Spanish team Air Europa Bimont secured second place in the Wenger Patagonian Expedition Race in the early hours of Tuesday morning when they reached the finish line at the Beagle Channel to complete a gruelling near-600km battle through the stunning wilderness of Chilean Patagonia.
Team Helly Hansen-Prunesco finished the race at around 6am on Monday morning after experiencing intense conditions while kayaking across the Beagle Channel and getting lost on a tough final trek that included an ascent of Mount King Scott. Their final race time was 126hrs 8mins – five days, six hours and eight minutes.
While the British raced to the finish, most others were held in a dark zone, where the race clock stops, and they set off together from checkpoint 15 a day later. The Spaniards held a strong lead after the main trek of the race through the Darwin Range and despite a six-hour penalty they came in 16hrs 38mins behind the winners.
Team captain Jon Ander Arambalza said: “It was just a dream to come to this race, so getting to the finish in this position is just incredible for us. Every day having to think about what to do, where to sleep, how to eat, how fast we could go, there were so many experiences. It was incredible to go through this wilderness.
“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 – but you must also enjoy this experience. You can finish all the races, but it is important take in everything you see and just enjoy it. And we did.”
The final run to the finish was not without drama for Spain, however, as they were slow in the kayaking section and were penalised after splitting up as a team. They also had one kayak overturn and had to be rescued as they tried hard to make it to the section start in the middle of the Beagle Channel.
Team Nord Water had to drop out of the race at PC15 after team member Toumas Sovijarvi suffered a suspected leg fracture. He slipped on a rock after the rappel section at PC9 but continued to trek through to PC15, where a doctor assessed the injury and the pain became too much to carry on.
The rest of Nord Water continued on, just for the experience, joining Switzerland, Germans Herbertz, GearJunkie.com from the USA and Canadians Untamed New England for the final kayak and trek, with Japanese team East Wind, who arrived at checkpoint 15 in the middle of the day, the only other team still in the race.
The teams enjoyed much calmer conditions than Helly Hansen-Prunesco experienced across the channel and were able to enjoy the spectacular mountain backdrops on the paddle to Wulaia, where Charles Darwin famously brought back a native who had been taken to England to become civilised.
The sharp point of Mount King Scott looked set to give racers a real challenge straight off the paddle but the climb was cancelled due to bad conditions. That left a 26km trek through dense forest to reach the finish line, which was set up on a point on the Isla Navarino jutting out into the Beagle Channel.
In a dramatic battle for fourth, Herbertz pushed hard and were the first competing team to arrive at the finish. Switzerland had to arrive quickly to maintain the advantage they took into the dark zone and after getting lost on the final trek they only just made it – claiming third by just 12 minutes after more than 145 hours of racing.
Switzerland captain Bernard Hug said: “We led the final trek to the finish for the whole time except the last two kilometres, when we lost three hours. Getting lost in the dense forest it is the most horrible thing for us. We were yelling at it! Just one mistake and we were a few hours back - but we made it!”
Herbertz’s Marc Pschebizin added. “We just wanted to finish, that was the goal. The last stage, the orientation was really hard and it was really painful as we were a bit sore. We had a good team and made it in the end but it was a very hard race, probably the hardest I have ever done.”
American team GearJunkie.com secured fifth place, 2hrs 13mins behind Herbertz and just 46mins ahead of Canadians Untamed New England. East Wind are expected to arrive in the finish line tonight, making it one of the fastest races on record and one of the highest finish rates ever seen in the Wenger Patagonian Expedition Race.
FINAL TIMES
1. 1 Helly Hansen-Prunesco UK 126hrs 8mins
2. 16 Air Europa Bimont ESP 142hrs 46mins*
3. 4 Switzerland SWI 145hrs 6mins**
4. 9 Herbertz DE 145hrs 18mins**
5. 7 GearJunkie.com USA 147hrs 31mins**
6. 5 Untamed New England CDN 148hrs 17mins**
7. 2 East Wind JPN TBC**
8. 11 Nord Water FIN/SWE reached PC15
9. 12 Almost Famous USA reached PC10
10. 6 Terra Mundo Lontra BRA reached PC10
11. 3 Eddie Bauer USA reached PC10
12. 8 Almas Patagonicas CL reached PC10
13. 14 BOE Ejercito de Chile CL reached PC9
14. 15 Fast and Light UK reached PC8
*Inc 6hrs penalty
** All teams who did not climb mount King Scott have a correction of 7hrs
