Friday, May 20, 2011
2011 Atomic Course Recap by Race Staff
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1oGreepti7DRFHLuXpeZWs-FbFOZ9FYEorhtiONeZcH4/edit?hl=en_US&authkey=CKuWzagE#
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
2011 Atomic Adventure Race Review
Trailblazers AR – Charlotte – 3-person Coed
Corbitt Simmons, Matthew Getz, & Libby Fly
May 14th – 15th, 2011
Brutal.
Considered one of the more challenging races in the east, the 2011 Atomic Adventure Race was held in the Chattahoochee National Forest north of Dawsonville and Dahlonega, GA. Originally designed as a 24-hour race, a few weeks before the event, we were notified the length was extended to 28-hours. We would need every minute. The race was separated into nine segments: 4 foot sections, 4 bike sections, and a “paddle” section, with a total of 33 checkpoints. The race was unsupported, and excluding a one-gallon food bag which race support would drop at an undisclosed TA, we were required to carry all gear and remaining food for the entire race. To make it more interesting, we would also be required to carry our paddling gear (paddles, pfds, air pump) throughout nearly the first half of the race.
I teamed with Matt Getz and Libby fly to
On a side note, I had pulled my back a week before the race, therefore I had remained essentially inactive in order to let it heal as much as possible. I don’t know if it was the nervousness about the race course that lay ahead or my worry about how my back would hold out, but I had a terrible time falling asleep the night before, finally nodding off after midnight. At 4:30am, the alarm blared, and it was all I could do to peel myself out of the bed. By 5am, we were on the road to drop the bikes at a pre-determined drop area which we were told was a one hour out and back drive. It took an hour and a half. With about 30 minutes to spare, we finished our preparations at the race start and lined up at the start line at 7am for the final race briefing. The horn sounded at 7:30am and the teams were off… for a ½ mile jog up to two school buses where we all piled in and were driven to the bike drop. Hmmm. Different. Arriving at the bikes at 9am, we finally were able to actually start the race.
Now, considering one piece of mandatory team gear was a double-action air pump, it was obvious we would be on some sort of inflatable boat. I had Googled inflatable canoes and was
I was still a little (okay, a lot) frigid leaving the TA, however the sun would be poking its head soon and the hills leaving the TA helped warm us up quickly. The cut-off time for the race was 1pm, therefore at 6am leaving the TA, we would have to push it to get back in time. Skipping CP17, we caught up with the other Trailblazers (they left just before us at the TA) at CP18. Our next route continued on the same road down a ridgeline to a point at which the gradient was partially conducive to a bikewhack 450’ south down the slope to an old logging road. About a mile and a half down the logging road, we met some congestion, a group of 5 or 6 teams trying to figure out the next move. A few of the teams took off back down the logging road to try to catch a side trail; however we decided to cross the creek next to the trail as we determined this was the waypoint given to us by race staff. The other half of the group of teams joined us and we were all across the creek and off down the trail. A mile or so down the trail it became clear we weren’t on the intended trail of travel. I’ll have to admit that I wasn’t paying close attention to the map since the waypoint, and for the life of me I couldn’t discern exactly where we were. Neither could the other 5 or so teams with us. About this time we were beginning to waste precious time and the worry was whether or not we’ll make it back to the finish before dark, much less the cut-off time of 1pm! We decided we needed to push forward and took off down a bearing where we knew we would hit something if we followed long enough. Only there was no trail. And the slope got steeper. We continued slipping and sliding with our bikes along the side of a mountain becoming more frustrated as we went. At one point, one of the teams was close to pulling out the emergency cell phone! After an hour of fumbling through the woods, we came upon another old logging road and decided it had to lead somewhere. Too gnarly to ride, we pushed our bikes for a little over a mile up and around until we were able to locate ourselves. Soon we found the forest service road that led us out of the wilderness, so the group hopped on the bikes and pushed it as hard as we could. Finding CP19 a little further down the road, we were finally 100% certain we were back on track! After the race, we would realize after the creek crossing, we should’ve taken a left and that trail would take us a short distance to the road out!
