BOAR Adventure Race

After running the 8 K through the marshes of the St. John's - I guess running is a strong word since much of it was slogging through mud that sucked you in to the tops of your ankles - we were the second team to reach the boats. We had taken some good shortcuts that allowed us to get ahead of faster teams. The first team, Oscar and company was heading the wrong way on the river, we really needed to portage 1/4 mile back the way we came to Lake Cone and get in their.

Manny was just behind us with about 5-6 more teams close on their heels. I saw a small cut-through portage that would gain us a little bit of ground and get us out of the water too shallow to paddle. The first 3 steps into the water were solid and then the ground just dropped off completely. I was in a muck hole up to my neck. Luckily Jim was able to hop in the boat before he too got sucked in. I held on to the boat to stay above water and told them to paddle and toss me the rope we had been using to portage. The muck was bubbling up in front of me as I tried to move forward. A little to our left Manny was in the same predicament. I told Jim and Wanda to paddle hard and I would tow behind the boat trying to get my legs onto a plane with the water instead of straight down. A couple of minutes of that and I was now horizontal in the water (instead of vertical) and crawling across the black gook and water. Another 2 minutes and the ground was solid enough for me to pull myself into the boat and we were paddling. By this time the 5-6 teams that were behind us were now 5-6 teams in front of us.

And so goes adventure racing. We made some really good navigation choices on teh next 3 controls and another strategic portage (leaving CP9) that put us back in the lead for a few minutes.

 This is how the day would go for this race. I think that at least 8 teams led this race at some point during the race. We had a tight group of strong teams with no one team able to pull ahead for much longer. In the end - it was Utility Mutants who would use their strong biking to get ahead of the pack. Nature Calls was on their heels for second place, and we pulled in third (FL Xtreme II) - with three more teams right on our wheels. We battled the marsh - had an incredible paddle, biked through some incredible headwinds. The navigation was relatively easy making for a tight race field and a tight finish. A beautiful day, an incredible area, - all made for an outstanding experience. Thanks to Manny for a course map (shown) and Pangea for a well set race - results are here http://www.pangeaadventureracing.com/event-details/events/2011-boar-ar