Race Continues On
Team Turk Determined to Finish Course
Bahia Lopez, Bariloche, Argentina — Dec. 8, 1999

	Members of Team Turk Rescued by Helicopter

Almost two days after Team Greenpeace crossed the finish line, the great race of '99 continues on. The winning teams are now relaxing back at the ski village of Cerro Catedral, enjoying the local restaurants, the huge Argentine steaks, good vino tinto and of course the luxury of sleep.

The saga of the last team on the course, Team Turk, came to fruition this afternoon with organizers breathing a sigh of relief. Hunkered down somewhere before PC15, the team used their emergency radio to call a med-evac. Two members of Team Turk were flown to Bariloche hospital and later discharged suffering from exhaustion and stress-induced gastric problems. The remaining two team members where flown to Pampa Linda (PC16) where, determined to finish the course, they tried to find able-bodied competitors to join them.

"Team Foster's Australia were elated this afternoon to have won its official protest over penalty time...."

To continue unranked the team needs at least three people to stay on course...and boy were they in luck!

Within ear shot was Josko Bozic of Team Croatia who jumped at the opportunity. His team was disqualified way back on day one after failing to make the cut off at PC3 at the end of the kayaking leg. With none of the necessary clothing or technical equipment at hand, he was forced to rummage through and take on the well-worn, wet and dirty gear of the Turk he was to replace.

The hodgepodge team was then flown ahead to PC23 to bypass the difficult mountaineering leg of Tronador and with massive determination they were let loose with the finish line in their sights, possibly a day away.

Also disqualified this afternoon was Team Uruguay who broke radio silence to call for medical assistance for a team member with an injured knee.

Team Foster's Australia were elated this afternoon to have won its official protest over penalty time. The time docked for missing mandatory medical equipment yesterday was reinstated by Mark Burnett after it was determined the missing gear was actually the fault of event medical personal.

Organizers are now forecasting that the race will be over as soon as two days ahead of schedule making it the shortest Eco-Challenge to date. Although short in time, I am hard pressed to find any competitors who would say the course was anything less than an extreme challenge.

Valerie Molina, a veteran racer from Team Adventure One (USA), holding back the tears said, "This was our greatest challenge. It was the longest, hardest, most technically difficult — really, really tough, and well worth it!"

— Chris Vile, MountainZone.com Correspondent