ABSTRACT
A forest trail made slick from rain. Elina Maki-Rautila falls hard off her mountain bike. Petri Forseman, Jukka Pinola and Mika Hirvinen, her three [male] team-mates on Team Nokia, stop and briefly check her condition. Winded by the shock, the young Finnish woman wipes away a tear and quickly moves on. In this brief expression of distress just as quickly overcome, the future adventure racing world champion, after 460km of trekking, canyoneering, mountain biking, rafting and glacial traverse, from September 3-7 in the Swiss Alps between Saint-Moritz and Zermatt, perhaps embodies the singular conduct of women in the sport.
