Sure enough, Marshal Bird, Matthew Arnold and Mike Prochaska – in that order – all rolled through the night to make it to Antelope Wells in less than 22 days. Congratulations all round, and all the more so considering Matthew revealed riding out of the saddle for 5 ½ hours through the Gila to protect his rim due to a partially deflated tyre, and Milke confessed to having branded a calf with his tyre after riding into it in northern New Mexico. The Tour Divide is nothing if not an adventure.
John Foster and David Goldberg were next across the line in 10th and 11th place respectively. John had a punctured bladder, costing him three litres of water, and two flats to contend with on the last day. ‘There ain’t gonna be no rematch,’ said David.
Now it looks as though Grant Crosby, Derek Richert, Tom Moriarty and Jacob Johnsrud are all having a party at the border after finishing a couple of hours ago. Intriguingly, the split chart actually suggests something of a sprint finish, with Jacob apparently having clocked in two minutes faster than Tom and Derek, with Grant three minutes further back. Guess we’ll have to wait for the call-ins to see how that panned out.
Shawn Sheppard’s last call-in from Silver City suggests he’ll be at the finish by now as well, and Dave Preston is within an hour or two of joining them all. Well done all. It should be noted that Dave’s arrival comes in spite of his laying to claim to the unofficial TD title of dirtiest racer – there’s likely to be some pretty stiff competition out there, but he said he’d not managed to have a bath since Rawlins, which is impressive stuff. Read more »
