Local participants bow out in Chile, but vow to race again

Cold, hungry, injured and frustrated, a team of local adventure racers had to call it quits in the middle of last month's Patagonia Expedition Race in Chile.

Team Untamed Adventure consisted of Sherry Correll of Virginia Beach, Joel Jimenez of Norfolk, Rob Dinterman of Moyock, N.C., and Grant Killian of Switzerland and formerly Newport News.

The four were done after five days of the grueling 11-day, 435-mile adventure through isolated areas of South America.

The races consist of several legs of mountain biking, trekking, rock climbing, rope activities and kayaking. Race officials canceled one climbing leg, two kayaking legs and one trek because of adverse conditions.

Teams are allowed a GPS and a satellite telephone for emergencies. Only paper maps and compasses are allowed for navigation.

Teams race night and day to reach checkpoints in allotted amounts of time.

Team Untamed Adventure failed to reach the fourth checkpoint.

But of the 11 international teams entered, only four finished. And those four didn't have to compete in the four canceled legs.

For Untamed Adventure, which finished last, getting rescued when the team no longer could continue was an experience.

"A team from Argentina had a journalist with them, and he got hurt," said Correll, 54. "Race officials weren't going to do anything. You're basically on your own in this thing. Organizers don't prepare for these things. You go in knowing that you are on your own.

"The reporter had insurance that would pay for a helicopter. We sat for a day and a half with our food gone, kind of like being on 'Survivor,' waiting for that helicopter."

Correll said she was prepared to lead her team out of the wilderness on a one-day hike to a checkpoint if the helicopter didn't arrive soon.

The main problem for the team was Killian's feet. He was suffering from severe trench foot. His condition was so bad that Correll used duct tape to hold the skin on the bottom of his feet.

"We would have walked out if we had to," Correll said. "And Grant would have suffered greatly. I was concerned. He was in a lot of pain and walking was tough for him."

But more than Killian's feet hindered the team.

"It was the whole team dynamic that beat us," said Jimenez, 31.

"We never really had the time to work together, and the team thing is so important in something like this.

"There was some discouragement in our lack of progress at times."

Navigation also was an issue. The team got lost on its first trek and was lost on some of its final walk.

"But we raced for five days and made it about 270 to 300 kilometers," Correll said. "I'm extremely proud of what we were able to accomplish even though we didn't finish. We never stopped until we just had to.

"This really was mentally very challenging. Physically, we were all capable of doing this. But mentally, I don't think any of use knew how tough this was going to be."

Despite the lack of success, members of Untamed Adventure - especially Correll and Jimenez - plan to race again. All of the team's members compete in similar, shorter races held in the United States.

"There's one coming up next year in Africa... that I'd like to do," Correll said. "I'd definitely like to try again, even though you really suffer in this thing."

Lee Tolliver, (757) 222-5844, lee.tolliver@pilotonline.com