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A few months ago I had decided that I wanted to try my hand at Adventure Racing or AR in 2016. I had been involved in cycling, running, triathlon, and trail running events for the past few years but was fascinated by what I read on the internet about adventure racing. In my younger days, I had done quite a bit is hiking and backpacking and in those days the only thing we had were a topo map and compass for navigation. This sport seemed fascinating to me - map and compass skills, strategy, racing the clock, trail running, mountain biking, kayaking, critical thinking, etc., all rolled into one sport.
My first AR was only a couple weeks prior to the ducoMT. It was the Breakdown 12-hour event at the Breaks Interstate Park along the Virginia-Kentucky border. I made quite a few mistakes on my first AR but learned quite a bit from the experience and was ready and focused for this event. I had learned that the key was to have a precise plan of attack and to keep moving (unless you are lost that is).
Dwain Harris and and I, under the team name of the Rockcastle Ramblers, arrived about 7:45 to pick up our map and t-shirts. Both of us were a little apprehensive about the race as this was my only second AR and it was Dwain's first ever AR. Basically the premise of an Adventure Race is you are given a topo map of the race area. Plotted on this map are check points or CPs that you must go out and find by either using the features or topography on the map. A compass is also very helpful in determining the direction of travel from a known feature on the map to a CP that is located off trail or road on the map. No GPS devices are allowed to be used during the race. The race is broken down into various legs that might include paddling, hiking, biking or other outdoor disciplines. In this particular race, the legs could be accomplished in any order but once you started a leg you could only find CPs for that specific leg and not upcoming legs. Also, once you transitioned out of a leg into another leg (by checking in with race staff at a designated TA or "transition area") you could not go back and find CPs from the previous leg. Each checkpoint is marked by a fluorescent orange and white bag and a pin punch with different pin combinations. At the beginning of the race you are issued your map, a list of each leg of the event and clues about each checkpoint (see picture), and finally a passport (see pic below) that you must carry with you to each CP and "punch" with the appropriate pin punch to prove you were at that particular CP. Within each leg of the race, you determine which order you find and punch each CP. For example, if a leg has 4 CPs - you may determine that the fastest route to clear the leg is CP2, CP4, CP3 and finally CP1.
After listening to the race director that the weather might be turning bad later in the afternoon we decided to start with the paddling leg. All the racers started on a point near Porter Creek - with some heading out on the bike leg and many opting to start with the paddle leg. Dwain and I ran down the road for a short piece and then over the hill, crossed the end of the cove, and on to TA-5 - arriving there just ahead of a couple other teams who had taken the road around. We had rented a canoe during registration and when we arrived I noted that everyone else had opted for solo kayaks or tandem kayaks - I started wondering if I had made the right decision going with a canoe. A couple of the teams started to the right towards CP25 but Dwain and I, along with two other teams headed out towards CP's 22 and 21. CP22 was a small waterfall at the head of a cove just across from the start point and we punched our passport just behind the lead team - 1 down and 24 to go. Then we headed up Fishing Creek about a kilometer, passing two small coves on the left, to pick up CP21. We paddled about 50 yards behind a tandem kayak and did not seem to be losing any ground to them so I didn't feel too bad about my decision to go with a canoe at that point. At one point I think at least three teams were looking for CP21 and it was quickly found but not before a wild rose grabbed my leg and punched a couple holes in my hide.
Then it was off to the races for a mile long paddle out to CP23. We passed another kayak headed back from CP23 at the boat ramp across the lake and I was thinking that if they had already cleared 23, 24, and 25 we were running way behind. We found 23 at the head of a cove but it required a scramble over driftwood to reach it. Then we had another mile long paddle to pick up CP25 at the head of a cove near a waterfall. Another team and us reached the area at about the same time and started looking around the head of the cove. The clue was a waterfall and I noticed a cliff line that seemed to encircle the cove further up the ridge - a good place for a waterfall. Dwain and I worked our way up the creek on some very slick and moss covered rocks and our hunch paid off as we found the CP near the base of the cliff, a good distance from the lake. We worked our way back down the creek and probably had at least a 400 yard lead coming out of the cove.
CP24 was a little tricky navigating into due to the brush/saplings growing in the water so we beached our canoe about 75 yards from the head of the cove and ran along the shoreline, fanning out as we got to head of the cove. After a minute or so, Dwain located CP 24 near a small stream and we were off to the Transition Area - our first leg cleared for the day.
After dropping off our canoe, we ran up the road for a short distance and then crossed over the grassy point to the Bike Transition area. We fueled up on Sword and Gatoraid at the bikes and then headed out. It was Dwain's first time ever on a mountain bike - a bike that his next door neighbor had loaned him a couple days before. It turned out his breaks were only slightly working at best and he had no experience riding trails - especially mud covered trails. This was going to be an interesting leg.