Three more checkpoints to go, all on the way back to the finish, and only a little over 8 miles left. However there were two brutal climbs on the way. From CP19, we climbed 950’ in less than two miles. Not being the most talented biker, I was still determined to keep the legs pumping and not stop until we reached CP20. Low and behold, one pedal at a time, I was proud of myself to make it without having to push the bike uphill as others were hoping off! Small feat for some, but for me I was thrilled! The time was 11:45am and we still had one more climb, a long downhill, and a climb up 600 stairs to the top of Amicalola Falls… in just over an hour. The race staff manning CP20 told us if we made the climb on the bike without stopping, we could make it in 25 minutes. We made it in 20! Legs pumping, hill #2 down! We wrote down the time at CP21 and began our last bike leg, a little over 4 miles, and 99% downhill. This was a thrilling ride as we whip
Brutal. The only word that comes to mind, and one I heard from many others at the after-race pow-wow. This race really tested our limits, but never broke us. 28 hours. 59 miles on bike, 30 on foot, 200 yards in the ice bath. 20,000 feet of elevation gain. 35 teams began the race, 14 finished officially. Unfortunately a bad decision by us and a few other teams, pushing hard to make it to the finish in time, in not punching CP21 cost us an official finish. Unofficially, we would've rolled in at 6th place in our division and 7th overall, but official is all that counts! Heartbroken, we can still be proud of our finish! Hard tough race, well worth the travel and time. A few strategic mistakes certainly took their toll where we lost a tremendous amount of time. However, I always learn something new in every tough race. Thanks to Team ROC Gear & 4lph4 1337 Adventures for creating an excellent race and especially to all the great sponsors for their help! This race had the best swag I’ve seen at a race! Special thanks to Hi-Tec for a brand new pair of V-Lite Infinity HPi trail shoes! Finally, congrats to my teammates for a great finish, I had a good time pushing through a demanding race!
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Trailblazers AR – Charlotte / Sons of Thunder
3-person Coed
Corbitt Simmons, Jeff Papenfus, & Libby Fly
April 29th – 30th, 2011
Prior to race start we were given UTMs for CPs in the first trek section and the location of the ropes course. This would get us started. When the race began, we could choose whether to trek, rope-it, or plot the rest of the CPs for the first half of the race. At 7pm, the race began and we decided to start with the trek which consisted of a vertical trek up Sauratown Mountain, from 1120’ elevation to 2100’ elevation in about ¾ of a mile. Tough hike to the top, but a great view of the surrounding valley! We picked up CP2 and bushwhacked along the contour through rhododendron until we reached a saddle, then a trail that took us to the next hilltop east of our location to pick up CP3. A much quicker trek down the mountain and we picked up CP4 and CP5 closer to Camp Hanes. The location of CP4 did not match where the UTM plotted on the map, however we combed the area and were able to locate it in due time. At this point, we decided to swing by and see if there was a wait to get on the ropes course. To our luck, we were able to throw on a harness and helmet and get to it. The ropes course consisted of a rope net we climbed 30 or so feet in the air, then crossed a “matrix” which consisted of ~2’ by 2’ square planks suspended in the air by cables where all three of us had to settle on each one before moving on. I had to keep myself from imagining what it would feel like if we didn’t have a safety line… We finished with a zipline across a small lake. The remaining CPs on the trek were located around a small lake and were found without a problem. Feeling the cool air beginning to settle in, I pulled on my long pants and a long-sleeve shirt for the many miles of biking we had ahead of us.
