Wednesday Update: Wilderness Traverse.com dominates Raid the North Extreme - Kootenay Kaos moves into seventh
By The Nelson Daily Sports
Wilderness Traverse.com with two members each from Canada and New Zealand, continue to be light-years ahead of the field at the 2011 Raid the North Extreme.
The Canadian/New Zealand squad (team captain Bob Miller and Jakob Van Dorp of Ontario and Sarah Fairmaid and Gordon Blythen of New Zealand) was heading into Renata late Wednesday.
Second place Wild Rose, consisting of captain Mike Brown and Veronica Jarlehag of Calgary, Bart Jarmula of Revelstoke and Cranbrook’s James Hielman were just leaving Applegrove near the Monashee Mountains.
Team Kootenay, starting out in 11th but falling to 13th Tuesday, jumped up six sp0ts to seventh Wednesday. Team Kootenay Kaos consists of captain Nelson Rocha, Sasha Kalabis, Dustin Eagleston and Vince Hempsall.
Custom Celluar, led by Tom Zidek of Canmore, had to withdraw from the race. Custom Celluar opened as one of the front runners but succumbed to the harsh conditions.
More than 27 teams set out from Kaslo Sunday, starting the six-day marathon later that day in Meadow Creek.
Raid the North Extreme is a six-day, non-stop expedition race, featuring four-person co-ed teams from around the world.
The goal is to navigate more than 500 kilometres of unmarked terrain through the Selkirk, Purcell and Monashee mountains.
Most of the field continues to head to Burton before climbing through the Selkirk mountains to Deer Park. After paddling across to Arrow Lake to Renata, racers continue through the mountains onto to Rossland before finishing in Trail Sunday.
To keep tabs on the race check out http://www.raidthenorth.com/RTNx/2011/livecoverage.php
sports@thenelsondaily.com
