Team Red Ants finish fourth at Tierra Viva AR in Argentina

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Wednesday, 02 March 2011 10:13

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South Africans show some vasbyt in South America

Team Red Ants are back after the Tierra Viva AR in Patagonia, Argentina finishing an impressive fourth overall, out of 28 teams. The South African team, consisting of Brian Gardner, Nicky Booyens, Alex Wagner and Tim Deane were the only overseas team competing, going up against South American teams with a lot more knowledge of the area.

The team said the race was an unbelievable experience and the race course was exceptionally tough, with high mountains, long paddling and trekking legs. The scenery raced through was just incredible.

After a navigational error on the first night (and another on the second) of the first hike, they were in 12th place after the hike, and 21 hours behind the leaders.

From then on in, the team truly showed some serious South African vasbyt, by setting the fastest times on various hikes and MTB legs to come. They managed to haul in all but 3 teams ahead of them in the next three days, finishing only 13 hours behind the winners, after being 21 hours behind at one point.

Red Ants raced for 113 hours and 40 minutes, with nearly 13,000m total ascent.

You can view race photos on www.tierraviva.com.ar. A detailed report and photos on www.teamredants.co.za

The team thanked everyone on the AR mailing list for their support and well wishes before, during and after the race.