What would inspire four usually sane men to undertake a challenge that is widely considered the toughest endurance cycle race in the world for charity?

The memory of a dearly departed friend - Daniel Krantz, who died from muscular dystrophy, aged 23.

Patrick Schaerrer, Ross Cumming, Stephan Schaerrer and Douglas Percival are taking up the Race Across America (RAAM) challenge, which spans 3,000 miles, climbs 175,000 feet, and crosses 12 states - and they are collecting funds for a Maltese cause.

The teams are cycling coast to coast, across the USA to raise funds for children facing disabilities and hope to reach their goal of raising €50,000 for a custom conversion full-sized van for the children at Malta’s San Miguel Centre to be able to go on excursions.

The ages of the Malta team range between 34 and 67. Dad Stephan is joined by son Patrick, son-in-law Ross and best friend Doug.

The team was officially cleared to race after a week of meetings, training, inspections, 44+ pages of rules and regulations and a mound of paperwork. The race kicked off at noon in Oceanside California yesterday.

The team are cycling on rotation with a racer always on the road with a support team while the other three racers rest.

The support team is made up of two people for each cyclist. They travel in a support vehicle with all their spare bike parts, hydration fluids and recovery powders, foods and anything else the racers may need.

The support crew also protect the cyclist from traffic, monitor his performance level and speed.

There is an overall crew chief who has to ensure that all inspections, paperwork, release forms and regulation checks are in order.

Malta team crew chief Alexandra Schaerrer said a racer would race for five to six hours and then hand off the official RAAM tracker to the cyclist taking over.

If a handover spot is missed, the exhausted racer has to keep going until the one replacing him catches up and the handover can be done in a safe area.

All this, Ms Schaerrer said, had to be done at temperatures of 43’C.

The Malta team have just crossed California and are now in the Arizona Desert plains.

Day 1 done, nine more to go.

 

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