The Specials Operations Adventure Race was the centerpiece of the $50,000 raised for the Special Operations Warrior Foundation which benefits the children of Green Berets and SEALS killed in action. The race was in Highlands, NC about two hours north of Atlanta. It rained all day before the race and we were expecting the worst on race day but never a drop fell. It was a good day to do a race. There were only one-person and two-person teams in this race. Cathy and Zach the 50-Somethings were in the Masters Division as the usual along with their friends Bill and Alisa, who were racing as Tri-Atlanta.
The Race Director (RD) had already decided the course was too long for the allowed time so one checkpoint was eliminated and the paddle distance was reduced. We were provided the map the night before the race and given some course instructions. The route seemed fairly simple at the time.
The race started at 7:30 am and the organizers were hoping everyone would be finished and at the post race party by 6pm; a slight miscalculation. Only the three top teams barely finished by 6pm. The rest of us that completed the race finished around 8pm on a shortened course. But we’re getting ahead of the story.
The race started with a run/trek on a paved road to a gravel road to a trail that was unmarked and impossible to follow. If not for some engineer tape placed along the trail by the RD most teams would still be wondering through that mess. The last three miles was downhill all the way. It was also muddy and slippery in many spots from the rain and we went down more than once. It took us an hour and forty minutes to reach the first and only transition where we could replenish our drink and food.
We transitioned to the bike and traveled down a paved road that turned into an endless climb. Finally, after about eight miles we reached a checkpoint that took us onto a trail the crossed the Chattooga River more times than we could count and required more hike-a-bike than riding. It was difficult navigation especially considering the map was not that good. We traveled with Ron Sanders another of our AR friends on this leg of the course. We were on track until the last river crossing and we overshot the check point and had to do a two mile uphill ride followed by a three-mile down hill to get to CP4. We learned later that most teams ended up doing the same thing.
We were not finished biking. The next leg took us up and over the Eastern Continental Divide which was another huge uphill ride. Then it was pretty much downhill to the next checkpoint and the start of the paddle. We had already decided to skip the paddle before arriving because there would be no way we could finish the race if we did the paddle. When we arrived at the checkpoint the paddle had been cut off and most teams were not allowed to paddle. So, we continued on with more biking. On this section we went a mile uphill before we realized we missed a turn and had to backtrack. Fortunately, the backtrack was down hill because no sooner than we got on the right road we started a three mile climb. During this climb we met up with Bill and Alisa and we stayed together for the rest of the race. We met up with three other teams on this climb. We were all looking for the turn to the next checkpoint. We found it; the other three teams didn’t and they didn’t finish the race. The turn took us on a dirt road on another uphill climb to checkpoint 6. From there it was mostly a downhill trail ride with some hike-a-bike. We ended up on a horse farm and talked to the owner to get our bearings. We had a short ride to the highway and another 4 mile climb to Cole Gap and checkpoint 8 (CP 7 was eliminated the night before the race).
We arrived at CP 8 at 4:45pm, 15 minutes before the rappel cut off. Not only did we get to rappel but we also got to get off our bikes for a while. The trek to the rappel was a mile and a half, mostly uphill. We were rewarded with a 300 foot rappel, which was the longest rappel Cathy, Bill, and Alisa had done. Then we hiked back to the bikes for the final ride to the finish. The final ride was mostly downhill with some short climbs. We reached the finish line around 8pm.
From there we went to the cookout and awards presentation. Bill and Alisa finished second in our division (Masters) and we finished third.
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