Mega Avalanche-Reunion Island
December 9, 2007

by Andrew Neethling

The time had come, no turning back now. I was set for a front row start of a race format I had never entered before. 120 riders all starting at the same time on a 50 minute downhill.

The start was set for 9am.� Call up for our grid positions was based on our heat race results, and was at 8am. This sounds fine until you note that the drive to the top is at least 1 hr and on a road with the tightest turns I had ever seen. Car sickness started to set in near the top.

I lined up next to Julien Camellini, next to him was Nico Vouilloz and Remy Absalon. Nico had retired by the time I got overseas and on the international circuit as a pro. After looking up to him for all those years it was a little overwhelming lining up along side him to start.

I knew a good start was needed. My game plan was to go as hard as I could in the beginning and try to stay with the top boys. The start was a mix of open granite sections, short steep inclines and some dusty single track.

10 minutes to go, 5 minutes, 30 secs, 5 secs and we were off. The pace was frantic!  Everyone was flat out with some taking sneaky lines through the bushes. WOW these guys meant business.

I had a good start and was in about 4th going into the first climb. I gave it my all, which almost backfired, as my legs were not feeling great. This happens when you sprint, when your body has had no warm up.

This to me felt like a mix between Downhill, 4X, XC and a Motocross race all rolled into one.

There were a couple changes near the front owing to some interesting line choices and crashes. I managed to make a pass and go into the long dusty single track in 3rd.� What a surprise, I could not believe it, but by now my legs were full of lactic acid. I settled into a pace and pushed myself when I could.

Reny Wildhaber caught me on one of the concrete road sections which was a mix between flat and inclines. He was very strong, but I tucked in behind him and he pulled me along. This helped so much as it gave me some time to rest. I joked with him afterwards and said he saved my life on that road!!

I made sure to stay with Reny, as I knew if I could go into the last long flat rocky section in 4th that I could maintain this position. I was now hurting, damn this race is long physically, but before you know it you are at the finish. Up front, Nico had caught Remy Absalon, the early leader.  They battled it out, but the 10 time World DH champion came out on top.

Nico has been quoted as saying this is the hardest race he has ever done physically,... I tend to agree.

Top 5 were as follows: (Note that the top 3 are all past winners of this event)

1st Nico Vouilloz
2nd Remy Absalon
3rd Reny Wildhaber
4th Andrew Neethling
5th Franck Parolin

All in all this race was a great experience. This race has been going on since 1995 as far as I know. The people I met, places I saw were amazing.  Not often can riders of all riding abilities get together and take part in the same race. We all get to share war stories after our race. The Island was beautiful, the people friendly and the snorkeling amazing.