AWAR 2004

For this race we teamed-up with Mike Vaughn, one of our frequent training partners and another on the growing list of the over 50 who are members of the TrailBlazers Adventure Racing Club, the 2nd largest AR club in the US of which Zach is President. It was an unsupported race which means we didn’t need anyone to move our bikes or boat form place to place. The weather that day was perfect for any outdoor activity. The race included a short bike section, a long paddle, a long run, and ended with another bike section. Unlike most ARs which require racers to go from checkpoint to checkpoint in sequence, this race was in orienteering style where we could choose the order and number of checkpoints we wanted to find.

 The first bike leg had three checkpoints, the second of which was a little more difficult to find and had us tromping through a swamp to reach it. It didn’t take long for our bikes and shoes to be full of mud. After the third CP it was a fast ride back to the start on paved road. This leg took us about two hours. From there it was a quick transition to our canoe and the paddle down the Altamaha River. The paddle was rather uneventful and long until we arrived in the area of CP6. The terrain didn’t look like the map. We paddled past it, came back and looked some, paddled past it again and came back one more time before finding it a little farther north of where we had been looking. On our way to CP7 it became even more confusing as we kept paddling and paddling and seemingly going in the wrong direction knowing we should have reached the CP. It was only after the race that we learned that the island on the map was not an island on the river. When we thought we were between the island and shore we were actually going the long way around of what used to be an island, thus the confusion in distance and direction. Before reaching CP7 we enter Bullard Creek and paddled up stream to the CP. The creek is more of a swamp and is inhabited by gators. Needless to say, Cathy was not very fond of getting out of the boat those times we had to portage over fallen trees. Once out of the canoe it was a short portage to the CP and canoe drop. Once out of the canoe we were immediately attacked by swarms of giant mosquitoes that we battled all the way to the boat drop; even though we were using 95% DEET they were incessant. The paddle leg took us almost five hours.

The next section was 14 miles of orienteering with 10 checkpoints that were pretty spread out. Since Zach had not run since Labor Day due to a knee problem and would be walking, we would not have time to find all 10. A good number of these CPs required travel through the swamps. Our plan of attack was to travel the most direct route back to the start while finding the maximum number of CPs possible along the way, which turned out to be five. Of course, the first three CPs we picked went right through the swamps, more gators and mosquitoes for Cathy. When we arrived at CP3, it was on the other side of the water. We had to take our packs off, hold them over our heads, and walk through the water. There was a camera crew filming us as we crossed the water. Zach got over first, followed by Mike. Cathy was still on the other side deciding if she really wanted to cross. Finally, she crossed with the cameras rolling. When she got to the other side Zach asked her to get back in the water because he forgot to take her picture while she crossed. Needless to say that picture was never taken. We finished that trek section in about four hours and returned to the start around 730pm.

We had until 10pm to finish the final bike leg but weren’t very motivated to find all the checkpoints since we had a commanding lead over our competition. So, we went out for a 15 mile bike ride in the dark, looked for a few CPs and returned by 930pm. We easily won the masters division which was our goal. The race was great! The gator, mosquitoes, and swamps gave us a different environment to race in from the normal mountains for North Georgia, Tennessee, and North Carolina. As usual the race directors Charlie and Gary did a super job! We’re looking forward to this race again next year.