December 14, 2001
By Susan McKenzie
"I'm so old," Robyn Benincasa said as she was helped from her kayak and onto the dock at the Prospect Reef Resort, moments after her team, King Oscar/ AdventureTraining.com, was the first across the finish line of Expedition BVI, taking home the first prize of $60,000US.
Her wobbly legs covered in raw, open sores and taped up with black duct tape, Benincasa was embraced by teammates Mike Kloser, Novak Thompson and John Jacoby before they grabbed race producer Russ Antonacci and tossed him into the water, followed shortly by course designer Ian Adamson and three-quarters of the team itself. The only way to avoid a dip was Benincasa, who resisted efforts to pull her in.
King Oscar/AdventureTraining.com led the race from start to finish, winning every stage of the race by a margin of at least an hour. The team even captured the Bomba Shack prize; since Robyn Benincasa's lacy white thong was Bomba's favorite
Second, third and fourth place are close: not so much of a photo finish as a mathematical finish. Penalties, bonuses and finish times for each day of the four day race will make it a fight to the addition for Nokia Adventure, Red Bull/Buff and NYFIX/racingahead.com.
"I'm glad I'm not the one who has to figure that one out," says Tracyn Thayer of NYFIX/racingahead.com who, as an adventure racer organizer herself, understands quite well the task awaiting Expedition BVI's organizers.
"I want to get the times worked out right away," says race director Don Mann. "I don't want teams waiting and wondering where they finished."
For several of the teams in the Competition category, Day 4 of EBVI began moments after Day 3 ended. Only King Oscar/AdventureTraining.com actually had more than a catnap, walking into the Bitter End Yacht Club around 11 pm last night. NYFIX/racingahead.com followed several hours later, followed by Nokia Adventure at 5a.m. Red Bull/Buff reached the bitter end of Day 3 only minutes before the 8am re-start of the race.
Even the early morning sunshine could not warm a tired, wet and sore Florencia Gorchs of red Bull/Buff, who sat hunched over on the dock, shivering, her hands shaking as she tried to sip a cup of coffee. Behind her, Nokia Adventure's Elina Maki-Rautila sat silently as her teammates packed gear and checked maps. Nokia's adventure Thursday night resulted in a four hour detour due to a miscommunication.
Teams started the final day they way they had started ever other day: wet. A triathlon start had teams wading backwards into the water, with flippers and masks, perhaps the slowest and most unusual start to a race.
"This is going to be fun," said Sandy Geisel of Carleton Restoration. "As long as we finish the race, we can't finish lower than seventh. That's because Carleton Restoration was one of the eight teams to make the first few cutoffs on the first day of Expedition BVI.
After a brief swim, the teams coastaleered around Virgin Gorda, then climbed Virgin Gorda Peak before going back to the beach to launch their kayaks for the final leg of the race: a paddle home to Prospect Reef.
Team Rogoff was the first team to arrive on the beach, but that's because they never actually left it.
"We never made it to the bitter end at the Bitter End," laughed Viv Prince as she packed up her kayak. Rogoff is one of the teams likely guaranteed money, since the team was also one of the eight teams to make the first cutoff on Day One.
Perhaps the most important (and rewarding) checkpoints wasn't even on the race map.
Susan Babson, a sometime resident on Virgin Gorda, has been a big part of the adventure racing community for years. As each team passed by her home, she handed out foil-wrapped cheeseburgers and soft drinks.
"This is a great burger," said Jane Hall of Athena, which without a doubt went through more members than any other team at Expedition BVI. The team that crossed the finish line today bore only a passing resemblance to the team that began the race on Tuesday. When Katrina Jensen fell ill on the second day, she was initially replaced by Noel Hanna. Then Erica Pecorale paddled with the team for a while. Then Hanna took over again. Then Mac Brown was replaced by Harald Zundel.
"We went through so many teammates before the race even began, this is so fitting," said Jensen, who had difficulty recognizing her own team at the finish line.
Minutes after King Oscar/AdventureTraining.com hit the beach, Red Bull/Buff and Nokia Adventure arrived together. First came Petri Forsman, Antonio De la Rosa, and Sergio Barrantes, followed by Elina Makki-Rautila and Florencia Gorchs then Sergio Rodriguez and, bringing up the rear, Mika Hirvinen. The two European teams finished the first day together, and have seemingly been racing as one team since then.
The team even has a name.
"We are now Red Nokia," joked Petri Forsman, who nearly added flying to the list of adventure racing disciplines.
Hoping to reduce the amount of paddling, the team pulled out its sail. Forsman was testing the team's sail on the beach when the strong wind caught it and nearly pulled him off the ground. Forsman had to pour his entire body weight and then some into keeping his two feet on the ground, until his teammates finally pinned him to the ground. Once in the kayaks, the sail carried them quickly along the water, until too strong winds (and a dump in the ocean) forced them to rein it in.
Nokia Adventure and Red Bull/Buff finished the race within minutes of each other. As Red Bull/Buff's members had a communal hug in the water, Nokia Adventure paddled in, the zinc-oxide on their faces conjuring up images of warriors returning from battle. They jumped in with Red Bull, neither sure who had beaten whom.
All afternoon, teams in various categories crossed the finish line to champagne and free massages. As of four this afternoon, fifteen teams had crossed the finish line, including Epinephrine, Caribbean Star, Galway Securities/Island Traders, Terra Discovery/BrokerXtrodinair, Morgan Stanley, Rogoff, Bitter End Yacht Club, Hummer, Metabolife/Challenged Athletes Foundation, Athena, Merrill Lynch, and Xercise Systems/OBX: one by one they paddled into the resort's boat harbor, many of them attempting to wash away the stench of adventure racing by jumping in the water. The last few teams are expected to cross within the next few hours. Final standings will be available on the EBVI website shortly.
Plenty of friends and family were on hand to welcome the athletes, but undoubtedly the biggest welcome was reserved for the home team, Caribbean Star (nicknamed the Tortola Turtles). New mother Carolina Pettigrew was more than happy to leave her kayak and hold her 10 month old son (perhaps the most laid back baby ever) for the first time in four days. Her teammates Murray Todd and Antony Spencer were also eager to finish the race.
"We're going to go home and play darts," said Spencer.
For Jane Hall, the finish line was ideal.
"Great idea, this, finishing an adventure race in a pub," she said as she sipped champagne from a plastic cup.