We pulled out on the bikes with headlamps blazing around 9:30pm and headed northeast toward Hanging Rock State Park. It was hard to determine whether we wanted to wear long-sleeves or not. Rolling down the hills could get quite chilly, however those were short-lived and most of the time we were working up a good sweat pumping up the hills. Three miles into the ride Jeff and I pulled off the long-sleeves. The mileage in this section (as with most of the bike miles) were paved country roads; much easier than FS gravel roads, but not without their hill challenges. We had two checkpoints to pick up between Camp Hanes and our next TA, located 10 miles away at the Moores Springs Trails area. CP9 was an easy pickup along the route, with CP10 requiring a little more gusto. It was early but we were getting a good taste of the hills which lay ahead of us. At CP10, we ran into Matt Getz and Doug Gray (also racing for the Trailblazers AR – Charlotte team as a 2-person male squad) and headed to TA1/CP11 on their tails.

Starting to get a chill, we hopped on the bikes and took off for CP20 trying to shake off the cold. We’re down to around 50 degrees now, so standing still for too long with sweaty clothes begins to become bothersome… We made it down to the vicinity of CP20 and were having a little trouble deciphering the terrain, so it was decided to drop our first CP. I hate missing CPs, but we knew we would probably have to drop one or two in order to make a “night bonus” CP later in the race. More on that later…
CP21 was a short bike down the road and we ran into Matt and Doug again, looking a little fazed. They informed us that they looked all around the location and couldn’t find the CP. The hint was “waterwheel by dam”. We dropped the bikes and jogged down a trail leading us closer to the creek. We could hear rushing water so knew the CP had to be in that area.
After crossing a stream, we made it back up a trail and found the dam, but no waterwheel. We did, however, come across some creepy octagonal cinderblock building situated at the side of the stream with the bottom of it filled with water. I always find the hairs on my neck stand up when I peer into a seemingly misplaced building in the middle of the forest, at night, with my headlamp. The moving shadows always add a little spook-factor. Reminds me of the ending to the Blair Witch Project. A part of me was hoping I could catch Jeff or Libby going to look down into it and I could pop out and scare the crap out of them. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the chance. Anyway, back to the race… Circling back around to the other side of the stream, we located the waterwheel next to the dam and partially hidden inside the waterwheel, what do you know - the CP. In good spirits, we made good time over the next 6 miles to CP22 where we took a picture the old stone house of Col. Martin. Not sure who it is, but out there in the middle of nowhere, there is a rather nice monument set up for this guy. CP23 was another picture, this time of a tiny waterfall (in the dark), about a mile down the road. By this time the “neighborhood” dogs were in full force and we had been chased by at least 10 of them, mostly when we were going downhill, so no problem. The slow uphills are when you start yelling or barking back at them hoping they’ll stay away. Otherwise it’s “hey buddy.”
Back off the trail and onto the paved road, we wound around to where the trail would’ve led us to, were we to continue on it from CP24. However it would’ve been much slower going. This was also about the time we realized what a nice night it was, with a sky full of stars and cool weather (well, getting a little cold at this point to be honest). We were on the other side of Sauratown Mountain from Camp Hanes and could see the radio towers from the back side. Even in the dark you could sense the steepness of the mountain. On our approach to CP25 and 26, we cut up a road straight at the mountain and felt the steepness first-hand. Granny-gear’a’grindin, we inched our way up to a sharp bend in the road where we dropped the bikes and walked the remaining couple hundred yards to the CP. Turns out, CP25 was a short hike up a reentrant from where we dropped our bikes, so even though limited on time, I was able to convince the team we needed the punch. To my relief, it was a short trip and easily located! Before heading out, we took a short break to make sure we had enough food and liquids in us, and I enjoyed another PB bagel and goldfish. This was quickly becoming my favorite, although Jeff had pepperoni and cheddar cheese bagels, which I will have at my next race!

