Sorry friends - this will be a short blog as I am heading to Ecuador tomorrow. You can follow that adventure at http://www.ecoplanetadventure.com/ . For the Swamp Stomp I raced with Dave, Katie, Marghi - Team Mim's the Word (I raced with them last at the Impossible Panther). We are a very compatible team which made for a very pleasant race.
We started at 7 AM with a prelude paddle from Homsassa Springs Resort to Chassahowtizka River Campground
View Larger Map
Now if it looks like a long confusing paddle from the air - its a bit more challenging from the water. Even though the top teams finished in around 3 hours - we took just under 4 hours and next did a short (relatively) bike ride to the next Transition (at a church) to start the Orienteering Marathon section.
This all took place in the Citrus region of the Withlacoochee State Forest. It was a fantastic section and well thought out and laid out with interesting CP's in quarries and caves, and excellent navigation. We had to really hustle to make a 6:30 PM cutoff (we finished at 6:29) and got all but one of the bonus CP's.
The next bike section started easy with road and trail riding to take us into the deep woods of Chasshowitzka. A strategic decision to south from 480 to 98 through the neighborhoods and cutoff some of the sandy north south trail really paid off well and we passed at least one team.
The toughest part of the race was after we entered Chassahowitzka and went from end of road shown to an east west logging road. This entailed carrying our bikes through waist deep water for 500 meters. In a swamp with treacherous footing. With air temperature about 29 degrees. This one short section would end the race for many teams as the challenge here was to stave off hypothermia and successfully bike out of the swamp to the next TA.
View Larger Map
This is the end of the logging trail that we had to make our way south and then east to the TA. Try doing it on the aerial.
At the TA we spent a lot of time warming up - it was about 1 AM when we headed out on the next trek, hitting CP's (see if you can follow our route on aerial) - Here is the TA.
View Larger Map
Our first CP was in this clearcut.
View Larger Map
Next we bushwhacked south and east through the swamp to the roads and the next CP at the intersection as shown below.
View Larger Map
One bonus CP on that tree - yes it is visible from aerial (there was before that)
View Larger Map
One last control - and back to the TA. We got all mandatory and 2 bonus on this trek and hopped back on our bikes for what should have been an easy and unventful ride to the main TA. Unfortunately the water on all our bike parts froze making shifting and braking impossible - but I had a good gear and I don't use my brakes that much either. I was not the only one with this problem... As the sun started to rise in the east, I started feeling better. I had been battling nausea and hypothermia most of the night section of the race. My team-mates were faring much better physically than me - but I felt good that my navigation had been solid.
The last leg was awesomeness at its best. As we entered the water at Chassahowtizka camp - the cold air and warm water made for a surreal fog. To make it even more surreal - a manatee bumped our boat as we left and a porpoise swam along side the boat(close enough to touch in the shallow water) for a good section of the river. This section of the race defies words - shown below is Caldwell Creek - follow it past the short rapids the unbelievable house to its end for an incredible treat.
View Larger Map
Each part of this paddle had little treats, and interesting spots - like up at the spring at the end of Potter Creek.
View Larger Map
Or this wonderful spring where we chatted with some divers.
View Larger Map
In the end we made it to the last CP - where Dave jumped in and retrieved the underwater CP and we made it with 20 minutes to spare for the 1 PM cutoff. We edged Pangea to 5th place (Sorry Greg) and had an incredible race. Pics later.
No comments:
Post a Comment