Gulf Coast Conquest 2003

We decided to do this race as a 2-person team. Our son-in-law Jeremy and his Marine buddy, Brian were the support team. This race was directed by Dana Allen of X-tremegear, who also was the race director for the Coastal Assault in which we participated last September. The race, which started in Sanford, FL and finished in Tampa, was advertised as 180 miles in 36-48 hours. At the pre-race briefing at 1pm on Friday we learned the distance was 220 miles. The race had three paddling sections, three biking sections, and three trekking sections of varying distances. Also, at the pre-race briefing we received our 15 maps and guide sheet, which contained route information and grid coordinates. After a general course briefing and a Q&A, we had about two hours to plot our coordinates, determine our route, and prepare our gear for the 4pm start. We didn’t have time to plot the entire course by the start, but we knew our former Marine support crew would finish the job.

Since the starting line was at the Best Western Hotel on Lake Monroe, the race started with a paddle section. Lake Monroe is part of the St John’s River and we had to paddle north out of the lake and into the river. The lake was very choppy which made paddling difficult. Four kayaks capsized in the lake before reaching the river channel. Then we had to paddle down the river (the St. John’s River is one of the few rivers that flows from south to north), make a left on the Wekiva River between markers 96 and 97. We were at marker 122 when we entered the channel. After paddling for quite a while we made the turn and had to follow the Wekiva River until we reached TP/CP1. It was not easy. The Wekiva River became narrower and confusing the closer it got to dark. We reached a point where it seemingly ended and we had to dig our way with paddles through the growth on the river to reach open water. Just when we thought we were going the right way the River again became very narrow and twisted with many trees interfering with our paddling. Finally it opened up and we had easy paddling to TP/CP1. We arrived at the transition at 9pm and were met by Jeremy and Brian.

We changed our gear and transitioned to a trekking section. This section required us to trek on paved roads for about four miles, travel on dirt roads and trails through the Wekiva Basin for another 8+ miles, and finish with another three miles on paved roads. The initial trek brought us to a horse barn and CP2. There we met up with another team, RocKandy and traveled with them during the rest of the trek. The second part of the trek took us on horse trails, many of which were not on the map (nothing new there). We had to trek knee deep in a swamp for over a mile before reaching CP3. In fact, we were in the swamp so long we thought we had missed CP3. Then there was the stream. Like most water in FL it was black and a good place for gators. We put our packs in trash bags to float them across the stream. Cathy was so nervous about gators and snakes during the crossing she lost her compass. The bottom was very mucky and almost pulled our shoes off as we walked slowly through as the water became deeper and deeper. Finally, we reached the other side and had to fight our way through brush to a trail that led us to a paved road that led to the highway that took us to TP2/ CP4 that was in the middle of a Publix Supermarket parking lot.  It was 2am and our support crew was waiting with food and our biking gear.

We changed clothes in the tent and got on our bikes and went for a 25 mile ride, the first half on the West Orange Trail which was paved all of the way. The trail was not without hazards. Toward the middle of the ride we came upon one of our Atlanta teams, Flown the Coop, whose female member had crashed into a metal pole and broken her bike frame in two. Fortunately she was ok, but with no bike they were out of the race. At the end of the West Orange Trail we punched into CP5 and then traveled several surprisingly hilly highways for Florida before we came to the paved Minneola Trail which took us to TA3/CP6. This bike section only took two and a half hours and when we arrived around 430pm our support crew was asleep. They did not expect us to arrive so soon.

After eating, drinking, and gear changing we were back in the water before 5am for our next paddle section. This four hour paddle took us through Lakes Hiawatha, Palatlakaha, Minnehaha, Susan and Louisa and down the Palatlakaha River. Navigating was easy. It was just a long paddle for the first part of the day. While on the Palatlakaha River Cathy hit a gator in the head with her paddle. Lake Louisa, the last lake was very big and took what seemed like forever to cross. When we arrived at TA4/CP7 our support crew was waiting with breakfast but first we had to portage the kayak a quarter mile to where they were. Fortunately, we had our wheels which made the job fairly easy. While changing our gear for the next biking section we immensely enjoyed our breakfast of eggs, sausage and bagels.

Then it was off on the bikes for a relatively easy ride of about 25 miles on highways which took us to our next TA/CP. The bike was very enjoyable after all the time sitting in the kayak and the orange trees were in blossom providing a nice fragrance as we road past many farms.            

 At TA5/CP8 we again ate, drank, and changed gear for the next trekking section which turned into the “hike from hell.” This was the section where we had the option of using roller blades or scooters on the 10 miles of paved Van Fleet Trail. We brought scooters with us but decided not to use them because we didn’t want to carry the extra eight pounds for 20+ miles. It was noon when we started down the Van Fleet Trail which was perfectly straight and about 3pm by the time we reached CP9. The 10 mile trek had not been easy. The temperature was 85 degrees, there was no shade the entire 10 miles, our feet were starting to have problems because our trekking shoes were not made for walking on paved roads, and the bladders in our packs were almost empty. Fortunately at the CP there was a sink to fill our bladders with water. After a short rest it was another 5 miles on rough paved road to our trek through the Green Swamp. At the start of the Green Swamp part of the trek we hit CP10, it was 5pm and we had been trekking for five hours in the relentless sun. .We had to take our shoes off and treat our blisters. By this time we had again paired up with Team RocKandy and decided to tale the road through the Swamp to avoid all the turkey hunters in the woods. The map showed it was only six miles. The map was wrong. The trek was almost 12 miles. We passed lots of turkey hunters who asked us what we were doing. When we told them they all said it was a long hike to the other end of the park. They were right.

It turned into a very long hike. Cathy started to feel the preliminary effects of heat exhaustion while we were pushing hard to get to the next CP.  We knew that once we reached that point all we had was a bike ands paddle to finish. Around 9pm she had a headache and started to visibly slow down. A short while later she was on the ground vomiting. Having gone form temperatures in the 50s in Atlanta to mid-80s in Florida took a toll on her. When we determined that she could not finish the race we called our support team on the cell phone and had them pick us up. So, that was the end of the race for us. If Cathy had been able to trek that last seven miles we could have finished the race in the adventure class. We had gone farther and longer than any previous race. So we felt good about that.