over the maps and then when the wind was blowing the wrong way, we thought we don't want to go into that wind. But we paid for it, it was the hardest piece of mountain biking I have ever done in my life.

Nic had three punctures. Twice with a thorn and I am not sure what the other one was, but it wasn't much of an issue, a couple of us got working on it and it only rested us 20 minutes in all, so it worked out pretty well. It was long, the first section was really tough, really windy, then once that was out the way it wasn't too bad. Pleased to be here. The scenery through there was gorgeous - especially when there was a tail wind!

Our food bag hasn't arrived because the ferry was cancelled, and in that is our map for the next trek and all the food that we can't have. Now we have a big trek ahead of us and no food. We had enough food for this section and were hoping to get it here. Now we haven't, but we'll deal with it.

The first part was tough and I was pushing the team a bit because I knew it would get much easier later on, and it was a good strategy. We expect the next trek to be about 10 hours, so we have to bring a lot of food.

“It’s good to be where we are, but this is only the first couple of hours and there is a long way to go. It was quite hard down the beach but after that it was quite nice.

It was very good, very windy, but we had a good ride. We had Bernard as the wind wall and that worked well. We had 40km also with the wind at our backs, which was very comfortable but then it came from the right. It was fun. We are a little bit surprised to come in first because the Germans are very good cyclists so we thought they would be a threat.

It was quite deep shingle and a lot of wind. There was a German team in front of us but they went away a bit along the beach, so we could catch them.

This was absolutely the right decision. We are looking at an offshore wind, so I think some people think it looks alright but when we get out there, there would be 2m of swell and we are alsoo going across and downwind, which is the most awkward type of paddling. I think we would have had some swimmers and some bodies on the rocks on the other side. We were looking forward to othe kayaking and we quite like the bad conditions. I think if they had said go ahead we would have quite enjoyed it, but for safety sake it's better not to but I don't think it will play either way, its such a long race. We know some of these guys from the world championships. Anyone here could do so well because it is such a different race. There are some really strong runners and I think the field is stronger for sure.

The wind is super strong but it was not just the wind we noticed, it was the white caps on the water that we noticed and I tell you I was petrified. I am real comfortable on land, up in the mountains, but in this kind of big wind and choppy seas it had me a little on edge, for sure. Tim, one of my teammates is a white water kayak instructor and we would have been counting on him to get us through this.

We are a strong kayaking team so we were hoping they would allow this paddle because it's an advantage for us and the beach run is not. If they cancel the paddle we get screwed and the running teams get a bonus. If it went ahead some teams may have had a bit of trouble but there are a lot of safety boats here and a lot of teams out there too and we'd help out if there was a problem but it would have been a bit scary. The winds here come like this, you never know when. The race has less kayaking than normal probably because the conditions here make it difficult to keep safe as the teams spread out.

The hardest part was to get here - we had three days, a broken plane and a lot of trouble. Our girl only arrived yesterday, so it was very tough preparation for the race. I think the race is quite easy after that! She is still very tired, but we will see what the course will bring. We have a quattro-triathlon world champion and a triathlon world champion. We don't have much strategy for the first section, we just try not to lose too much because we are not the best kayakers. The strength is the biking, so I hope we are just up in front still for that.

So far we are pretty happy it's finally starting. The preparation was long and to get all the right equipment for this race we had a lot of planning to do. The route is really hard to say, it depends a lot on the weather. The long biking and trekking sections, that is where the race will be split apart the most, that is where it will be decided. After that it's just the final run, the long paddle, short trekking and bike, that's the dessert! Most teams have a lot of respect for this race from a distance, and the climate, so I think the pace will not be too fast, but if it is fast we will try to stay somewhere in the pack.

We had quite a bit of difficulty getting our heads around the packing. There's a lot of stages but we didn't know what they were or how long they were until Monday. we wanted to get a lot of stuff packs on Saturday and Sunday so we were second guesing that, and that was pretty difficult. We're really excited about the route. I think looking at the maps was quite interestingm they're not maps like we have ever seen before. Essentially there are two big treks and two big mountain bike sections, those four stages are going to be the big teller. I think the mountain bike should be good. It's all rideable stuff which is great, then the second trek is going to be slow for everyone. so the slower it is the more it evens out to our liking. We want to get around the whole course, it's all about competing and seeing the envirnment and the landscape and it would be a real shame to get half way round and not get to see the other half.

“We love to travel and to see something of the world. And we love extreme sports. In Patagonia we’re able to see beautiful landscape and compete at the same time with so many athlets from all over the world, so that’s perfect.”

“Or great aim is to reach the goal. Therefore we’re gonna  sleep as little as possible and as much as necessary.”

“We had two team meetings before the race to talk about our strategy. But in the end, 99% of our strategy depends on the route.

"“We’re pretty strong in all athletic disciplines. Just in respect to navigating we have a little bit a lack of experience.” “Our aim is to reach the finish line. For us it will be a new experience to complete a race under such weather conditions” “We just came from the kayak proof. The wind is really extreme here and it’s hard to paddle.” “Because of airplane problems it took us more than two days to get here to Punta Arenas. We hope we still can relax a little bit before the race.” "

“We had a couple giant surprises a week before leaving for Patagonia.  We weren’t sure if Chelsea would be able to come because of unforeseen reasons.  However she is one of the most gutsy, gung-ho people I know and that’s why she is still here today.  Other few minor setbacks were also impeding us from coming, however we were to able to solve all the issues and have come together as a result.  We just hope that we will find enough time to rest before the race.”

“I’m 70% excited and 30% nervous about the race.  Going into nature plays into the 70% of excitement and hypothermia and strong winds are what constitute the majority of the 30% nervousness.”

"It was great to see the course and we are really looking forward to it. The trek is going to play into the hands of the elite teams, and I think the ones to look out for will be Helly Hansen-Prunesco, I have never raced against the team from Canada but they should be good, the team with Melisa Griffiths, Almost Famous, should be good and I think even Gear Junkie is going to be tough. I think there will be at least three teams up the front, although I don't know how the paddling will go, but there are a few wildcard teams too, so it should be good. There are a few teams that you would call 'elite' but we will only be able to call them elite at the end of the race..."

“My biggest fear is getting lost. This place is so vast. Anywhere in the UK, and most places in Europe, you can get lost, but if you keep going, you’ll hit civilization after a day or two of walking. Out there, you can go for weeks without seeing anyone. It is a true wilderness.”

“[Last year,] at night we started to think there was an extra person with us. It’s the ‘third person’ sense that mountaineers describe, where there is either someone watching you or someone with you. We also kept forgetting who was who and what they were doing there. I constantly thought we were about eight people. It was a bit freaky!”s

“The first time I participated in the race we had to give up because a member of our team was injured. Last year we ran out food and had to give up a second time. My main goal is to reach the finish line. The first days we want to keep the pace high. We plan to sleep just 2 hours the first 3 days. If you’re keeping up with the leading teams, it keeps spirits high.”

“The Patagonian Expedition Race is a very sincere event; it is only for those who truly enjoy adventure racing and appreciate the beauty and the wilderness of Patagonia. It is a special experience, it does not offer prize money so we are not in it for money, but for all of the small victories that happen along the way and the sheer sense of accomplishment that comes with crossing the finish line.