Wilsa HellyHansen takes the victory alter three days of non-stop race Rain was not enough obstacle for the adventurers

 

The Bimbache Extrem Castilla y León made honor to its fame of the hardest and international raid of Spain. After 450 km and 9,000 meters of drop between Segovia and Peñafiel, French and Finns won the final podium.

 

Peñafiel (Valladolid), 17th of May - El raid Bimbache Extrem Castilla y León 2008 has already all the participant teams in the hotel Venta Juanilla, recovering of the titanic effort which they have been put under the last four days. The last team in getting off from his kayaks in Peñafiel after having faced the Duero river was the U.E. Vic-Raidsaventurablogspot.com, that got after 21 hours of yesterday Friday, confirming the eleventh position in the final classification of the raid. A raid marked in the rain that has fallen very insistently on the sportsmen during the four days of race and that, accompanied by the cold, has still made more difficult a route already hard. In spite of everything, the 60 participant runners agreed in the beauty of the itinerary and the places around which the race has circulated: the streets of Segovia, the Granja of San Ildefonso, the mounts of Valsaín, the mountains of the mountain range of Guadarrama, La Pinilla, Peñalara, Somosierra, the Tierra of Ayllón, the Duero river, Vadocondes, Aranda de Duero, Roa or the castle of Peñafiel are names that are going to be left engravings for always in the memory of all of them.

 

The Aqueduct of Segovia gave the start

At 9:00 h in the morning of Tuesday 13 of May, the Roman Aqueduct of Segovia was the idyllic scene of the start of the raid Bimbache Extrem Castilla y León 2008. The mayor of the city and the delegate of the Junta of Castilla y León gave the last spirits to the 60 sportsmen of the 15 participant teams of seven different nationalities.

 

The first test of the race was a pretty specific section of urban orienteering, in which the runners had to orient themselves between the streets of Segovia to find the points indicated on a tourist map of the city and to respond the concrete questions raised by the organization. The Palace, the Door of San Andrés, the seat of San Martin or the Artillery School were some of the locations that the teams had to visit in that beginning of the race. After completing the nine obligatory points of the test of orienteering, the teams left Segovia by the highway of San Ildefonso, where they took the in-line skates to make a section of 9 km on them, through a bike track and a local highway.

 

Hard ascent to Peñalara’s tip

All it before take the first section of trekking of the race, that consisted of a long curl of 49 km and more than 2,000 ms of positive drop with start and arrival in the zone of La Granja of San Ildefonso, passing through several mountain tops between which it emphasized the Peñalara tip (2,428 ms). The team Wilsa HellyHansen and Multisport.fi took the advantage from the first moment and they did not do more than progressively to increase the differences with the teams pursuers, although circulating always on a par among them. Behind French and Finns, also French of the Lafuma Sport2000 Vibram and Spaniards of the Teva-La Pinilla-Trangoworld, they were located to about fifteen minutes of first before half an hour initiating the ascent to Peñalara and of them when finishing the sector. The ascent to Peñalara was made with hateful meteorological conditions, with an intense cold, rain and fog in the all highest crest.

 

After descending from mountains passing through the spectacular waterfall of the El Chorro, the teams went until the dam of the Alto Pontón to make a simple section of kayak of one hour of duration, introduction for the quite long and decisive stage of bicycle of nocturnal mountain, almost 100 km of distance and 2,250 ms of positive drop. A section which the Galician team of Proinde Aventura and the French of Air France Industreis did not get to begin, since both left after lowering of mountains and before taking kayak.

 

Infernal night

The first night of race was little than less infernal for the thirteen remaining teams. The cold intensified during the nocturnal hours, and one thick fog covered the top the Mountain range of Guadarrama, by where the competitors in one long section of mountain bike of 97 km of distance and 2,250 ms of positive drop had to go along. Those adverse meteorological conditions made difficult the direction of the teams, which were in zones with a visibility nonsuperior to the five meters, and motivated the abandonment of the Spanish teams of Gallaecia Bugarent-Cucos and Buff, that also accused injuries in some of their members. The bike section, in addition, was able to distance the Wilsa HellyHansen of the Multisport.fi, that until then had been competing at an even level in first position.

