Our third edition of this race was also our first adventure race of this year. We had our usual teammates, Jon Barker and his wife Di as our support person. Kristin was racing with her sister Katy and Mike Greenwood, both adventure racing for the first time. Our goal this year was to complete the race in less than eight hours, which would be 50 minutes faster than last year. We had been training hard and had our new Cannondale bikes. The course was similar to 2000 with more running and less kayaking, which was a definite advantage for us. The course was also tougher than the two previous years. The combined mileage for the kayaking, mountain biking, and trail running was over 35 miles. There were also four mystery events. Race day weather was warm but overcast skies helped keep things from getting too hot. We were the oldest of the 76 teams competing.
The race started the same as the last two years at the Shackelford Bridge with a 2.5 mile run over one side of a mountain and down the other side to the kayaking. We did much better with the kayak than the previous year and had no problem arriving at our first mystery event, the12-foot wall. We have this challenge pegged and completed it in less than two minutes and returned to our kayak.
The second leg of the kayaking was going well until we arrived at the Aska Rapids. We thought the team in front of us was going to make the run. However, they got stuck on a rock which forced us to change our angle of approach. We didn’t hit the rapid clean and got turned a little left, just was enough to almost flip the kayak and send Jon, who was in front sailing into the river. At the end of the kayaking we had our first river swim followed by a three mile trail run over a small mountain. At the end of that run was another river swim followed by mystery event number two involving tires and a railroad tie. Then it was transition to the bikes.
After transitioning as quickly as possible, we started off on our new, lighter, faster bikes for the first segment of the biking. Both biking legs were 6-7 miles long mostly on narrow single-track trails. Although it was the same very hilly course as previous years, the mountain biking was not as tough due to our new bikes and our winter bike training. We walked up the mountains considerably less than the previous year. It was Zach’s turn to crash on the bike this year, which he did. The crash broke his seat which we repaired with duct tape.
At the end of the bike we faced the next special event, the cargo net climb. Only one of us had to climb which Jon did in true Spiderman fashion. We transitioned to our last leg, the 11+ mile run. Cathy had injured her hip in February and had essentially not run for six weeks prior to the race so the run was particularly difficult for her, but she is tough and can always be counted on to push on and finish. It was a long hot run (we lost our cloud cover) but we finished in good time.
As we reached the finish line we had to complete the last special event, slippery mountain. Instead of Crisco they used liquid soap and our usual technique did not get us over the top and we received a five minute penalty.
We crossed the finish line in 7 hours and 55 minutes and with the 5-minute penalty our official time was 8 hours, and 38 seconds. 38th place! We finished 50 minutes faster than last year’s race and three places lower. The competition is improving. As usual Di did a great job on support.
Kristin, Katy, and Mike finished in 10 hours and 27 minutes. They had a problem early in the first bike leg when Katie crashed on a gravel road and cut her arm badly as well as extensively bruised her left side. The medics suggested she drop out but she wanted to finish and did. After the race it took 35 stitches to close the cut on her arm. Quite an effort!
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