Sequels of ’95 : They...

One team member nearly drowned. One fell off a cliff. One wanted to call it quits one day into the competition.

Such were the trials and tribulations of Team Rockport, the five-person squad from Orange County that traveled to Patagonia, Argentina, in early December for the world’s toughest extreme endurance event, Raid Gauloises (“Endurance on the Edge,” Nov. 29).

Team Rockport was, along with nearly a dozen others, disqualified five days into the competition for failing to reach a mandatory checkpoint by a certain time.

The team--David Allen of Irvine, Lydia D’Alessandro of Fountain Valley, Jan Richardson of Santa Ana, Kent Street of Mission Viejo and Arend Westra of San Clemente--continued on anyway in the nearly nonstop competition that involved hiking, canoeing, rappelling and glacier climbing.

Except for one member--who asked to remain anonymous--wanting to quit the first day, things were going fairly well, Street said, until Day 4, when the team made a few navigational errors. The loss of time cost them dearly. They were less than an hour late to a checkpoint on Day 5, but the lateness caused them to be disqualified.

Despite finger-pointing in times of frustration and growing dissension among team members, Street said, Team Rockport was determined to finish.

Along the way, D’Alessandro fell 10 feet off a narrow trail, landing on her backpack in the mud. During the canoe section, Street said, he nearly drowned when his canoe capsized and he was held under by the force of the rapids. “I thought it was the end for me,” he said. “My life vest saved my life.”

But on Dec. 14, 11 days after starting the race, all five members of Team Rockport crossed the finish line. It was a bittersweet ending.