Talon Race 2005

The Talon 2005 Adventure Race

The Talon is one of the premiere adventure races in Florida – it has a good history, excellent organization (thanks to Jim Hartnett and Tampa Races) and historically has had a challenging course with a competitive field. With this in mind I made the calls and put some members of CFAR/TravelCountry.com together to race. Two of the folks I regularly race with, Blaine Reeves and Don Nettlow were both planning on racing solo – meaning that the solo race would have some great competition. I was planning on racing with Jamie Sheriff and Greg Corbitt, but a last minute cancellation from Greg (with good reason) had me calling up Jeff Hunker to sub in. Jeff had shown solid athletic capability in past races, though he had not had any podium finishes. He had also expressed interest in racing with our team if we needed another racer. These are some of the trials of being a team captain, but we had the team together and were ready to race.

Jim Hartnett, the Race Director pulled all the teams out of the transition area at 7:20 AM for the start of the race. He had explained we would need to carry everything we needed for the first leg of the race with us, as there would be no returning to the transition area once the race started. Since the first leg involved paddling, I roped my kayak paddle to my back with my hip bag and gear – and our team got on a bus that was waiting to transport teams to the actual race start. We had still received no map and the only instructions we had were to prepare for 3-5 hours of running and paddling until we would see the TA again. The morning was cool with a nice breeze, so heat at this point of the race was not a factor. The bus took us a few miles north and dropped us off, as we exited the bus we were handed maps and passports. Jim had put all the “A” teams on the first bus – the idea was to keep the highly competitive teams together. The teams were standing around waiting for instructions while the bus left and we realized the race had actually started. I quickly determined our location on the map (it was not marked and we were not told where we were) and headed for the first CP. The other teams quickly joined and, some with faster runners and the race was on.

The first eight checkpoints had us covering about 3 miles of rolling hills at a good pace. All the competitive teams stayed closely grouped and kept the pace brisk. The navigation was not tremendously challenging and since the teams were all together there was a lot of bird-dogging. At CP8, the front teams headed west into a heavily wooded section, I instead called our team to head north. Four or five teams followed me on this route. My plan was to bushwhack through a short thick section and then to handrail between the woods (west) and the field (east). This worked perfectly and we soon hit our backstop, the powerlines, which handrailed us right to CP9 and the boats. As we headed for the boats we saw Don and Blaine (who had used the western route) carrying their boats to the was the river. We saw no other teams, though we knew a few had gone that route – we also knew that Don and Blaine would be leading the pack. We rigged our canoe for the portage and headed back east (short portage) and put into the river. We now had a small group of 4 teams with us and Don and Blaine leading on the river.

This next paddle section was probably best termed a hike a boat. The Florida hurricanes had left a tremendous number of snags in the river for the next 4 miles. We were also paddling against a strong current. Jamie and I with many races under our belts were adept at hopping in and out of the boat and pushing, pulling it over the numerous snags. Jeff had less experience at this hopping in and out of the boat (believe it or not we actually practice this) but with a little coaching quickly caught on to the rhythm. The current was strong enough that on one hop out I ended up in deep water and could not make headway against it, and instead had to swim to shore and run along the shoreline to catch my boat. We caught up to one more team, Sponsor Name Here, that had done a great job in the navigation from CP8 to CP9 and had held an unknown lead on us. We were however strong paddlers and we started to pull away from the field with only Don and Blaine ahead of us and Team Bill Jacksons (a 3 person male team) paddling close to us. We continued to leapfrog with Team Bill Jacksons to CP10 where we had to turn around, and then at CP11 where we had to climb a hanging ladder from the water and return to our boats. As we reached the take-out, now heading downstream our group of 4 teams with 2 more teams close behind remained intact. We pulled the boats out of the water, portaged to a small lake and once again began paddling to get CP12 which was on a small island in the lake. We paddled to the shore and began the longer portage to CP13 where we would drop our boats and start running for Main Transition Area. It looked like the 3-5 hour estimate would be a little ambitious as the lead teams were now at 4 ½ into the race and still a short distance out of the TA.

