Day 20 January 20, 2025

Disaster has struck!

We’re going back to Santiago but let me take you back 30 hours.

Marc hadn’t slept much the night of the 19^th, and by morning, his condition worsened. He saw the event doctor and presented with a fever, sweats, and all the classic symptoms of either the flu or COVID. Marc spent the rest of the day resting, while I was isolated in our room to avoid potentially spreading whatever he had to the other riders.

By 4 pm, the event organisers made the difficult decision that Marc couldn’t continue in the event. While it was disappointing, we fully agreed — Marc was in no condition to start. The Rat Race crew was incredible, offering support, food, and even options for the future, including the chance to stay in Chile and participate in the second event in February. Unfortunately, being away from home for nearly seven weeks wasn’t a feasible option for us.

We immediately reached out to our travel insurance company, who provided the necessary steps to cancel the trip. Our amazing travel agent, Jodie, worked tirelessly with us from 6 am to 9 pm, helping us get back to Santiago from Con Con. The biggest challenge was getting out of Con Con — there were no transport companies heading directly to Santiago. Everything left from Valparaíso, which was over 30 minutes away. The local bus did go in that direction, but we couldn’t take the bike with us.

In the end, we arranged a private taxi through the accommodation to take us to Santiago. After numerous calls and messages with Jodie, there wasn’t much more we could do until the next day, so we settled in for the night.