Don Childrey from Bushwhack was awaiting our arrival at TA2 and supplied us with the remaining CP UTMs, a resupply of water, our PFDs, and a wicked smile when we said we were “headed to the crossing.” For an extra twist, the race designers decided it would be fun to have the choice to cross the Yadkin River, and not by boat or bridge. The main draw to complete this was that reaching CP36 by 6:30am would get your team a 200pt bonus CP. And it was on the other side of the river. We thought that a little over an hour would be plenty of time to reach the other side and get our much coveted prize. Don also casually mentioned that they had made it down, across, and back in 20 minutes. Of course, this was on foot with not bike or other gear, but we still figured we could do it in three times that amount. First, we needed to plot the new CPs, so we huddled in an outhouse and went to work. Even after plotting the new CPs and realizing there were a couple on the way to the river to grab, we still felt we had time. We left the comfort of the outhouse at 5:30am and headed to the shoreline.
The bike to the shore was not a problem; an off-road trail where we punched two CPs along the way. By the time we made it down to the river it was shortly before 6am, so we were in fact running a little short on time. With this in mind, we didn’t have much time to locate the “unofficial” crossing where the race staff had so kindly strung chem lights so racers knew the best place to cross. In addition, day was just starting to break and with a little fog thrown in, we couldn’t locate the markers anyway. With no time to waste, we found where one short trail led to the water’s edge and decided to take that route. It was debated whether or not to wear bike shoes across the river or just go in socks so we could keep or shoes dry. I had an extra pair of dry socks in my pack, but not an extra pair of shoes. I also didn’t want to get the chamois wet in my bike shorts. Remember, it’s about 43 degrees outside and we’re getting ready to ford a river. I quickly stripped down to my underwear and socks (kept everything from the waste up on because we were told that the water level was “nut-deep” the day before), threw all my stuff into a small dry bag, my bike over my shoulder and stepped into the Yadkin River. It was actually not that deep, about thigh high... at first. But it didn’t take long to realize crossing in bare feet was a serious mistake. With the cold taking hold, every step was tough; especially considering this was a rocky shoal area, with the river bottom covered in various sized and shaped rocks. Some of which were pretty sharp. As I would move for my next step, I could feel a sharp rock at the last moment and try to shift my foot elsewhere, only to land harder on another maybe only slightly duller rock! To make matters worse, recent rains were making for a strong current, almost (but not quite!) taking me with it once or twice. It really was a one step at a time operation and this was taking much longer than anticipated. No bonus for us. Three quarters of the way across, I found a spot of sandy bottom which was a big relief; however 15 feet further the river level was up above my stomach. Now my clothes were wet anyway! Finally I made it across and had to heave my bike up on the shore, nicely settling into a ground layer of poison ivy and thorns. Who decided to do this?
Our next stop was TA3 where we were to transition to the paddle. But more than that, we had biscuits and coffee waiting for us at the Rockford General Store, complements of the race staff! Only a 13 mile bike was standing in our way. Once at the TA, we took a looong time, sitting on the front porch of the general store enjoying the sun while eating our biscuit and drinking our coffee. Finally moving, I bought a Mountain Dew (my first in months!) and repacked some gear and was ready for the paddle. Our bikes were transported to the boat take-out by race staff, and we portaged a few hundred yards down to the river for the put-in. The paddle was originally estimated to take up to 6 ½ hours, however I could tell quickly it would not take nearly that long. Winding through the country, the Yadkin River was flowing fast with good water levels in most sections. The majority was smooth enough to nearly put us to sleep. We did reach a few treacherous class 0.5 ripples along the way, more pesky than anything, but did keep us awake. There was only one close call as we were hung up on a protruding rock, the current nearly turning us sideways, but we were able to recover in time before being swamped. That was the most excitement (which was fine by me given my history on paddles). The weather had turned warm, the water cool, and I would learn later… the sunburn real. Legs, neck, and lips were fried. However it didn’t set in until later, so overall it was a very relaxing paddle. We picked up three more CPs along the way and pulled out at TA4/CP40 under the Hwy 67 overpass around 2pm; covering just under 18 miles in 3 hours and 20 minutes.

