I found out about the race as soon as it was first announced in 2017, and I knew immediately I wanted to be one of the pioneers. I remember I was super nervous about the lottery, but I guess that was not necessary at all :-)
I had backpacked the whole length of the Carretera Austral in 2007, and simply fell in love with Chilean Patagonia. I had done a rarely done 3-day hike across the mountains outside of Cerro Castillo (T2 in the race), and just dreamt of cruising down the downhill curves towards the little town where time seemed to have stood still at the time.
Due to a stubborn plantar fascitis, I abandoned the IM 70.3 and IM races of 2018 in Florianopolis voluntarily after the bike, in order not to jeopardize the much more important race of a lifetime at the end of the year.
And that sacrifice paid off, luckily.

TBC