Race Recap
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USARA National Championship 2010 October 15-16 ARMD qualified for this years USARA nationals at the GOALS Cradle of Liberty race in We arrived at the beautiful At 7am on Friday the 15th, we got two large maps. With only an hour until the race start teams had to plot their checkpoints, mark all the illegal roads (and the only places you could cross them), and plan your route strategy. At 8am sharp, we were at the bottom of a ski slope and could see volunteers at the top, the start was sounded and up we slowly climbed. Upon reaching the top each team was given an orienteering map with 8 prologue points on them, we quickly completed them and were transitioning to our bikes around 8:35. A few single-track trails led us to CP1 at a lookout tower. From there we rode gravel roads into seven springs ski resort to CP2, which was again, at the top of the mountain (a common theme of this race). The next few checkpoints were mostly obtained via gravel roads with steep climbs, eventually winding up at CP 7 at a large earthen dam that would serve as our paddle transition. The paddle leg had 3 checkpoints that we could visit in any order. After paddling out towards the first point we made the decision to pull up on shore and run to the three checkpoints. This would allow us to go up and over the landmass, rather than paddle out and around in the increasing winds. It’s a good thing we did, as soon as we pulled on shore, the sky turned black, the rains poured, the winds howled, volunteers at the dam said it was hailing. This only lasted about 20 minutes, then it was back to being a nice sunny day! After fighting the headwinds back to the paddle-to-bike transition we biked to CP8 at the base of After plotting the 6 orienteering points and donning our headlamps we set off into the increasingly cold night, around 8:00pm. We made steady time through this leg, hitting the points in a counter clockwise direction. The final point was a bushwhack down an incredibly steep slope, and then back up it afterward. We estimated this would take us roughly 1.5-2 hours to get this point, we decided to skip it in hopes that this time could be better spent on the final orienteering leg in the daylight (a decision which paid off). Back at the transition, we got on our bikes, flew back down fire tower road. This was a blast at night, the hill was so long our forearms were aching between the vibrations of the rock garden we were riding down and toggling the breaks enough to keep our speed in check. A little further down the road from We took a maze of roads out of Seven Springs to a major road which was a designated crossing. We found ourselves standing where a road was pictured as crossing, but as far as we could tell, it no longer existed. The next designated crossing location was less then a kilometer up the road, unfortunately, that middle section of road was off limits. After some deliberation and an unsuccessful attempt at bushwhacking along side of the road (impenetrable thorn walls) we rode back into Seven Springs and around to the crossing we had originally come through the day before. Some fun single track back to Hidden Valley Resort and we were left with 1:37 hours for the final orienteering course. The O-course consisted of 9 total points, we marked the closest 3 and began heading up the beloved ski slope we began this race on. I was stuck in my bike shoes and, despite us not having time to obtain more checkpoints, my feet were happy to not be clearing this O-course. We had time to bag the closest 2 checkpoints, contemplated going for a third, but opted out because it would have taken us right to the wire…and when you lose one checkpoint per minute you’re late, that’s hard to justify. We called it a day and ran across the finish line of the 2010 USARA National Championships in 20th place in the open division and 27th place overall. We finished with 34/42 checkpoints in 28:28 hours, with approximately 15,500 feet of elevation gain. Thanks to USARA and Doug Crytzer of American Adventure Sports for putting on an excellent race. -Joel 2010 Untamed For the 2010 Untamed New England, Kathy and I joined forces with JP, a friend of the team from Two hours prior to the race, we piled into yellow school buses and drove an hour to the race start. The race began on the 2nd A quick mile run each way into and out of a conservation project, where we hammered planks over wetlands, and we were back in the boats paddling. We bagged CP 3 with a short 200-yard portage shortcut, 4 and then exited the lake for our second portage leg. We finally got the portage wheels to cooperate and made decent time down two miles of roads to After a few hours we exited the lake and had another 2 miles of road portage. We put in on a river with some decent moving water at roughly midnight and could hear a familiar sound down stream…rapids! These were small, class1 or 2, but it was dark, foggy, cold, and we were in a heavily loaded canoe with gear we would have liked to keep dry for the next few days of racing. The water was very difficult to read and we only had 10 yards to react to the lurking depth charges (rocks). There were some very close calls, our hearts were racing, but we all had smiles on our faces and made it through upright. We arrived at CP7/8/9 around 1am, nailed some blazes to trees as part of a conservation project and then began the orienteering relay. Night time made the navigation slightly tricky, but we all hit the points pretty well. It was a nice relief to huddle around the campfires with other wet, cold teams while we awaited our turn. We also got our first round of inspirational trial mail from our adoring fans. Around 6am we were back on the water with a few more miles of white water before finishing the paddling section at CP10, a fire house with piles of much needed warm spaghetti. From the fire house we headed out on bikes at 8:30am as the Friday sun warmed up. The first few points were fast on fire roads with some gradual