THE INCA TRAIL
the big South American adventure rally
Days 13 and 14: Free time in Cusco and visit to Machu Picchu
Machu Picchu in all its mysterious glory |
Tour guide Raoul explores some of the beliefs of the Incas |
One of those in search of instant attention was the Ford Escort of David Liddell / Mark I'Anson, who had broken a steering arm on the final section: the local car club soon pointed them in the direction of a garage that could help.
The pair were feeling dispirited for another reason: they came were under the impression that they had dropped off Gold Standard the previous day. They checked out of the La Paz time control one minute late. Had they had problems? 'No, just standing there chatting,' said I'Anson. 'Before I knew it, our minute had come and gone. Terrible.' (Just a thought: could it have been cunning Colin Francis, who is running one minute behind the Liddell/I'Anson Escort?)
But the crew were wrong in thinking they'd lost Gold - they had lost and regained it in the same moment. Both they and John Bateson / Colin Francis now had one Gold 'miss' apiece, and so were tied as far as best 'Gold misses' went. There being no better performance in their Age Category, both were promoted to Gold again. The sense of relief in the Escort at the news was almost tangible - a good way to start two days' holiday in Cusco. Colin Francis was pretty pleased, too.
Miracle Workers
Tim 'Jingers' Riley, one of the Inca Trail event mechanics and saviour of many, gave up both his days off to refurbish the fleet of seven Mitsubishis that HERO is running as course cars. They are taking the same treatment as others on the event, and also need some TLC whenever there is time for it.
At the end of two days' hard work fettling, servicing and welding, Jingers' overalls were in a terrible filthy oily state. He went in search of the hotel laundry, and explained that he needed them back the same evening as we would be leaving early the following day.
There was a look of total horror on the faces of the laundry staff, who said it would be impossible. But Jingers must have worked some kind of charm offensive, as they finally agreed.
One hour later, the overalls were back: spotless, and beautifully pressed. No-one had ever seen anything like it when Jingers set out in them at 3.30am the following day.
We had hoped for a picture of this unlikely image for the website - but by the time our cameraman caught up with him, they were back to normal again!
We wonder how long it took the hotel laundry to clean out its equipment after the onslaught of the oily overalls?
Guardian Angel
Everyone has been so impressed by the helpfulness of the police throughout our route. In Bolivia we found they were holding traffic back to ensure a reasonably clear passage for our cars. In Peru, they have always done their best to help us through.
Cusco's Libertador Hotel, Rally HQ, is located in the middle of a small maze of city centre streets. On the first morning off, Jingers needed all the event course cars marshalled together and taken to a local garage for him to work on.
One of the local tourist police turned up when he realised there was a minor traffic jam of Mitsubishis adding to the usual daily traffic chaos, and did his best to get them quickly on the road for the garage. When the fleet got to the bottom of the road, all turned right at traffic lights. They changed to red, leaving the driver of the next in line unsure where to go: he turned left instead. Alarmed at having one of his visitors lost in the city, the policeman quickly flagged down a taxi and gave chase in it to bring the missing one back.
Job done, the policeman stayed in the taxi and accompanied the fleet all the way to the garage, doubtless anxious to avoid losing any more of his adopted charges en route.
Whirlybirds
A huge 'thank you' has to go to Angus Stamper and David Liddell. They both nobly gave up their seat on the return helicopter flight from Machu Picchu to help in a medical emergency. One of the party who arrived a little earlier by train, Ellen Mather, was taken violently ill with food poisoning soon after arriving at the site. With limited facilities at the Machu Picchu medical centre, Inca Trail medics judged it better to get Ellen back as rapidly as possible to Cusco, where they could better manage her condition. Three and a half hours on the train was clearly out of the question, so Angus and David volunteered to take the train back down, leaving their places free for Ellen, accompanied by medic Greg Williams.
Ellen was barely conscious by the time the helicopter made its return trip, but she recovered enough to be able to fly back to the UK as planned at the end of her Inca Trail stint two days later. Once again, a big thank you, Angus and David - you certainly saved the day.
Results Roundup
The arrival of the rally at Cusco marked the end of Leg One of The Inca Trail - a much tougher few days than most crews had envisaged. In the Classic Reliability Trial, crews' medal standings had been rapidly eroded from Day One; by the time Day 12 was ended, a mere seven crews were holding onto potential Gold Medals, plus just one Silver and three Bronze. They are listed in full at the HERO website www.hero.org.uk, together with a summary of penalties to date.
Robert O'Hara leads the competiton for the Stopwatcher's Salver, awarded to the navigator who collects fewest time penalties on Regularity Sections, while there is a three-way tie between David Brayshaw, David Garrett and David Liddell for the Tester's Tankard - awarded to the driver who does best on the various circuit and other tests throughout the event. Mary Kane holds second in the Stopwatcher's event, while Jan Smith follows the three-way tie, just three penalties adrift.
In the Club/Ecurie Team awards, Ecurie Cod Fillet lead the way, on just 192.8 penalties, followed by Team Africa, on 387.6. Formula Ford (1094.8 penalties) lead the hunt in the Marque Team award, emphatically ahead of nearest rivals Team Mercedes who have 10,933.9 at this stage.
Team UK lead the National Team competition, on 212.7 penalties - ahead of Team Maxima, on 17359.2. Holland 300, the third-placed team, seem likely to set some kind of event record - they have already amassed an impressive 109,366.6 marks!