NGAR 2004

This 80 team, 100-mile, 30 hour race brought back the team of Bill, Cathy, and Zach for their first race together since their first place coed win at the AWAR in October of last year. Our goals were to first finish the race and then win the masters division if possible. The total team age for the master’s division had to be 120 years; our total age was 156 years. Jeremy and Brian were once again our support crew. Last year the temperature at the start of the race was -5. That would not be repeated this year. Race day temperatures were in the 30s and 40s and light rain was expected later in the day.

The race started at 6am with the pick-up of the passport, instructions, and maps. Bill had trained frequently in the area and his knowledge and route selection contributed greatly to our ultimate success. We quickly learned that we would have to portage our two kayaks (we had the option of using a canoe or the two kayaks and choose the kayaks for speed) from the start at East Fannin Elementary School in Morganton to Lake Blue Ridge. That would be followed by a paddle, a bike, a trek, and another bike to the finish line at the school. Most teams were surprised by the length of the portage, over a mile and a half, but not us. After plotting coordinates on the maps we pulled out the wheels and placed the single kayak on top of the tandem and proceeded to walk down the road pulling the kayaks. It was quite enjoyable walking by all the teams struggling to carry their canoes down to the lake. We had to go down several step hills which required some serious braking before arriving at the first checkpoint. It took us about 45 minutes from the time we left the school to actually get in our kayaks in the water and start paddling.

The paddle was kind of a crisscross pattern on the lake. The water level on the lake was about 30 feet below normal, which is not unusual for the wintertime, and actually made it easier to navigate but also exposed a lot of Georgia muddy red clay we had to slosh and slide through. Checkpoints 2 through 6 were on the lake. At each stop we had to get out of the kayaks and travel on land for about a quarter mile or more to find the checkpoints. We kept a good pace in the kayaks and passed many canoes. At CP4 Zach slipped on the mud exiting the kayak and ended up in the water wet from the elbows down. Fortunately we were wearing our Gortex, so even though he was a little wet he was still comfortable. About four hours after starting the paddle we arrived at CP6. We paid a price here for our kayaks. The take out was muddy and we couldn’t use the wheel right away so Zach and Bill had to carry the kayaks one at a time for about 100 yards through the mud before arriving at a paved road. Cathy was carrying the other gear. We put the wheels on and proceeded to the transition, but instead of letting us follow the road around the race staff made us pull the kayaks up a long set of stairs. This portage was the hardest part of the race. By the time we finally made it to the transition we had been passed by six teams carrying canoes. At that point we were about mid-twenties in the standings.

 

After a short stop to change gear we headed out on the first bike leg which was about 35 miles long. We biked for hours on what seemed endless uphills, many times having to hike-a-bike due to the steepness of the mountains or the difficulty of the terrain. We traveled up Green Mountain and then had to continue uphill to Stanley Gap and then more uphill to the top of Bawley Mountain... We had no problem finding the six check points along the route, but occasionally had to leave the bikes and hike up the side of a mountain to reach a checkpoint. Midway through the bike a light rain started falling. It was not too much of a problem until dark when we had to turn on our headlights. The reflection of the light on the rain made it more difficult to see. That didn’t slow us down any since we don’t bike that fast in the first place. Toward the end of the ride there were a lot more downhills and we even had a downhill to the transition. After 11 hours of continuous biking we made it TA 2 in 39th place. It was about 10pm and we were ready for some hot food.

 

We took a long time, 45 minutes, at TA2 before heading out. We had to change into dry clothes, eat lots of food and hot soup and study the maps thoroughly because of the difficulty of the ensuing trek. Again Bill’s knowledge of the area helped a lot. We had a 35 mile trek ahead and in 12 hours had to be back at TA3 before 11am in order to continue in the race. The trek would require a lot of bushwhacking so we decided to avoid as much of the bushwhacking as possible and trek as long as we could before taking an alternate route to TA3 in order to arrive on time. When we left the TA we immediately went up hill and climbed continuously for two hours to the top of Tooni Mountain on the Benton MacKaye Trail which is known as one of the most strenuous trails in the Southeast. A light rain was still falling and it was also foggy limiting visibility to right in front of our feet. Then it was down the mountain to the swinging bridge. Instead of going up the next mountain and into a bushwhacking section we opted to take a longer route on Forest Service roads to CP14. It took us four hours to get to CP14 but we expended a lot less energy and made it faster than if we had done the climb and bushwhacking. We were greeted by a warm fire at CP14 but didn’t have time to enjoy it. We had to hurry to CP 15 to make a decision to continue or take an alternate route. When we reached CP 15 we opted for an alternate route and took a little break to attend to feet and eat. From there it was 8.5 miles back to TA3. Although it was on Forest Service roads it took us almost four hours to get back. After 11 hours, 25 miles and three checkpoints we made it back to the transition with time to spare. We were surprised to learn that we were the 13th team to arrive at the CP and 45 teams had already dropped out of the race.

After some great tasting scrambled eggs made by Brian and a Boost and Red Bull we were out of the transition within 15 minutes of arriving. We set out on our last bike, a distance of 15 miles on Forest Service and paved roads. We took one short cut to avoid a major hill. This shortcut was known only to a couple of teams. Zach not wanting to get passed in this last leg of the race set a fast pace to the finish. It was pretty much downhill for the first part to Sandy Bottom by the Toccoa River. Then one more big down hill and from there it was up, up, up. Zach kept telling Cathy one more hill and there was one more hill after another. After four major climbs we arrived at the paved road only to be faced with another uphill climb. Once we topped out there was a long downhill almost to the finish line. We arrived at the finish line about 1130 am.

Our goals were to finish the race and win the Master’s division. We did both. Out of 80 teams we were one of only 22 that finished the race. We came in 16th overall and 1st in the Master’s division. Not only did we win the Master’s but we were the only Master’s team out of about a dozen to finish the race. We received a cash prize for our victory.