Brazilian team Xingu dropped out of this year’s Wenger Patagonian Expedition Race at checkpoint four, but for team captain Marcelo Catalan, his first experience of the wilderness in Chilean Patagonia left him hungry for more and disappointed to see a dream cut short.
Catalan, an aerospace engineer from Sao Paolo, led a trio of his regular team-mates and was joined by female racer Nora Acuna, after searching for a team-mate on the race’s Facebook page, ‘PatagonianExpeditionRace’. Unfortunately, the team ran out of time during the challenging early part of the course…
Speaking in Puerto Natales, where the race’s Remote HQ was set up at the Remota Hotel, he revealed his emotions about his return from the wilderness…
Q: So, how do you feel having had to stop?
“The race was cut short for us not due to physical problems, it was just a matter of speed. We were going too slow for the time cuts proposed by the director of the race and we couldn’t get our speed up to what was necessary so we only made it to PC4. The sad thing about it is the team has still got full strength, we have no injuries, we have no fights, we are happy and we’re doing great. It’s just that I guess that because there are time constraints and it’s a long race, the race director had to impose some really hard time cuts for the first section of the race.”
Q: Was the course too difficult?
“No. I was not surprised by it. My team was a bit too slow, which is surprising for me as a team captain, but I don’t take that as a bad thing, I take it as an experience. I enjoyed the course, it was exactly what I expected – I don’t expect anything less from the Wenger Patagonian Expedition Race. If I come here and I see trails or I see something easy then I won’t come back! I am just really envious of the teams in the race because I wish I got the opportunity to be challenged at PC9 like they are now. That’s what I dreamed of, but unfortunately it was cut short but that’s life. I’ll be back.”
Q: Was there one particular section that cost you?
“The trekking. On that we were really slow. The navigation was great, we didn’t miss a spot, we were right on it all the time, but our team was slow. We couldn’t move at the speed that was necessary. But hey, it’s my first time at the Wenger Patagonian Expedition Race, and the team needs to be designed for this race. It doesn’t matter if you are a great athlete doing adventure races around the world, it won’t make a difference here. Here it is a special individual, a special person that comes to race, it’s more than a race. The race aspect is the time codes, that’s racing. But the rest isn’t racing. It’s being expeditionary, it’s being able to stand up in your feet, keep going and look forward and enjoy where you are, not taking anything for granted, accepting nature as it comes.”
Q: So, it sounds like you want to come back here next year…
“For sure. No doubt about it. I learned that you have to be humble here. I’ve learned a lot as a team captain. It was a really bad result for the team, but as a team captain it was a really good result because my team is in great spirits. It’s the first time I have had a team that has been cut off from a race and everyone is still happy and laughing and making jokes. We understood we weren’t as prepared for it, we weren’t doing the things the way it is necessary to do in the Wenger Patagonian Expedition Race, but I am happy because the team is all happy, still friends, still fired up, and we just need to keep going.”
Q: Not happy to be back here in civilisation though?
“When the boat turned and I saw Puerto Natales, even though I love this town and I think it is one of the greatest places in the world, I felt a little sadness in my heart because I left the wild behind. We were having fun out there. Even being out of the race, I was enjoying myself because that’s what I crave and that’s what I come here for. I kept looking at the mountains and the maps dreaming about the fjords, for paddling, dreaming. The only thing I would be mad at Stjepan for is just cutting my dream short!”
