I had the pleasure of racing with Nature Calls (Lori, Manny, and Greg) this year in the Turkey Burn. I have raced along side of them dozens of times and we had always planned as racing as a team - and now we did it. The Turkey Burn is the season finale for Pangea Adventure Racing, and with course setter Dave Brault always has a solid combination of paddling, trekking, biking and challenging navigation.
It was quite warm at the 4 AM start and we took off with the lead teams on the first bike leg. There were 4 points and teams could do them in any order. We chose to go 1,2,3, and 4. As we approached CP1 we gathered a cluster of teams. I had not paid good enough attention to my odometer and we pulled up in a spot that looked like the correct spot, but was actually short (by nearly a kilometer). Manny pointed out where he thought we were and I did a measurement on the map, comparing it to my odometer and figured it out, but not before losing some precious time (best guess - about 15 minutes). Well, better to make the mistakes early and then have time to recover. The remaining 4 CP's were straightforward, though the trails were challenging in the dark. After CP4 we had a pretty healthy bushwhack to the main gate, and we arrived in time to see Punch Junkies, Florida Extreme 1 and 2 heading out on the next leg a 6-7 mile run to the boats.
CP4 -> CP3 -> CP2 -> TA -> CP5->CP6->CP7 - Paddle to CP18
This was going to be the longest leg of the race. We headed out at a good speed. We had over 2 1/2 miles of road running before we would get into the off-road portion of the run. As we ran along, we got a light rain which turned pretty heavy for about 30 minutes - basically enough to drench us - but being fairly warm it was pretty refreshing. We nailed CP 5 and CP6 which were very easy finds along the Florida Trail. As we approached CP7 we could see at least 2 teams in the distance not moving - which is usually a sign the control is hard to find. We got to the spot as they left. I immediately attacked the area where I though we would find it, but no luck. We tried a different attack measuring from a trail intersection to the east, we headed in looking for the "marsh" it was on, still no luck. It was now starting to get a little light out. I took another attack point from the trail intersection NE of the mapped location. After about 10 more minutes Greg catches a glint of white and finds it - essentially in the first place I had looked. At least 3 teams (Hoof-hearted and Utility Mutants found it and passed us during the search) It was hung very low and I was too hasty in my first search.
As soon as we punched we headed to the north trail and west to the boats. We got there just as the sun came up over the horizon. The paddle down Blackwater Creek was amazing. We had a good current, great scenery, and perfect weather. As we turned a corner to approach CP8, we saw 2 teams coming back the other way - they had missed it and had to turn around at CP9. We continued on to CP10 where we had to go by foot to CP11. This was an easy find and there was a faint trail leading us essentially all the way there. Once we made the turn into the Wekiva we learned that the current direction is important - what was an easy paddle was now pushing against the strong current of the Wekiva. The next 3 controls were essentially the same as the controls from the SCAR earlier this year and we found them easily. From there is was a sprint to the take-out. The strong paddling team of Eco-Choice passed us along the way and they were moving very fast on the water. At the take-out we read the map that gave us the location of CP18, it was not far and after a little out and back for this last control we were in the TA getting ready to bike. Everyone was still feeling strong - so that was good news. Punch Junkies had nearly a 30 minute lead at this point, Florida Xtreme 1 and 2 had a bout a 20 minute lead, and Eco-Choice and Hoof-hearted were about 5 minutes ahead. Utility mutants were also very close behind us - this was about the half-way of the race, so it was really looking like a good tight race.
The bike leg was next and I decided to do this counter-clockwise, 2 reasons - one section had a better backstop in the reverse direction (CP30 to CP29 to CP28) and also I wanted to know where the other teams (who I believed had gone the other direction) were. The CP30 to CP29 worked perfectly, the faint trail was there and even ride-able through most of the trail. We bushwhacked to CP28 - found the E-W trail, I should have aimed off here, but instead was going for a direct hit, so I did not know whether to head east or west. I played conservative and we headed east for 200 meters, and then came back and found it easily. (this is an orienteering trick, it works to find the control, but does cost some time). The riding to CP27 and CP26 was very fast. It did slow down a bit from CP26 to CP25 with quite a few downed trees and my personal favorite - cypress knees in the trail. About 1/2 km from CP25 heading for CP24 the road turned into sugar and we were forced to ride in the low palmettos to the side of the road. This was sandy and rough and also dangerous as there were plenty of cactus spines and other tired puncturing threats. We had passed the other teams going the other way between CP26 and CP25 - they were all within 5 minutes of each other.
CP24, 23, and 22 just required us to stay on the bike trail. No easy feat since it was very overgrown. This only required bashing through overhanging palmettos and tree limbs (the outside of my hands are all cut up since I did not put on my bike gloves). At one point I tried to bike across a wooden footbridge only to discover it was as slick as ice and I went down hard. A quick bone check and I was back up and fine. Greg was a bit nauseous as we had been pushing a tough pace through all the soft sand. After CP19 we hit pavement and we literally flew to the barn on the road and hard packed McDonald road.
At the TA we changed shoes and headed immediately back out on bike for the orienteering. I like orienteering sections in adventure races, they are my strength and I feel very comfortable with an orienteering map. At the barn we dropped bikes and settled into a light jog. CP31 and 32 fell quickly. The field leading to CP 34 had just been mowed and we plunged into the woods from the field at a good trot. We spotted the first ditch and saw the second ditch near where we found the first one. I saw a ribbon on a tree and checked it out - it was the biodegradable ribbon that Pangea uses to mark control points - however there was no flag. As we were searching I decided to call in. On the phone Greg informed me that he had left an extra piece of ribbon there and that the flag was out there - but not in that location. We were only about 100 meters away and found the flag quickly after that (amazing how much a piece of ribbon can throw you off) - and headed back out. I attacked CP33 from the trail intersection east of it - and Hoof-hearted was coming from the west (they had passed us at CP34, sneaking in and out of the woods without us seeing them).
They passed us again heading for CP35 - but we took a very good attack point from the North that landed us dead on CP35 very close to when they got to it. We were now neck and neck. They ran faster to CP36, but attacked it from the north (I attacked from the east) and we punched at the same time. They moved very fast on the trail heading for CP37, tried to use the ditch to attack it, I used the western trail intersection and again we were at it basically exactly at the same time. As we approached CP38 they ran right past the dirt mound (the description was Dirt Mound North Side) - and that gave us the chance to punch it and move quickly on. Both CP39 and CP40 went very quickly (easy finds) and though Manny was suffering, we kept a solid pace to the bikes. Ten more minutes of hard riding and we were at the finish line, nearly an hour behind Punch Junkies - but only minutes behind Florida Xtreme and Hoof-hearted in what I knew would be a tight race.
PS. Both Hoof-hearted and Florida Xtreme had suffered a bit with control CP30 which had been stolen by some mischievous folks who were out there. This gave them a time credit that put them within minutes of our finish time (11 hrs, 25 minutes, 9 seconds). This is the 3rd race in a row where the final time was less than one minute difference between teams on the podium.
Big thanks to both team-mates and competitors, and especially to Dave Brault for an incredible courses - this was one of the best course I have raced having incredible elements that truly challenged all teams to their max. Also congrats to all the Sport teams - they had a real rough time with some of the stolen controls - but made it through the hardship like real troopers.
Here is a Google Plot of the first 3 legs of the race. Manny has a tracker - it lost batteries for the last bike leg and trek leg. It does show our strategy for CP7 - after not finding it from the first attack point to the east, we went to the intersection NE of the control and re-attacked it, finding it on that try.
