Following the wild day yesterday on the Gallatin River that saw the closure of that portion of the course, the decision was made to keep teams off the Yellowstone River today as it nears it’s crest as well. Many teams are currently approaching CP12 where they will transition to the first mountain biking leg of this year’s course, but they’re about to learn that they’re in for more time on the bike than they expected.

The original course design had teams riding their bikes along the 17 mile Sportraxx by Simpson mountain bike segment to TA6 in Emigrant where they were originally going to transition to river kayaks. Now, however, they’ll continue along to TA7 on their bikes thanks to conditions on the river.

After carefully studying the Yellowstone, and speaking to local authorities, the choice seemed clear. The area rescue teams have their hands full insuring the safety of the local paddlers, and wouldn’t be available to assist in any potential issues involving racers. Safety remains paramount in all aspects of the event, and after all the trekking and whitewater the racers have seen so far, I’m sure they’re happy to see their bikes. 

Photo by Jason Perreira

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 25th, 2008 at 10:20 am and is filed under News, Primal Quest. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.