Updates from The Mountain Zone Cybercast

Look real close: those little specks are Kiwi climbers. (photo: Chris Vile)

We have just returned from the Blencoe Falls section of the course where both the team members and media are nothing short of blown away by the imposing 80 meter ascent that is being undertaken. The photo at right does not do it justice. The shear scale of this fixed rope climb is enormous.

We witnessed the top three teams come up and catch up with the 2nd place team, Endeavour. They were in great spirits and buzzing after the hour or so climb up through the thundering, cascading falls. Geoff Hunt said "...the climb would be very tricky at the best of times, let alone if you hadn't had any sleep in the last three days"

The set ropes took over a week to install and on site is a crew of safety personnel to ensure the safety of competitors. The big issue will be days from now when the teams way back could come to grief due to inexperience.

Jeff Mitchell, Endeavour relaxing at the top. (photo: Chris Vile)

From the Falls it is a short hike to the mountain bike pick up where they bike a beautiful single-track trial. They then continue through grasslands and streams to arrive at the "oasis" of camp Kirrama. At this point all teams are treated to a hot meal and a resupply from their gear boxes.

All teams have realized they will not make the imposed dark zone cut off on the Tully River at 3pm. Basically this means a chance for all teams to regroup and the race will be full-on again tomorrow, with the leaders losing some of the advantage they had built up.

-- Chris Vile, Mountain Zone Kiwi Correspondent