The Specials Operations Adventure Race raises money for the Special Operations Warrior Foundation which provides college scholarships and other aid to the children of Green Berets and SEALS killed in combat. This race in Highlands, NC area allows one-person and two-person teams. We entered in the Coed Masters Division. Our teammate form Blue Ridge Mark Bell and our son-in-law Jeremy decided to race as a team, so the four of us raced together.
This was an unsupported race so we had to carry all our gear for the entire race, including our running shoes and climbing gear with helmets. The race started on bike and mostly stayed on forest service and paved roads. We biked down a lot of fast paved roads and biked up a lot of double track trails. The distances between the CPs were long sometimes taking over an hour between points. By the time we arrived at the paddle we had biked almost 30 miles and only had six checkpoints.
When we arrived at CP3/5 there was an 8.4 mile trek to get the sole CP (#4) at the top Rabun Bald on the Bartram trail. After consulting the rule book and learning there was a two hour penalty for a missed checkpoint we decided to skip that CP because it would have taken us more than three hours for the round trip. This is what made the difference in winning the race. None of the other teams made this strategic decision and we gained at least an hour on them in overall time. Then there was a long bike to CP6 which included a bike-whack through some very rough uphill terrain.
From CP6 we had several miles up a steep Forest Service Road and single track which took us near Glenn Falls. The single track trail was steep enough and we were tired and hot enough that we just hiked-a-bike the entire trail until we arrives at the next FS road. During this hike-a-bike it was really hot and so steep we stopped to catch our breath frequently. From there it was about two miles uphill on FS and one mile on paved road to the lake and the start of the paddle. Although that bike section was very difficult we made it to the lake in about six hours. Cathy was pretty tired of riding bikes by then.
We dropped our bikes, picked up our canoe and dragged it to the water. The paddle was on Lake Sequoyah, which is a relatively small lake. The paddle to the three CPs took less than an hour. While we were on the lake the storm alarms sounded, but we were almost finished by then, so we kept going. From there it was a three-mile bike to the rappel site. From there it was a mile hike up a hill to the top of the rappel and only 150 feet back to our bikes. Of course we had to rappel to get back to them. Finally, after seven hours of carrying all our climbing gear we got to rappel. It was a great 150-foot rappel into a quarry which brought us right back to our bikes. Then it was a short ride to the finish line. Most of the teams that decided to go for CP4 did not get to paddle on the lake and did not get to do the rappel because they ran out of time.
Although we had signed up for the Coed Masters Division; we were the first Coed team and 5th overall to the finish line. Our finish time with the two hour penalty was 9 hours, 35 minutes and 20 seconds. As we have said before; not bad for two almost 60 year olds. We will have to change our team “50 Somethings” to the “60 Somethings” soon.
Although we had signed up for the Coed Masters Division; we were the first Coed team and 5th overall to the finishline. Our finish time with the two hour penalty was 9 hours, 35 minutes and 20 seconds. As we have said before; not bad for two almost 60 year olds. We will have to change our team “50 Somethings” to the “60 Somethings” soon.
