I recently returned (with my team) from an incredible but
humbling experience in Brazil.
My team and I placed 4th in the 4 day Sea to Sea race in Costa Rica last March, in Iticare, Brazil
in the 6 day ECOMOTION.
We were greeted at the Ilheus, Brazil
airport by ECOMOTION staff who helped gather our gear including a large
stockpile of hydration packs and bussed us two hours to the race meeting
location. I guess I should mention here that the team entry fee was only $1500.
$580 for a flight from LA to Sao Paulo and $250
for the flight from sao Paulo
to Ilheus. After landing in Ilheus, ECOMOTION paid for hotels and meals, making
this a very inexpensive race. I spent less money than I have for several races
I've done in the U.S.
We arrived at a VERY nice room at the beach in Iticare, got our gear together
and went to skills testing and race check in. Very well organized and fast
cycling of teams thru the skills test. Well, fast for Brazil, where
time stands still. "I'll meet you at 7 a.m." really means " I'll
probably be there before noon." The type A personalities had some anxiety
about this but the type B's, like me, were in heaven.
We took a 2 hour ride in boats straight out of "African Queen" to the
start line. The race started in dugout canoes owned by indigenous fisherman.
Somehow the organizer had procured 50 of these boats. They ranged from 800 to
2000 lbs and were assigned by lottery.
My team was close to last in the lottery and got one of the heavier boats. Anne
was up front and got sea sick 20 meters into the race. She puked all the way to
check point #1. Behind her was Jerry, who had developed a huge abscess just
below his navel and couldn't bend at the waist. Trevor couldn't balance on the
gun wall and had minimal effect paddling from the floor of the canoe. I looked
longingly at my carbon fiber canoe paddle lying in the boat as I wielded the 3
inch thick by 15 foot long wooden oar needed to steer and propel the boat. It
was pure comedy.
Check point #1 was up a canal in the mangrove swamp. The first teams hit it at
low tide and hade to pull their boats across mud flats for over a kilometer. By
the time we got there, the tide was in and we sailed right up to the check
point, I just sucked on the tube to my hydration pack and settled right in.
The race medical staff was, on a scale on 1 to 10, about 14. Dr. Clamar
examined Jerry and the abscess at CP #1 and determined he could not continue
without treatment. They laid him on a tarp and cut his belly open, removed a
huge amount of gunk, installed a shunt for drainage, taped him up and sent us
off with orders to "keep him dry".
Very intense navigation through thick jungle in the dark where my team passed
many other teams who got lost. Only one map was issued for the entire race, and
it was 1:100,000, but fairly accurate. Took a bit of concentration but we went
pretty well.
Next day we finished this huge trek in sweltering heat. About 100F with 95%
humidity. Hard to keep the bodies thermostat in check with out continual use of
the hydration pack let me tell you.
We went for a paddle in plastic tandem kayaks and started off on a Mt. bike
section. In Brazil,
nobody knows about "switchbacks' or "traversing."The paths go straight in one direction, no
matter how steep the terrain. Straight up, then straight down. I met several
very friendly natives who offered fresh coconut milk to help cool us down, I
actually tipped the coconut milk in my hydration pack and it gave my water a
lovely taste.
We arrived at the river just before dark. No "dark zones" in
ECOMOTION. We did 30K of this river with over 50 sets of class 3 and 3+ rapids
in total darkness. WOW.
That reminds me of a guy I knew who had a big "W" tattooed on each
cheek of his rear end. When he bent over, it read "WOW" When he stood
on his head it read, "MOM." When he did summersaults it read WOW MOM
WOW MOM WOW MOM.
But I digress.
At the end of the kayak we took a short snooze. I checked the maps and saw that
we had about 30 hours of the course we had to complete to make the cut off that
was 12 hours away. Anne was sick and delirious and Trevor had injured his leg
on the kayak and could not put weight on it. With the race cut off so far out
of reach we opted to return to Iticare for a few days on the beach sipping rum.
A local team from Sao Paulo
won the race. Number two was the team from the Czeck Republic.
This team drank copious amounts of beer at the prerace meeting and continued to
pound them down at the transition areas. Big kudos to them.
This was a very exotic race with a world class field that was very affordable.
The race organizers were as good as Brazil has to offer, (you just have
to learn to roll with it.) The people of Brazil were beautiful and friendly.
This race is the "real deal" and it is CHEAP!
We will be there next year for a more respectable showing. Hope you will join
us.
