. >> reporter: suzy lister at 30 the youngest team member is probably the strongest of the team. barrett runs up and down mountains. they have all taken every minute they can spare from their work and families preparing themselves. they plan to finish this race not necessarily win it. in this first 26-mile leg each team gets three horses. so two people run. in this group the two women are the strongest runners and spend most of the time on foot. >> david you have that horse you don't have to run at all today. i'll do all the running. >> reporter: three people ride, two run for 26 miles. one of the french teams swiss army knife sets the pace. on a 773-mile race it doesn't mean much to lead the pack on the first day and the french contestants are seasoned enough to know that. >> we just to know our place when we finished this kind of race. you know. >> reporter: our team doner party due comes in at sixth place. >> there was a lot of horses going down. a lot of run away horses we saw like five without riders. one guy did get kicked in the face. he was dismounting. one rider was just