TA4 was a quick transition, however slowed by a flat to which Libby’s bike had nearly succumbed. It was pumped back up to check for leaks and seemed to stay inflated, so we decided not to change it. It wasn’t clear if it happened during the transport of the bikes, the heat, or the garden of sandspurs the bikes were left in that caused the deflating… I was sure to check my tires well for spurs before I took off. One trekking section remained before we were to head back to the finish. We left TA4 with an 11 mile ride to make it to TA5/CP42, or the start to the trekking section at Pilot Mountain State Park. As we left TA4, we crossed over the Yadkin River one last time (on a bridge!) and headed north to Pilot Mountain. The ride took just around an hour with no dogs. I suppose the sun had scared them under their trailers. There were a number of other teams around the area as the 12-hour teams were converging on Pilot Mountain as well as us. We transitioned to our trail shoes and looked over the maps. There were a total of 6 CPs on and around Pilot Mountain. Being 3:30pm, we gave ourselves a buffer of an hour and a half to make it back to the finish, approximately 10 miles on the bike. So we needed to be back by 5:30pm. This would provide us room if we were to have a flat tire or other unforeseen accident. The penalty was stiff for being late at 20 points per minute late. It was decided to go after CP48 first, located halfway up the mountain as the bird flies, but before the steeper climbs began. Another team of friends, Northern Lites who Libby typically races with, was running in the 12-hour race as a 3-person male team and was on the trail just behind us up the mountain. We ran the remaining distance to CP48 with them before turning back down the mountain to get one more, easy CP. They had decided to keep going up and clear all the CPs (They finished with only 5 minutes left before cut-off! Great race management!) In hindsight, we had time and should’ve grabbed at least one more CP on the mountain, but it wouldn’t have made a difference in the standings, so no worries. We picked up CP43 as our last CP and transitioned back to the bikes for the last 10 mile ride of the race. We were out of TA5 a little after 5pm and reached the finish shortly after 6pm. We had a total of around 10 miles trekking, 18 miles paddling, and 80 miles biking.
I had an awesome time on the course with my team and thank them for joining me to compete in the Yuki-BAR. We had never raced but have only trained together, and turned out that we had no unfortunate issues! I believe the highlight for me was crossing the Yadkin River. This was an outside-the-box addition to the race and I learned a good lesson… forget the wet, wear your shoes. I was also glad I ate as well as I did. It is taking me forever to realize what I need to bring as nutrition on a race, but I’m getting closer. Peanut butter bagels and goldfish are in the sack, nuun tablets in my bladder, combos and granola bars in my side pockets. I will be adding Jeff’s pepperoni and cheddar bagels however. And of course if we have a central transition area, ravioli and toaschees will be in waiting.

Thanks to Bushwhack Adventures and their volunteers for a tough race. The scenery was beautiful and the terrain a challenge. I only wish we would’ve had the time to make the trek to the top of Pilot Mountain and see the view from there!
Gleneagles Challenge Sprint AR

Trailblazers AR – Charlotte / Sons of Thunder
Teammate: Gary Hartong
April 2nd, 2011
Gary Hartong joined me for the Gleneagles Challenge Sprint race just south of Raleigh, NC. This was Gary’s first AR in a number of years after doing a few together back in 2006/2007. I did my first AR with him down in Georgia and it was good being able to catch up and compete with him once again!
Still feeling decent about our time, we rolled into the finish with a time of 4:55. Not our best showing, but would work. It has been a while since I have done a sprint race, but my mistakes highlighted the fact that they carry a much larger burden in a shorter race. Every minute matters. The extra 20-25 minutes of dilly-dallying put us out of contention for placement, but nevertheless, we enjoyed a good day of weather (sans the wind) and a great race! Thanks to Don and Patrick and the rest of Bushwhack Adventures for a fun day in the woods. Thanks also to Gary for stepping up for the race and my family for sticking through the less-than-favorable viewing conditions and giving us some support!
