Turkey Burn 2009

It was cold at 2 AM in the morning when we checked in and got the maps. Probably 45 to 50 degrees, but it was that Florida cold with 100% humidity – and everything was wet, covered in a fine misty dew. The race really starts for the navigator when the maps are given out. There was only one Checkpoint to plot, but the distances need to be measured and the routes chosen – bike, run. Paddle, run, bike. I was able to finish in about an hour and went over the course with my team-mates Courtney and Rod by the fire. Courtney was in peak marathon season – at the height of running training. Rod had just come off a victory at the Yukon Challenge – a 1000 mile canoe race in Canada and Alaska (http://yukon1000.com/ ).

The race started with a simple 1 ½ mile bike loop that was to be performed by one team member. We would be carrying shoes for the trek, and paddles for the paddle section on the first bike leg. Since I had put all the gear on my bike Courtney did the loop and after the loop we all took off on the course. Many times adventure racing is about overcoming adversity and it did not take long to encounter our first problem. About 1 mile into the course I hit a stick (probably the only on the dirt road at this location) and snapped my derailleur clean off. It took us about 45 minutes to break the chain and re-attach it in the cold, dropping my bike to a single speed. If you are considering AR – you need to know how to repair almost everything on your bike and have the tools with you to do it – in this case a chain tool (which we had). For breaking and repairing a chain here are some things to remember (1) Do not push the pin all the way through (you’ll never get it back in if you do), (2) Make sure the pin sticks out on the side you do NOT have to thread through the derailleur, (3) Pick a good gear ratio – you’ll be living with it the rest of the race.

Despite our problems we made it to the Transition about 50 minutes back of the lead team (in dead last). We switched here to trek and begin a long trek to our boats. We passed our first team about 10 minutes into the trek. They were looking for CP3 in the wrong swamp, and I was kind enough to point that out – “hey your’e in the wwrong swamp”. We dropped into a medium speed jog and starting picking off the CP’s on our way to the water – making one navigation error along the way that cost us another 15 minutes. The broken derailleur had thrown off my groove and I was having a hard time getting my focus onto the race. Still we chatted, told jokes, and enjoyed ourselves immensely on this leg.

With an experienced and top level paddler like Rod in the boat we knew we would move well through the long paddle leg. We had heard many teams had been flipping their boats (not fun when it is 50 degrees). The 3 person teams were given special 3 person canoes – and they we short and slow. We however paddled hard and made quick work of all the well hidden Checkpoints along the water. The many submerged trees and logs gave us a few scares, but we managed to keep our boat upright.  In a few places we had to backtrack due to large clogs of sea lettuce in the channels – just part of the paddling. We made one good choice when we went after CP13 by water (it was a control that had both a land or water possible attack). The clue said West Bank East of Trail – which led me to believe it would be easier to get by water – and it was. I even whistled a couple of teams that were searching for it from the land route to the control knowing that swamp whacking along the edge of the river had to have been pretty tough on them.

After the paddle it was on to the climbing wall. Under normal conditions a climbing wall is pretty easy stuff (for me and my team). After 7 hours of racing, cold and a solid 3 hours of arm burning paddling, it can be a challenge. In a couple spots I felt that sensation of falling – but clung to the wall and we all finished and headed off on the next trek. This was another long trek that would be followed by a long bike. Rod was having real problems with his IT band in his right leg which was swollen and seizing up – so we were reduced to a slow jog/fast walk pace. To aggravate things I completely brain dumped on the first control (CP18), not paying attention to the scale on the aerial map we were given and we overshot it and spent a lot of time looking for it in a totally wrong location. Lesson learned (this time and many other times) – if you are not sure of your location, go back to the attack point, look at all the clues (map scale, etc…) and re-attack the point. After that we did nail every other control – including one control that required an incredibly thick 500 meters out and back bushwhack (CP20) on the end of a penisula.

We finally hobbled into the TA with 2 hours left on the race clock. The race was Rogaine style – so we needed to finish by 4 AM. My strategy was to pick up all but 3 of the bike controls so that we would be able to finish in time. We blew our strategy on the fist control (CP27) that we went after. My bike odometer had stopped working at the TA, and I did not stop to fix it. The control looked relatively easy to find – but I overshot a trail turn and ended up on a parallel trail about 200 meters away from the correct trail). We wasted about 15 minutes looking. After coming out we decided to bail on the CP and head back the way we came – this time seeing the correct trail. It was an out and back so we did get CP27 but it had cost us precious time. I quickly moved my wheel magnet around and got my odometer working again – no more of those types of problems!

It looked like we would still beat the clock and get all the controls we wanted to visit – but it would be close. Our plan was to do a loop backwards that would leave us near a road that went back to the Start/Finish. All the CP’s were easy on the loop and when we exited onto the main paved road I switched maps to realize there was a large red box in the middle of my chosen route – meaning Illegal Route! We would not be able to go that way. I did not have much time to calculate an alternative route – there were 2 possibilities – one shorter, but very sandy and hard riding, the other longer, but we would be able to ride the entire way without pushing through sandy trails.

Unless we rode VERY hard we would not be able to make it back in time. I pulled out my tow rope – Courtney had been getting side stitches and we had the need for speed now – with a long route home. It was going to be close. Heads down we pushed hard, too hard. I was keeping track of our location, but looking at my compass at one point I noted we were heading west (we wanted to be heading north). I had missed a turn, luckily it was only about 3-4 minutes of backtrack and we were back on the course home. Courtney was on the tow rope. For all adventure racers – never be too proud to take a tow, and never be too tired to offer one. Remember you are working as a team, not a group of individuals. We still finished about 15 minutes late, which means penalty – but we finished happy and made a nice entrance as all the teams were sitting back waiting for the awards to start.

The Turkey Burn is a great race, and has been a great race every year. The navigation is challenging, and the terrain always contains just the right mix of bushwhack and trail. Team Green Paw Adventure Racing cleared the course in just over 9 hours to win.

A Little Help with Terms

Checkpoint – A location the teams must visit. Usually marked with an orienteering flag with a coded punch to prove you visited it.

Rogaine Style – A course that is based on time. All teams get as many checkpoints as possible within a time limit.

Attack Point – A known location that can be used to find (or attack) a checkpoint.

 For more information visit http://www.pangeaadventureracing.com/