Overall the course for the 2000 edition in the
Raid Gauloises comprised 827 kilometers
and stretching from high Tibetans plateaus to the plains of India. The longest
since the creation of the Raid. On the program: 340 km of mountain biking, 181
km of trekking, 160 km of rafting, 120 km of canoeing, 23 km of white-water
swimming and 3 km of canyoning. The distance wasn't the only first, the
participation was record too. A total of 69 teams set off on the adventure. In
other words 483 participants from 15 different countries and representing 20
different nationalities.
Grouped together along the starting line in Tibet are 38 French teams, 9
American, 3 Netherlands, 3 Spanish, 2 German, 2 Belgian, 2 Finnish, 2 Swedish, 2
Japanese, 1 Canadian, 1 Australian, 1 Danish, 1 Italian, 1 British and 1
Nepalese. The average age of the team members is around 30 and every team must
include at least one woman. One team goes all the way and is 100% female: the
Spanish of "Buff-North-Face-Solomon". At the end of it all, 45 teams will finish
the entire race, 18 come home after the deadline and only 6 give up.
These were some of the images we took while in the Tibet/Nepal race.