Next race is another Bushwhack Adventures production – the Yuki-BAR 24hr race around Pilot Mountain and Hanging Rock State Parks, April 29th-30th. I look forward to getting back to the longer races!!
Swamp Fox 12-Hour Adventure Race

Team Sons of Thunder - Solo
It has been quite a while since I’ve written one of these up, so bear with me! I competed in my first race of 2011 this past weekend north of Charleston, SC. In brief, it was a 12-hour race that started with an approximately 2 mile prologue run to break up the crowd followed by a 9 mile paddle along the tidal areas, 4 or so more miles on foot then a transition to bike which covered over 50 files plus a few more on foot intermixed during this portion.



At this point I was sitting around seventh or so, with three teams leaving the boat ramp heading into the foot section. Here I caught up with Matt again and he and I took off on foot to grab the next few CPs. The terrain was easy along the trails and we were able to make good time picking up CP5, then catching up to two other teams (Northern Lites 3-person coed, and another solo) before reaching CP6. This checkpoint consisted of a rope latter/zip line combo which I was able to get in and out before the other teams. I was glad to put some separation between me and other racers but ended up boggling the next CP when I second guessed my distance and retraced my steps just before reaching CP7. Another 30 feet and I would’ve been there, but I turned around and wasted a good 10 minutes before making it back down to the CP. As soon as I punched my passport, I could hear the other teams behind me. Both Northern Lites and myself sat looking at a swamp crossing for a few extra minutes thinking, we could easily loose a shoe in that stuff never to be seen again. Finally, I got restless and tried to jumping lightly through, but ended up shin deep in rank swamp muck. Which reminds me I still need to clean those shoes. I was able to pull away a little between here and the TA to bikes, just behind Matt. However not before noticing too late that some vines or tree limbs had ripped open my pack and took my rain jacket and headlamp with them. No time to fret I suppose. We were in the TA at 10:40am, after covering approximately 4 ½ miles on foot.
After a few minutes changing over, I was on the bike and heading toward CP8. This CP was just off the Swamp Fox Trail; an easy, flat, straight trail which you could cruise right on through. I cut off the trail up a couple of paved roads to get to the intersection I was looking for which would act as an attack point for the next CP. When I was a few hundred yards from the intersection, I saw Matt just leaving and heading back up another trail so I was still feeling pretty good. I took my bearing from the intersection and began bushwhacking through some heavy brush. There were a couple of other teams out there looking for it as well, and before long I came across an old road and just down a bit was the CP. As soon as I punched the passport and began heading back, I saw atleast four teams barreling up the road toward me on their bikes! Turns out the spur road on the map went a little further than shown… as in all the way back to the CP from the intersection. So as I was on foot, all these teams caught up with me due to taking the road. Goof number two. A little heated, I tore up the trail toward the next CP, skipping the water stop and blowing right past CP10, luckily realizing it a minute later. I was able to skip over to a road to get off the trail (which had turned slower due to a plethora of roots) and made up a little time picking up CP11, passing another team back on the Swamp Fox Trail on the way to CP12.