climbs to gates which would serve as checkpoints. From the second gate we continued to climb and our fire roads gradually turned into single track which gradually turned into very muddy single track which gradually turned into bushwhacking through waist high vegetation with our bikes. We set an attack point and trudged through the undergrowth and intersected a trail as we had hopped, unfortunately the trail was so muddy and sloppy with enough obstacles that we were forced to still walk the majority of it. Upon reaching an unmapped fire road we bagged the checkpoint at another gate. With no bridges nearby on the map, we caulked the wagons and forded the river to a parallel road on the far shore… after a bushwhack of course. We then entered a maze of ATV trails which Kathy navigated flawlessly. On the way to the next transition area we pit-stopped at the “Buck-Rub Pizza Pub” to fill our water and buy some sodas! We made great time on the bikes, passing several teams and were probably sitting in 32ish place. The next leg was referred to at the “3 peaks trek” and would keep us on our feet for 25 hours. We set out from the TA at 4:00pm on Friday afternoon. We hiked a few roads before leaving civilization onto a nice long fire road climb up to the first trekking CP at a “mountain bog.” Of course the CP was placed in the very center of the rather moist bog, but with a little technique you could push the knee high grasses over enough to stay above the shoe sucking mud. From the bog we bushwhacked East as the sun set, eventually intersecting our target road where we would attack the first “peak.” After sleepily deliberating which trail to take up the mountain, we began our ascent into the darkness up a muddy, unkempt trail that would, as usual, vanish and become a bushwack. We reached the top of the mountain scratching our heads, this did not match up with our target summit! So down the mountain we tiredly strolled. During the descent we concluded that we were tired, low on morale, and it was difficult to read the terrain at night so this was a good time to get our sleep for the race. We put on every dry item of clothing we had, wrapped our space blankets around us, and piled into our tyvek “shelter” like human sardines. Kathy’s alarm went off 2.5 hours later (probably around 4am) and we were chilled to the bone, everyone heavily shivering…it was time to get moving. As day broke on Saturday we bushwhacked our way up the proper mountain, up the steep rocky trail to the lookout and hit CP 16 at 6:30am. We were informed that a few trekking points had been removed and we were heading back down the mountain and over to the ropes course. We purified some stream water, trekked 10 miles mostly on gravel roads and arrived at the ropes course. We were now being short coursed and were unable to do the rappel and zip line set up, instead we began another 10 mile-ish trek on gravel roads with another decent bushwhack and got to the Primus TA around 5:00pm Saturday evening. We were still moving up in the rankings and had found out several teams had dropped out up to this point for various reasons. Primus had a nice TA set up with fresh water, camping stoves for dehydrated meals, a few enclosures for sleeping, our bikes, and most importantly…our 35 pound gear bins with extra food, dry clothes, misc gear items, and anything else you could dream of (or had packed). When we originally looked at the course we thought we would see these bins around hour 36 and had packed our bags accordingly. In reality, we didn’t get to them until hour 52. JP had run out of food and the other three of us were close, plus we had all gone though our extra socks and our blistered feet were a result. At Primus we were again short coursed, cutting out a 25 mile cycling loop and a 12 mile swim/trek loop. Also, instead of doing the full 65 mile bike leg back to the Balsams, we instead took a 40ish mile direct route. After a few miles of gravel roads we hit real pavement and our speeds reflected it. JP was an absolute animal during this section, leading out our paceline for virtually the entire 25 miles of paved roads. In the draft I was barely working in my hardest gear and was loving every minute of it. Darkness fell a little before we began our 1.5 mile ascent up the mountain through Dixville Notch. Coming down the backside was sensational. The hill was paved, steep and very fast, as we reached the bottom at top speeds, the Balsams Grand Resort was beautifully illuminated across the pond. That was a moment I will always remember this race by. We came into the Balsams Ski Lodge at 9:15pm on Saturday night. From here you were at the finish line, you could stop, grab a Long Tail beer and call it a race…OR…there was a 10 point orienteering section laid out, all the points were optional. Each point earned would yield a 4 hour time credit to your finial course time. There was no decision to make, not a word was said, we grabbed the maps, plotted the points, made a quick game plan and we ventured out of the warm lodge into the cold dark night straight up a ski slope. After a little difficulty and an incorrectly worded clue sheet we got the first CP. Next we set off on a hike along and down the ridge to table rock. After hiking a few kilometers and what felt like much longer, we came to the intersection to attack the point and quickly located it. The conclusion was made that these two points should put us at the highest ranking we could achieve due to the short course we were on (which proved correct). Back down the mountain, up the road, and back to the ski lodge for the official finish of the 2010 Untamed New England on Sunday morning at 1:49am. We placed middle of the pack at 21/41. Thanks to Kathy, JP and Abby for their positive attitudes and superhuman efforts; we all still loved each other after a few long days in the trenches. I’ve been adventure racing for two year now, but this was my first ADVENTURE race. -Joel Ford Odyssey One Day Jan 17 |
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