The race started with a short 3-4 mile orienteering run with 3 checkpoints. We took this section easy, it was hot and we knew this was primarily a night race. I loaded double the mandatory gear in my pack (so Melissa could go packless), Jimmy did the same for Ken who was carrying the passport. After the run it was on to bikes. Even though we were well back in the pack coming in from the run – we were the third team out on bikes with a speedy transition. Our first good navigation choice was to parallel a sandy bike trail on a more ride-able trail and then bushwhack across when we reached the correct distance. The sandy trails in the first part of the bike leg were essentially push-a-bike. You could not ride along the edges due to the large number of cacti – which would easily flat your bike tires (we had 2 flats in this section). Some team had 10 or more flat tires. After the sand ride, we had about 8 miles of road to the paddle start.
We had to paddle with bikes, we arrived at the paddle start in 3rd place, behind Club Scrub (Brian and Jason) and Sport and Spa (JJ and team). The paddle was fun but brutal. The river in the first section was narrow (with bikes hanging over the canoes this was tough) and fast. The high current meant we were moving fast, and the winding river and low and protruding trees made this a real challenge. I took 3 good shots from branches on my head leaving a bit of blood behind – but we were keeping a fast pace. The 2 spillways were also fun as they made a small rapid. We entered the water about 10 minutes behind Surf and Spa, and we exited the same way.
As we finished the paddle, we hopped back on our bikes and headed to the TA to get ready for the foot leg. It was now very dark. We caught Surf and Spa at CP7, and did the bushwhack from CP7 to CP8 with them. This was one of he harder bushwhacks I have done. Clinging vines caught our feet, the knee deep water, cypress knees, fallen logs, and thick vines made this an incredible section. We came out just a bit south of CP8, I had lost my hand light in the swamp (the second this year) – bummer. We ran easily from CP8 to CP9, and then picked up the trail network for CP10. CP10 was another bushwhack in a deep swamp. We found the control quickly, but we had to navigation out of the swamp – which required essentially a due west bearing to meet up with the correct trail. This was challenging. We met up with Surf and Spa – but they had missed the control and had to go back.
At this point we were essentially by ourselves, Club Scrub was well ahead of us (and also had some serious home field advantage going – as well as being incredibly strong athletically). Surf and Spa was now well behind us. We jogged back to the TA and headed out on bike for the single track. One of our least favorite styles was the next part of the race. You essentially stay on the single track trails and find 3 controls along the route. The single track was fun at night and we had no problems finding the 3 controls in this section. From there it was to the tower, and a long ride to CP 14 where we would do another trek. This was all pretty easy.
CP15 looked like an easy control – it was about 150 meters at 340 degrees from a distinct intersection. I did a bearing shoot and jog – but missed it the first time – so we had to come back and redo the bearing shot. The second time around a bit of teamwork made this one a pretty quick find. The last control of this run was easy (on a bridge). Team Club Scrub had a mismarked map in this section and had lost some time here – putting us within range of them as we headed back to the TA and off to the final paddle. Melissa was having a little bit of bonking on this section, but some food got her back up and strong. The remainder of the team was doing well – and even Jimmy was not complaining about the pumpkin we had been given to carry at the end of the first paddle.
The final paddle had relatively easy navigation, one control in Kitching Creek, the other in an obvious location past a small island. We pushed, but not terribly hard here. We had expected to see Team Club Scrub here – but they passed while we were in Kitching Creek. We boogied hard on the paddle to the boat ramp and had an easy ride to the finish line. We finished at 3:52 for an official race time of 13 hours and 42 minutes. This put us second overall and first coed and also qualified us for USARA Nationals – so that is now my next race.