At least our first two CPs were on pavement - up the hill to CP2 at the dogleg behind the water tank (got this one on the way up the hill so we would not have to slow down on the coast back) and then on to the park entrance to CP1. Then we had a few minutes to rest as we descended a mile or so to the trail-head We worked our way around the trail to the creek on our left to look for CP3. We had pushed our bikes about 100 yards off trail up the creek and parked them to go further on foot. After another 75 yards or so we found CP3 above the creek and headed back to the bikes. It looked like about 100 yards up the mountain to intersect the trail on which we would find CP4 at a bridge. We spent a lot of energy carrying two heavy mountain bikes up the side of a mountain but we finally hit the trail, turned left, and found CP4 after a quick ride. Then it was single-track riding to where three bike paths converged - here we shot a bearing to the west and ran out the ridge to pick up CP5 along with another racer. There was a map of all the trails at this point mounted on a tree and the other solo rider decided to take the middle trail down to CP6 (he also said he liked single-track riding). Dwain and I, and with very little breaks on his bike, decided to head out the upper trail to where it split, shoot a bearing to CP6, and head straight off the mountain with our bikes in tow. It was quite a bit steeper on this side of the ridge and I think both of us fell at least a couple times before we made our way back down to the lower trail. It turned out we were only 50 or so yards from CP6 and then we headed out to the transition area to start our run leg. On his first ever ride on a mountain bike, Dwain rode some challenging mud-covered single-track and crossed several bike bridges like a pro. I suspect he'll be purchasing his own mountain bike soon.
We caught up to the solo racer at the first CP on the trail - CP7 at the bridge. Obviously his decision to stay on the trail was better than ours to go off trail as he had passed us up as we struggled with getting our bikes down the mountain. We quickly rattled off CP8 and CP9 along the trail but CP10 was a little more tricky and required us to take a compass bearing from where the gravel road intersected the trail to find the right spur. Luckily we found it after only 100 yards or so and turned left over the hill to pick up the trail again - but not before I hit a patch of mud on the way down the hill and landed on my back. I think that may have been where I lost my reading glasses and from that point on Dwain became the primary navigator. We found CP11 in a little swag dogleg and then started our long run back to the bikes. Both Dwain and I are trail runners so I think we made up some time on this section.
At the bike TA we took a few minutes rest to refuel and plan our ride back. We headed out of transition and bore left at intersections, sticking to the "green" marked trail. We located CP12 at a creek but got confused at CP13 - looking for it along the trail for 10 minutes or so before we realized that we needed to head up to the paved road at the shelter and head down to the creek from there. Once we realized our mistake we quickly located the CP and started back to the bike transition area - four legs down and just one to go.
After dropping our bikes we knew we would be pushing our luck to try to clear this section. We picked up CP14 at the store and then ran down to the creek to pick up CP15 - finding the CP at the drainpipe. From here we continued upstream for 100 yards or so and turned right up a narrow stream (with unbelievably slick rocks) to pick up CP18. Then we worked our way up the hill, angling to the right until we topped out just above CP17. Turning downhill on a bearing of about 140 degrees brought us back to the trail close to the shelter. From here it was a quick jog down to CP16 on the spur. At this point we probably only had a hour left in the race and two difficult CPs to find. We ran back to the store and started working our way up the spur to find CP19. I did not see CP19 and topped out onto a frisbee golf course. Dwain was behind me and spotted the CP down and off to our right. Our original plan was to drop back off and make a run for CP20 from the campground but after looking at the map, and spending all that energy to gain a bunch of elevation, we decided to run the frisbee golf course that I had spotted around the ridge to the left. We stayed high on the ridge as our clue was "summit" which we assumed would be on the highest point overlooking the campground area. It was probably a mile out to CP20 and on flat ground and good trails - we were hammering along this section racing the clock. We ran right up on CP20, punched our last CP, and turned 90 degrees to the left and down the hill to pick up the campground loop.
When we arrived back at the finish I could see a couple other teams had already finished and told Dwain it looked like we might be in the top 3 or so. It wasn't until we were all chowing down on the great post race pasta and salad from Fazoli's that I learned that we had come in first overall and that only one other team had cleared the course.
Thanks to Aaron Denny, Travis Hall, and all the volunteers that made this great race possible. We got a great finisher's medal, a nice t-shirt, and some cool hand-made category awards. I think the word will get out about this race and it will flourish and grow in years to come. I know that Dwain and I had a great time. I also learned that AR is much easier when you have a team verses solo - first you have two sets of eyes to locate the CPs and most importantly you have two people navigating and correcting each others mistakes. Sign me up for next year!
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