Though we did not realize it at the time, our team along with many of the front teams were not getting enough fluids, setting us up for serious dehydration later in the race. This is a danger of an early paddling section as you are not feeling hot (because you are wet) and do not remember to drink. I had only drunk 20 ounces this entire leg (one water bottle), I had lost the other water bottle at the start of the paddle. If anyone finds a Nalgene bottle filled with HEED being swept through the Alafia River into the Gulf of Mexico filled with HEED it is mine.

The next leg would put us on our bikes for what looked like 20-30 miles of riding on sand roads. The temperature was near 80 degrees, though hot – it was not stifling. The first few CP’s on the bike were easy navigation, though a missed turn in my navigation had our team doing a short bushwhack to put us back on track. CP16 was mismarked on the maps (the flag was actually 400 feet from the mapped location, and that ended up having us set up a search pattern to locate the control. At this point Bill Jacksons and Sponsor Name Here caught up with our group, as we had transitioned at the last TA quickly and left them. Knowing that Sponsor Name Here was by far one of the strongest teams on the bikes in Florida, we knew we would have to rely on solid navigation to stay in the race. Sure enough they started to outpace us by CP17, and were completely out of sight at CP18. Meanwhile the solo race (as we would learn later) was heating up. Don Had built a strong lead on the navigation on the bike, but in his haste had not cleaned the water out of his map case. The pool of water had dissolved the bottom of his map and the location of CP24. He did the only thing he could, go back to CP23 and wait for the next team come through so he could bird-dog them to the control. At the same time we worked with Team Bill Jacksons to pick up the controls CP18-23. We briefly saw Team Sponsor Name Here at CP21, as it required you to drop your bikes and bushwhack through heavily overgrown Gypsum pilings (in an old phosphate mine) to a phosphate pit where the flag hung over the pit. They were returning to their bikes as we headed out to the flag. I estimated their lead now at 10-15 minutes and growing. Then between CP22 and CP23 I became separated from our team while I stopped to read the map, which in turn cost us a few more minutes. At that point I made a strategic decision to skip past CP24, and return to it after completing CP25-29. This looked like a solid navigation move as CP24 was a long out and back and the approach from CP29 was shorter. I stumbled in my navigation slightly at CP25 missing the fork, but again quickly caught the error and returned.

As we headed from CP25 to CP26 we saw the lead teams and both Don and Blaine heading back to CP27. The approach from the map made it look like taking a bearing from the southern road intersection was the best approach. The reality was much different, the area between the southern attack point appeared to be impassible vegetation (at least it would slow you down dramatically). The better attack point was along a ridge line, attacking (much further) from the east north of CP 26. It would be an out and back along the line to CP27. Two teams (us and Sponsor Name Here) and two soloists headed in to get this CP. It was apparent Blaine and Don were pushing each other hard in the solo race, they both blazed across the ridgeline at a good run. We were instead much more cautious on the treacherous ground and emerged from the woods with Sponsor Name here and headed out on the bikes. They were amazed that we had made up the ground on them, but I informed them we skipped CP24 and were still a bit back. CP28 was quite easy.

