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Sunday, November 04, 2001, updated at 22:01(GMT+8) | ||||||||||||||
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Team Down Under Takes Mild Seven Outdoor Quest TitleWith snow-capped Jade Dragon Mountain as the background, Team Down Under galloped across the Mild Seven Outdoor Quest finish line in downtown Lijiang on Sunday.It was their first ever title of the event and a moment when their dream came true. The members had spent eight months training for the four-day event. Down Under covered the 381 kilometers course in a final time of 27 hours 30 minutes and six seconds. Experienced Finnish squad of Team Nokia Adventure was second in 28:16:08 and Australia's Team Mountain Designs was ranked third overall, in 29:18:05. Local favorites Team Mild Seven I finished a tied tenth, in 32:48:02. "It's great to win. This is such an intense race," said Down Under's John Jacoby, after crossing the finish line. "To be honest, it was easy. On one section, running through a pine forest, it felt like heaven. I found myself watching the scenery it was so pretty," he added. "I feel great now," Jacoby's teammate Danelle Balangee. "But at the start I was so nervous something would happen and we would lose." Nokia was frustrated with their loss. "We're disappointed right now," said Jukka Pinola. "We had injuries and mechanical problems that slowed us down. I think the race would have been much closer if those hadn't happened, But we have to be happy with the second place, because this year they (Team Down Under) were just the better team," he said. This year's was the fifth Mild Seven Outdoor Quest, which was inaugurated in 1997. It is a team multisport stage race. Teams of four athletes contest some 400 kilometers of mountain biking, trail running, inline skating, team biathlon, lake paddling, adventure skills and kayaking. The team with the lowest cumulative time will take the lion's share of the 200,000 U.S. dollars purse as prize money.
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