 

Coludy mountain and rainy day

 

The first lights of a cloudy morning took the front teams to the locality of Somosierra, where they changed the bikes for the training shoes to face a section of trekking of 15 km by Sierra Cebollera that included an spectacular canyonering. Rains fallen during the last days had significantly increased the volume of this cannon, offering some of the most spectacular images of this hard test of sports of adventure in rappel by the interior of an impetuous waterfall. That trekking confirmed the tendency of the increase of the advantage of the Wilsa HellyHansen on the Multisport.fi, that was even seen surpassed by the team Lafuma Sport2000 Vibram, also of French nationality. Another team that also wasted time in this point was the Teva-La Pinilla-Trangoworld, that was in the fourth seat but without options to fight by the podium unless to some important error or on the point of passing out of those of ahead occurred.

 

After the canyonering, the teams had to return to Somosierra and to get on bike to go again to the town of Riaza, where they take the in line skates to make 9 km that separate this population of the ski resort of La Pinilla skating. Once arrived at La Pinilla, the organization forced all the teams to make a shutdown of 4 hours to rest, a measure that tries to guarantee a minimum security for competitors who accumulate at those moments 30 hours of uninterrupted race (the first one classified). It is possible to say that that rest was made in the new shelter of La Pinilla, an installation with all the comforts and ideal to get one's strength back.

 

The hardest trekking of the raid

 

After the rest, the teams had to face another quite long section, that took practically all the night to the first and good part of the following day too. One was trekking of 46 km of distance and 1,730 ms of positive drop, with a spectacular technical test of ropes with one long tiroline of 120 ms and an impressive tibetan bridge of 115 ms, in the zone of Gran Plató (level 1,800) of the station of La Pinilla. This long walk was made by the Cuerda of La Pinilla, with ascent including to the Portillo del Lobo (2,274 ms), later bordered the limits of the Natural Park of the Hayedo de Tejera Negra by the crest and it went deep into the Tierra de Ayllón. There, they had to make another special test, in this case of speleology in the Sima, and to lower by a tube until the spring of the Manadero, in the neighborhoods of the town of Grado del Pico, where they cycled its again. This long walk put a little more emotion to the race, since the Wilsa HellyHansen had some problems in the orienteering and lost one hour approximately with respect to its compatriots of the Lafuma Sport2000 Vibram, leaving the difference in one hour little, with almost 20 hours of race to dispute.

 

An ultrafast section of MTB

The following section of bike had to take to them from Grado del Pico to the Burgos locality of Vadocondes, to the shore of the Duero. They were little more than 100 km of distance and 1,130 ms of drop, that the first teams crossed in a time record of 7 hours, one more hour faster of the best time anticipated by the organization.

 

In Vadocondes, the boats waited to them that, thence they had to take rowing until Peñafiel by the course of the Duero, in a long sector of 64 km and 11 hours of duration. That route took to them to happen through populations like Aranda de Duero or Roa, and it forced to them to make several carries of the boats outside the water, to avoid the zones of prey and rapids. Too long to finish before 21:00 h, maximum schedule allowed by the organization to continue rowing, questions of security. To that hour, the teams had to be stopped where they were and encamping until the following day at 6:30 h, when it was allowed to continue. That question controlled thanks to the technology gps, that allowed to locate to all the team at any moment. That night caused some of the best anecdotes of the race, related to the talent of the teams to procure the most comfortable place possible to sleep taking refuge nocturnal rain and of the cold of the river. Particular houses, vans or parkings of buses were only some of the unexpected campings that were used.

 

To the assault of the castle of Peñafiel

The last part of the race was developed in Peñafiel, from the river Duero to the height of the old bridge to the castle, last trekking of little 4 km of distance but with a considerable drop of 175 ms by the streets of Peñafiel. Once arrived at the castle, the participants found the last surprise of the race, in form of a special section of cords. There, two members of each equipment had to make a progression by cord of 34 meters, until the stop of the tower of the castle, from where the four slid by a spectacular tiroline.

 

In the morning of Friday, the French of the Wilsa HellyHansen reached to the finish line, at 8:56 am, after 71 hours and 56 minutes of uninterrupted race since they took the start on Tuesday under the aqueduct of Segovia. Approximately one hour later, their compatriots of Lafuma Sport2000 Vibram arrived, whereas shortly after podium with the arrival of the Finns of the Multisport.fi was completed. Behind the Finns, the first classified Spanish team, the Teva-La Pinilla-Trangoworld made entrance in. Throughout Friday, the rest of the teams went arriving at the castle.

 

This Saturday 17 of May the act of closing of the raid Bimbache Extrem Castilla and Leon 2008 is made, with the consequent delivery of prizes, in the same castle of Peñafiel.