At CP15 after the paddle, McCain are in second place. According to the CP split on the Team McCain Adventure Addicts page on the event website, they completed the river paddle faster than anyone else thus far (and likely to remain the fastest split; average time will probbaly increase as the slower teams come in): “Elapsed time from previous CP to CP #15, 19 hours, 40 minutes. This split is #1 fastest out of 5 teams who have completed it. Avg time on this leg is 21 hours, 11 minute(s).”
At CP 15, end of the paddle, there were only 19-minutes between McCain and current race leaders, Orion Adventure. Merrell/Akali are an hour behind McCain and ony two hours separates the Top 5.
So let’s see what they’ve been up to. The updates and leaderboard were stuck on CP11 for ages. That’s where the team left with wheelbarrows en route to the Walsh River. And that’s where McCain has really put down the hammer. This paddle stage, of about 60km, crawled. As Rob Howard writes on SleepMonsters,”but we do know the fastest teams averaged around 3km per hour on the Walsh river stage”. I think ‘paddle’ is a relative term. Water is low and the river is braided into channels with sandbanks all around.
They’re now trekking – a crucial stage in this tough race. As Rob says on SleepMonsters,”The leaders are now on Stage 8, the remote and trackless terrain of Chillagoe Station, 60km of trekking which many identified as the crux of the race when the course was revealed. Navigation and sleep strategy will now come to the fore and from the tracks it looks like Blackheart have set off on a different route to the other teams.” Blackheart were race leaders earlier; they came off the paddle in fourth place (behind Orion, McCain and Merrell).
They’re currently trekking and their tracking dot is only just off Orion’s. It’s almost 9pm there now; tonight will be an interesting – and I hope, successful – night for the team. Go McCain. I’m going to eat some oven baked chips and think good vibes your way 😉
There’s a snippet of Tatum on the “Thursday small” video – right at the end – talking about the agony from the stinging trees.