Legends Don't Cry – Legends Trail Seen From The Dropbag Van
Opublikowane w śr., 15/03/2017 - 12:16
By bread and water
That pesky beeper is on again. Can't drive with the lights off, so I just turn up the radio to the max. A long and steep descent in the forest brings me to Stoumont. Down there I can see three small lights leaving the road. I honk and flash my headlights. Later I will check out they must have been the Belgians Andre, Jurgen and Nico at the places 6-8. My thoughts are with them.
At 5 pm at Grand-Halleux I take a right turn into a steep road for CP4 at Farnières. For our brave racers this is already 202 km. The checkpoint crew helps me with unloading the van. Despite the hustle and bustle I fall asleep like a log on a mattress for an hour and a half. No time for more – time for another shuttle.
Joris has in the meantime easily overtaken all those who left Ferme de Comptoir before him and caught up with the leading three. Now he left the checkpoint 20 minutes after them, just before my arrival. The bloke has got something to prove. Last time he came second, showing great sportsmanship and giving the victory to Michael Frenz. He was much faster but the German veteran did all the nav and without him the young Belgian would not have achieved such an outstanding result.
Friends of the Dutchman Maarten Schön, who DNFed last year, prepared a special „aid station” for him. There is „CP4 for all except Maarten” written on the door. And a chair with a glass of water and biscuit outside, with a little card saying „CP4 for Maarten”.
Hans has also come down to CP4 and asks me like ten times if I can still drive. I answer yes eleven times but gladly agree on his company for the shuttle. At least this chatterbox won't let me drop off behind the wheel.
We are welcomed by a magnificent sunrise on the way up. Maybe the racers can at least catch a few hours of better weather after that grotty night. CP3 is already being closed. Last four racers are just leaving. We grab two enormous rice servings each for breakfast, load the dropbags and drive back to CP4. On our way we stop at a local resort with a cool name of Coo. Hans shows me the famous waterfall and tells some trail running stories about our mutual friends.
We reach CP4 after 9 am. The crew led by Marek and Neil takes care of the racers. I grab a quick tea and a beer and then go to the bedroom upstairs. Time for a longer kip for my own safety. I only take off my shoes and fall asleep for long five hours.
I wake up just before 3 pm and see that someone has tried to reach me from the headquarters. Don't really know if I reflexively turned the sound off before falling asleep or just slept so hard that I didn't hear it. I ring back – they just wanted to make sure if everything's alright. The Big Four's dropbags are already there. So are Teun Geurts-Schoenemakers and Ivo Steyaert, who raced till the end and finished at 44h13 and 44h26 respectively. They beat the last year's winner by unbelievable 13 hours. This means the average speed of 8 km per hour at the last stage when they had already covered two hundred kilometres! Joris Jacobs and Benny Keuppens are pushing on together for the third place and will finish any time now.
Maarten is not allowed to leave by bread and water and receives special tender loving care from the crew. But its Joel the Spaniard who attracts most attention when he sets off into the rain armed with a big umbrella. Anyway, all who leave this place will finally reach the finish line. And I can finally take a shower, get some grub, work out which dropbags to take and drive off to the HQ.
Krynica-Zdroj, 8-9 September 2017 / UTMB qualifing race / Prize money - 20k Euro