The race director told us solos that the mandatory 10’ length of rope would come in handy “later in the race”, and CP12 was it. The CP was suspended on a rope in the middle of an old gully, probably 12’ off the ground. I pulled out my rope and threw it over the CP rope, wishing it was a foot longer because I couldn’t reach the other end… damn my 5’8” stature… I ended up having to find a long tree branch, carefully pulling down the CP rope while throwing my length of rope over it until I could reach the other end, finally enabling me to reach the CP punch. This took about five minutes and a good 10 tries until I was able to reach it. The next three CPs (13,14,15) could be reached two different ways. Everyone I saw was grabbing 14 & 15 first, followed by 13 on the way back, as you could take the road it was located on to get to CP16. I decided to grab 13 first, backtracking near 12 and heading up to get 14 then 15. Matt passed me again as I turned down a side road to grab CP14. He had gained some ground on me by my estimation. After CP15, instead of heading back the same way I just came like many others, I rode a bit further north to hit a paved road which took me back around to approach CP16. About a mile short of CP16, I saw another solo that was ahead of me pulling out coming from the other direction. We both arrived at CP16 together and he put enough pressure on me to get me to speed up a little. CP17 was an easy punch and I passed Matt sitting on the side of the road refueling and screwing around with his map. As you can imagine, I was really feeling good now! That ended up being short lived. Minutes later he’s on my ass and we shoot up an old overgrown road filled with downed trees to grab CP18. Low and behold, there was the leader, only minutes ahead of us! I believe at this point, both he and Matt felt like they must’ve been taking it too easy because they turned it on! I had to refold my map so I lost more precious minutes after punching the CP. On my way out Northern Lites and another team passed me heading up the road. After grabbing CP19, I turned up the road to grab CP20, both the leader and Matt passing me heading to CP21. Instead of following a bearing from an intersection to get CP20, I thought “eh, it shouldn’t be too far in”, so I just ran in the woods looking blindly. It didn’t take long for Northern Lites to catch up, and they ended up finding it before I could.
Only a minute behind Northern Lites, it was apparent they were going to take the same route to CP21 as I intended. Bad choice. We turned down a side road, immediately questionable due to the overgrown condition, which was supposed to connect through the swamp to another road with the checkpoint about halfway down. It appeared I was gaining some ground only to realize they were off their bikes walking and looking around. Uh-oh, I thought. The road had simply disappeared. Wondering what to do (turning around and going the long way around not being one of them) we all talked about what in the world to do next. I decided to just shoot a bearing though the swamp brush and began bike-whacking (aka pulling myself and my bike through chest to head high brush), assuming they would be following in-kind. After a few minutes, I look back and see nobody. Then I look around and see nothing but swamp and brush. Luckily it wasn’t very wet, but I couldn’t see a thing on the ground. Hoping I would have no luck at finding a rattler or rogue gator, I forged ahead, finally making it to the road I was looking for. Whew. From there, the CP was easily found coming back up the “lost road” from the other direction, where I made the mile out and back on foot. Ah, there they are again, Northern Lites. I hopped on the bike and started making my way to CP22, only for the neglect of my nutrition to start having an affect. Not a mile down the road my inner thighs began cramping along with my right calf… all at the same time. I stopped briefly to eat a couple of granola bars and suck down the rest of my electrolytes. As I reached CP22, I saw the cooler first… filled with Gatorade! Yay! Great timing (thanks KanDo!). However the joy of carbs and liquid pleasure was quickly eroded when I saw the CP hanging (again) up a tree with a very skinny rope “ladder” type contraption at about a 30 degree angle leading up to it. There was no way my arms could make that journey, so I dropped my gear, passport in mouth, and shimmied up the tree hoping my legs wouldn’t begin cramping again. Sliding back down the tree (leaving a top layer of shin skin on the bark) I felt nearly out of gas. Making it to CP23, I again had trouble finding it in good time and Northern Lites was on me again. Again finding it first. I make it to the attack area for the last checkpoint just after Northern Lites and tear ahead through the bush on foot without hesitation, thinking this is my last chance to try to get and stay ahead of them. Although I left with the punch a minute before they did, there was nothing I could do to hold the team of strong bikers from passing me. The road back was easy and I glided to the finish for a total time just under 10 hours, finishing at 5:06pm and good enough for 4th overall, three minutes behind Northern Lites.
All in all, I had an awesome time and learned a little about racing in the swamp. It was a great course design and very well put together. Kudos to Steve Morrone of KanDo Adventures and his volunteers as well as the other racers that made it an exciting race. It felt more like a sprint race than a half-day race as we kept the pace strong throughout the race, knowing any slip ups could easily cost a finishing position.