We arrived at CP29 just before Sponsors Name Here completed the two special tasks at the CP. This CP required each member of the teams to walk a 30 yard tightrope with a high guide wire, and then take 5 potatoes and hit three targets with them. Jamie and I made short work of the tightrope (climbing is our element), however Jeff, who visibly shaking, fell one time with a big thud, and then a second time. We would take the penalty on this test. The next test looked difficult. You could use a knife to cut your potato into smaller pieces, but once it was gone, if you had not hit the targets you got another penalty. Jamie pitches softball so had no trouble hitting the targets, though a few misses on the last one had me teasing her. I cut my potatoes into quarters and quickly dispatched all three targets with a little bit of trouble on the last one (5 throws). Inadvertently I had prepared well for this event by walking my kids to the bus stop where we would throw rocks at the speed limit sign from the bus stop while waiting for the bus. Jeff, unfortunately was shaken both from the exertion and from two hard falls on the climb, he just could not connect with the target. Another penalty. Both penalties required a short run to retrieve a “word” from a posted sign. Jeff did the runs while I accompanied him on one and Jamie on the other. We had lost about 30 minutes here – but had seen no other teams. The race now had 3 teams and 3 solo competitors, but Team Sponsor Name Here had built a solid lead on us.

We still had to get CP24, and though the strategy looked solid from the map, the reality was worse. The roads shown on the map were now completely overgrown and our bikes soon became a hindrance. I decided we would drop our bikes and bushwhack to the control. This would only be about 400 yards of bushwhack – but through a heavily forested region, s short swamp, and wiregrass. Luckily my navigation sense was dead-on (probably from the difficult navigation at the Save the World race the previous week) and we bulls-eyed the control. It was too thick to run, but we bushwhacked back to our bikes and were now on our way to the transition area. We had run out of water over an hour previous, and I had given the last of my water to Don at CP27 as he looked to be in worse condition than I was. I was seriously dehydrated and a bit demoralized knowing that Team Sponsor Name Here had to have now built an hour on us. In the end the bike ride was well over 5 hours. We had an orienteering leg remaining, and then one more bile leg. Though our transition was quick, I was severely dehydrated at this point and my legs were not letting me run. We would have to walk at a pace just under what would trigger a cramp from my muscles. My team agreed with this and we fueled off we went. As we left on the final orienteering trek my watch read 9 hours race time. Team Sponsor Name Here, Blaine, and Don were all in the TA having completed the orienteering and heading out on the last bike. We heard the Team Bill Jacksons had just left on the trek, and one other soloist and that the next team behind us was “way” back.

The navigation on this trek was not difficult, we completed in the order CP31, 33, 32, 34, and 35 – though had I been fresh (and thinking well) I would have done 35, 34, 31, 33, 32 and then returned to the TA. We now had plenty of fluids (we would not make the mistake of running out again). The dehydration level and having not eaten enough had the entire team at a low energy level, though I was now the limiting factor, Jamie was still strong, and Jeff was recovering. Running the trek would have taken about an hour – but it was not until the last mile when I mustered enough energy to break into a trot. As we approached CP36 (the main TA) I heard Shawn Deitrich’s (of Team Bill Jacksons) voice from the MTA joking around. Normally hearing the other team in the finish line ahead of you is bad, but it told me that they either had not gone out on the last bike leg yet, or missed the cutoff. It was now 11 hours race time, and I was not looking forward to getting back on the bikes for single track riding in my current state. Our team would, of course, do what needed to be done. Sure enough they had missed the cutoff, and so would we – our race was now over after 11 hours and about 15 minutes (I forgot to stop my watch at the finish so this is a little bit longer than our actual finish).

Blaine Reeves had come of the trek with Don Nettlow, but he outpaced him on the last bike ride. Blaine, Don, and Sponsor Name Here had been the only teams to complete the entire course. We had finished shortly after the second place team (Bill Jacksons) who had missed the cutoff for the last ride, third overall team, and second coed team. I drank about a gallon of Gatorade and water as I sat and cheered the teams in as other teams completed the course. The format of the course had made it very challenging on all the team, with the early trek and paddle leading many teams to underestimate the hydration needs. The navigation was not terribly challenging to the top teams (none of the points gave the top teams too much trouble, and we all employed some strategy), but talking to some of the other teams – they had found it quite challenging.

In the end we took home the 2nd place coed trophy. The Talon continues to improve every year challenging the top Florida teams and providing a high level of competition. And we will be back to in turn challenge the Talon.