The 2011 Wenger Patagonian Expedition Race will be run to a shortened course after persistent heavy rains over the past few days made sections of the course impassable for the teams, Race Director Stjepan Pavicic has confirmed.
The seven remaining teams are travelling to PC13 at Puesto Las Nieves where the race will be restarted for competitors to complete the final 188 kilometre mountain biking leg to Pali Aike.
“There is a mix of two things that has caused us to make this decision,” explained Pavicic. “First we lost time in the first day when we had winds in the kayak section and now we have had very strong rain.
“With the current conditions the teams have been slower and there is more probability for hypothermia while the height of the rivers will increase and could make some of the crossings in the section between PC11 and PC13 too difficult and dangerous to complete.
“I do not like to change the course, particularly as it means we cannot complete our record longest trek this year, but for the safety of the teams it is necessary to do this.
“They faced particularly difficult conditions over the last 77km of trekking from PC9 and this change to the course will allow them to eat and recover while still allowing the race to continue on all the way through to Pali Aike.”
Teams AdidasTERREX/Prunesco (UK), GearJunkie.com (US), Vaucluse Adventure Evasions (France) and Ad Natura Karibu (Croatia) were held at PC11 today as race organizers, Nomadas Outdoor Services, together with the Chilean Navy and the Carabineros de Chile, assessed weather conditions and the safety of the upcoming trekking leg for racers.
The teams have remained in a neutralization zone, where no time is added to their race time. These racers are currently being transported to PC13, where they are expected to arrive later this evening.
The other three teams – East Winds (Japan), Roadrunners Adventure (Denmark) and Perdido en el Turbal - were airlifted to PC10 today when they were unable to make a river crossing between PC9 and PC10 due to rising water levels as a result of the heavy rain in the area.
From here the teams will trek to the end of the fjord, located a short distance before PC11, where they will be picked up by boat tomorrow and transported to PC13 for the final bike leg.
In this leg, racers will pass from very wet, saturated land where snow has been reported overnight to a drier, more desert-like environment as they approach Pali-Aike.
Pavicic is yet to confirm the time of the race restart.
