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Algoma's Water Tower Inn places second

At 12:54 p.m. this afternoon, Sautite Trisha Westman and her Algoma's Water Tower Inn team pedaled across the finish line, placing second in the 2003 Eco-Challenge North American Championship.
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At 12:54 p.m. this afternoon, Sautite Trisha Westman and her Algoma's Water Tower Inn team pedaled across the finish line, placing second in the 2003 Eco-Challenge North American Championship.

There, she was greeted with a hug and peck from her boyfriend Lawrence Foster, who a little under four hours earlier had placed first as captain of the Salomon Canada entry.

Team Water Tower took five days and 10 minutes to cover the 500-kilometre adventure course.

Westman said she was working hard to beat Lawrence because "he would have said second is the first loser." She told reporters that being a local resident provided little advantage in terms of knowledge of the terrain because many of the routes were new to her.

But Westman said she got a definite advantage from the encouragement of her family and home community.

Like many other Eco-Challengers, team member Dave Norona said he suffered hallucinations during the gruelling event.

At one point, he shouted to his kayak partner that they were about to crash into a non-existent dock.

At other times, he regularly thought he was seeing people or boats in the water, when they were actually just pieces of floating wood or other debris.

Other members of Team Algoma's Water Tower Inn included John Shoust and Bob Miller.

To meet the full team, please click here.


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David Helwig

About the Author: David Helwig

David Helwig's journalism career spans seven decades beginning in the 1960s. His work has been recognized with national and international awards.
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