Victory For UK Fulda Challenge Team

The UK Fulda Challenge team pumped up its points total by winning two events. Kate Balchin won the mountain biking while Martin Yardley was victorious at car pulling. The UK team is currently fourth overall.

The tough 55km mountain bike course was been designed to test the competitors stamina and determination to the absolute limit. The freezing temperatures (-20°C) and extreme road conditions made the competition hard work for even the toughest of the 20 world-class competitors. Their challenge was made all the more arduous by oncoming vehicles creating complete white-outs for up to three seconds at a time.

Kate rode a tactical race before a strong finish gave her an impressive joint victory with Germany’s Heike Moller. They rode over the finishing line together to collect a maximum 10 points each.

As the temperatures continued to drop, the 2006 Fulda Challenge entourage made the 250km journey from Teslin to the next event at Watson Lake. The Yukon’s third largest community is located just inside the Yukon border.

Martin’s stregnth enabled him to pull the vehicle to the finish line in 30 seconds and claimed the team’s second victory at the end of a rewarding day. His impressive time was three seconds faster than Austria’s Daniel Hechenblaickner. Kate finished in joint sixth position in the female event with former Olympic long jump champion Heike Drechsler.

Martin commented: “I really wanted to win at least one event and I am glad that I have the 10 points under my belt. I am now looking forward to the tyre changing tomorrow and hope that we can continue to close the gap on the top three.”