Watching Paris go by in the distance, I have a moment in Time to recline in the seat of the TGV train and nurse a long Heinekin while reflecting on the mountain adventure last weekend. Once again I was privileged to take part in the DEFI challenge. This year saw our Nestle eResearch team take on new challenges in the magnificent terrain of Leysin, Switzerland.

Day1 was all about the bike with the first two events kicking off with a BMX circuit and 1km indoor piste time trial to get the legs going. Our team this year was represented solely by a group of us from Orbe, including myself, Julien, Joan, Samuel a Julien F.


With the legs warmed after the morning sprint circuit, we were the 4th team at the time trial type start to head for the hills on our road bikes. The 70km, 1800m+ve ascent hit home pretty quickly in the upper 20's temperatures. Julien F was the first to feel the sting of the heat and gradient and managed to settle back in after summiting Glacier 3000. Approximately 30km of flattish meander separated the two climbs.

In the great weather conditions we were able to enjoy some high speed descents and sharp cornering at intersections in our slipstream positioning with the aid of traffic officials managing potentially hazardous traffic. Before we had past the 10km mark our team has comfortably passed the other 4 teams in front and were working hard to build a gap on the remaining 20 odd teams behind. On the approach to the second ascent, I knew already that my hydration levels were lacking and that at some point I was going to hit the wall. This point came sooner than expected and meant that the final 10km of the cycle was going to be a suffering expedition. And that it was.. Fortunately I had the solid support of the rest of the team to carry me home.. Literally!

Day 2 (Friday am) kicked-off with a gentle run up the mountain, starting from Roche. 7.8km and 1100m +ve. What a way to get the heart rate going early in the day. We were the 5th team from last to take off based on our results the day before. Again, some good team work got us to the top in overall 4th for our time. A quick transition and we were off on our mountain bikes for an11km flattish transition to the canoe leg down by the lake. Myself and Samuel were first to hit the water and made good time, putting Joan and Julien F in a good position to attack other teams in reach. We placed 3rd in the canoe on time and didn't waste any time to get back on the mountain bikes to face the solid climb up the peaks of Leysin to the next transition for orienteering.

Julien F and Joan paired up for the first tour, making great time in finding the 8 tags. Julien S and Samuel were next to hit the circuit and collect the other 9 tag points. Then it was back the the mountain bikes for the remaining 12km of rapid cross country and technical downhill sections to take us back to Leysin centre and finish for the endurance event series for the day. That afternoon the team grouped a last time for the archery leg. This is certainly not an area of strength for us.