By Karen Lundgren (Team SOLE USA)

Paul took on all the team roles: captain, navigator, mule, rabbit, mother, father and set off on the first ever solo expedition race through the gruelling terrain of Costa Rica. Karen and Jordan and Tanya Murrietta from Chula Vista, CA followed along as support crew.

“THE COSTA RICA SOLO EXPEDITION RACE”

LAKE ARENAL TO MONTEVERDE, COSTA RICA
April 10-14, 2006

The race began with a short adventure swim to the kayaks. Paul was out of the water in the top half of the field and was quickly off on the kayak though with a classic Epinephrine Kayak Portage up his sleeve. Every team took off paddling East and Paul headed West to find a road and portage his kayak to the first checkpoint. This got the sweat pouring and heartrate skyrocketing straight away.This worked and he was first in the water at CP1 ready ready for the continued 25-30 mph head wind. With a rear hatch full of water, Paul struggled in for 2nd place by 3 minutes behind Brazilian Marco, after the kayak leg.

He quickly transitioned to the bike with just minutes between him and 1st place. Off for a one hour road time trial then the start of a huge hike, along site the molten lava spewing Volcano Arenal. THE ADVENTURE BEGINS. Paul suffered a heatstroke in the intense Costa Rican sun, but he managed to keep himself going strong after the sun lowered and after several lead changes was in the lead after the first 24 hours. Back on the bikes for some more intense heat, difficult hills and loose dirt and rocks.

Paul came to the next transition nearly 1 hour behind Rafael from Brazil. A second mid day heatstroke made map reading hard, and Paul found himself on the patio of a familiy living in the bush, pleading for help. Cool water/fruit/TLS, and once again he was ’seeing straight’. He made a quick transition to the next trekking section and headed off into the darkness. By the next morning he had again taken the lead and we awaited his return to start the final bike. By dawn he was just ten minutes behind the VERY strong and smart Rafael of Team Mitsubishi of Brazil, but feeling the effects of battling for the lead for 48 hours. After a ten minute rest, he was back on the bike for the final leg and a 100 ft ascent up the face of a waterfall. He made quick work of the ascent enjoying the cool showers from the waterfall before the final bike and 2k run to the finish. More than 80 hours on his own and Paul was at the finish. An awesome 2nd place finish.

Read more detailed reports at www.teamsole.com