Total Distance: 15,000 m
Participants: 3852
Retired: 82
Deaths: 3
1st. STAGE
First 15,000 Meters (15,000メートル)
San Diego Beach[1] to Santa Maria Novella Church[2]
The first stage is the second shortest stage of the Steel Ball Run. However, it is a high intensity stage with a good variety of terrain over a short distance to make for an exciting introduction to the race. The stage is set parallel to train tracks so that journalists and VIPs can follow the first stage in the comfort of a train and report on it. The open and flat ground of the San Diego Beach is ideal to accommodate the thousands of racers. The first kilometers of the stage consists in a relatively forgiving terrain, being relatively open and flat besides a few cacti, trees, crevices, and a choke point in a bridge over a dried river.
The default path then goes around a rock formation, although at the tip of said formation, riders can choose to try and cross a forest at the risk of bumping against trees. Following this is a downhill slope where riders are expected to actually reduce and control the pace of their horses to not trip. The riders will then have to bypass an abandoned ranch before sprinting to the finish line over 2,000 meters of flat terrain.
Total Distance: 1,200 km
Participants: 3770
Retired: 1219
Deaths: 82
2nd. STAGE
Across the Arizona Desert (15,000メートル)
Arizona Desert[2] to Monument Valley[2]
The second stage is one of the longest and harshest. The riders will have to cross about 1,200 km (750 mi) of desert in a hot and dry climate, which puts the riders and their horse at risk of dying from thirst, the heat, or the hostile fauna of the desert. The risk is compounded by the fact that riders can get lost in the desert (due to a Devil's Palm). To guarantee the safety of the racers, there are covered wagons filled with medics and referees following the race at a distance behind. Racers can ask them for food, water, or medicine, but will be immediately retired from the race if they do so.[2] There is a control point halfway through the stage before the riders can reach Monument Valley.
The terrain is relatively rough as the desert is strewn with mountainous areas and rocky formations. However, the last part of the stage is set in Monument Valley and thus relatively open. 523 of the 1219 drop-outs in this stage happened because of a Devil's Palm.[3]
References
- ↑ Steel Ball Run Chapter 5: 1st Stage: 15,000 Meters
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Steel Ball Run Chapter 13: The Sheriff's Request to Mountain Tim
- ↑ Steel Ball Run Chapter 25: Tusk, Part 1, p.28