Hi-Tech AR 2000

We spent most of the week before the race looking for a third team member. After several false starts we finally found a third person at the mandatory briefing the night before the race, John Hohman from Ft. Lauderdale, FL.

The race took place at Ft Yargo State Park. We competed in the master's division. The terrain was relatively flat and centered around a large lake. Before the race each team was provided a map and compass. The map was marked with three locations where we had to find three letters during different legs of the race to spell a word. Our word was RIP. As the event progressed we used our orienteering skills and found all our letters quickly.

The race started with a 5.6-mile trail run. During the run each team had to carry a brick the entire 5.6 miles. We then transitioned to the first bike leg of 6.6 miles. Before we started the biking we had to empty the air out of two tires and exchange inner tubes then pump the tires back-up. The only special event during the bike was a short stroll through the lake carrying our bikes. After the bike came the two-mile kayak portion. Before we hit the kayaks we had to work through the first obstacle, four beams in sequence about 8 feet high that we had to get all team members over. We zipped through that one in less than a minute. It was on to the kayaks.

This event had two kayaks for each team. We took one and John the other. We were strong in this event and passed quite a few teams during the two miles. The kayaking ended with a kayak carry of about .3 mile.

After the kayaking came two more obstacles, the blindfolded rail tie walk and the horizontal ladder. For the horizontal ladder we had to cross the rungs of the ladder, which were about four feet apart and nine feet above the ground, We had to carry a 5-gallon bucket and neither the bucket nor we could touch the ground. Again, we excelled in both events.

Then it was on to the last bike leg which was a repeat of the first bike leg including the stroll through the lake. After the final bike we had the toughest obstacle, the 12-foot wall. We again performed superbly passing half a dozen teams, which were having difficulty getting there team members over the wall.

We finished in 4:46:20 and came in 6th in the master's division and 164th out of the 268 teams that finished.