Race Report from the 2016 Adventure Racing World Championships

Here is Jason's race report:

AR World Champs- Shoalhaven, Australia with Nathalie Long, James Galipeau and navigator Todd Nowack. As a Canadian living in Australia he would be a perfect addition for this race.

After a week of screwing around with gear and bins I was happy to get them turning in just before the maps distribution. To limit any influence from Google maps we would get maps while locked in a conference room 3 hours before transferring to the start. We quickly outlined our route on the 2 sets of (38) A4 maps for the race.

The race would start with a Lemans start to the kayak in Jervis Bay with James and Nat in the SCR ski and Todd and I in the sit-on-top kayak. After clearing the initial mayhem we settled in around 25th place. Todd and I were not as fast as the surfski so we set up the tow which worked well as we paddled east towards the distant points. Approaching each of these points was tricky as there were waves breaking on shoals all around them.

We swapped paddling positions after each of the first 4 points trying to find a set-up with equal boat speeds between the two boats but none of them seemed to work well. We seemed to fade a little towards the end and were happy to get to the take out when we did. We were joined by a few surfacing dolphins just as we got there.

Going into this race we knew quick transitions were going to be important so additional focus would be required. It paid off early as we passed Tecnu in transition here.

This trek had a little of everything- Sandy beaches, coasteering and powerline running with awesome views as we traveled to the second paddle leg.

Somewhere along the way I managed to knock my head pretty hard on a low hanging branch as I jumped up on a ledge and momentarily saw a few early stars.

With another fast TA we were off on another relatively short leg as dusk settled in. We finally found a paddler combination which seemed to work well with James and I in the 3 person sit-on-top drafting off Nat and Todd in the surfski.

Next up would be some tough jeep trail riding with steep climbs and long, fast descents over never-ending water bars which were a lot of fun. We spent most of the night riding with Tecnu and caught a glimpse of Bones at the Pointer Gap Lookout.

The 'highlight' of the ride was the mandatory flagged hike-a-bike down from Florence Head which required multiple sketchy climbs and descents carrying our bikes. Despite the tough terrain we made solid progress and avoided the back-ups those deeper in the field would see here.

The second trek was the first real section of the race. We continued south along the coast and had our first swim of the event through a tidal pool. James, Nat and I decided to strip down and put everything in a dry bag for the crossing. Todd thought he could make it and just carried his shoes. Halfway across he realized his mistake and decided he could just throw his shoes to keep them dry. He skipped the first one across. The second one made it cleanly but the socks stuffed in it ejected part way across and I had to jump back in to save them from becoming shark food.

While we were goofing around we could see Tecnu and RADY'S chasing us down in the distance.

Just prior to heading west for the inland controls we stopped to tape some toes and then ran into Legendary Randy and a bunch of kangaroos.

CP17 was our first mistake of the race. We decided to attack it from the road instead of trying to find the jeep trail which went closer to the point. As we descended down a reentrant expecting to find a stream intersection we saw RADY'S in a reentrant heading the direction we expected the point to be in.

With the distraction we failed to keep track of our position on the map and talked ourselves into wandering around looking for it. Eventually cooler heads prevailed and we decided to re-attack from the jeep trail to the north. Once relocated we walked straight to the point. Looking at the GPS track it appears we just didn't walk up the second reentrant far enough.

We arrived at the Clyde River paddle with about 2 hours of flood tide to paddle up river with so we wasted no time getting onto the water despite that fact that we were starting to need some sleep.

We had the Czech team just in front of us and tried to chase them down but sleepmonsters were an issue and we lost focus. We hooked up the tow which helped to keep everyone awake and eventually we made it to the takeout. We changed, built the bikes and then headed off to the tents in the TA for an hour of sleep.

We knew this next leg was going to be tough given it had over 5000' of climbing according to the logistics map. We realized this very quickly as within the first 10k we had two significant bike pushes uphill. Not long after that the rain started and the temps dropped. Compounding this was a missed turn which forced a 3k backtrack. The rain wasn't bad on the long climbs but it made the long descents very cold and I was happy to have rain pants in the bag to put on.

The rain eventually stopped just before sunrise and the heat of the day started to dry out our clothing as we approached the TA. With the next trekking section heading out on the same road we were riding in on we passed Merrell and Columbia as they were heading out just minutes ahead of us.

This next trek was going to be a tough one with a lot of climbing early in the sun. In theory it was just following the trail through the Budawang Range and for the first 15k that was the case as we went up and through the pass below the Castle. There was multiple stream crossings to re-fill water which made the heat a little easier to deal with through the Monolith valley.

It was pretty amazing that I could be so cold just a few hours before in the rain and then wishing for clouds to hide the sun as we climbed up in the heat.

We spent most of the morning and afternoon changing places back and forth with the Czech team. once through the pass the trail become much tougher to follow and it took both Todd and I following along on our maps to stay on the route as we summited Mt. Tarin, Mt. Haighton and Sturgiss Mountain.

Around dusk we made our second mistake. We had just punched CP29 on a small hill. We dropped off the NE side of it by mistake instead of the NW. We hit a creek which we were expecting but there was no trail running along side of it. It took us about 90 minutes to figure out our mistake and correct it.

The remainder of the trek was in a valley and the trail and terrain improved as we went. Unfortunately our feet were starting to feel the distance and by the time we made it into the TA Nat, Todd and I were suffering with each step.

We were (over)due for some sleep when we arrived at the TA. We changed, built our bikes and then took another hour of sleep. For some reason the TA tents had not made it to the TA but it wasn't raining and my bivy sack was sufficiently warm.

We awoke just as the sun came up and set out on the next leg which would be a road bike ride to the caving. We traveled along well and made it to the next TA quicker than expected despite the headwind.

When we arrived at the Caving TA the only thing we could do was change into trekking shoes. We would have 5 hours off the clock to punch controls in 5 of 6 caves. Our hope was that we could get all 5 punched and then bank some sleep off the clock. Unfortunately we made a slight mistake going to one of the caves and the rest of the caving was slower than anticipated and we used all 5 hours to complete the stage.

The caves we went into were legit! I thought it would be a somewhat contrived event but each one had difficult and unique features to get through.

The most time-consuming cave had a feature called the Flattener which was about 15m long, 10m wide and just tall enough for one person to squeeze through on their stomach using your toes and fingertips to propel you though. Not a good place for someone with a fear of tight spaces.

Once back to the TA we packed up the bikes and loaded up the packs for the next packrafting leg.

In my mind the next three legs were going to be the toughest of the race.

We left the TA loaded down with the packrafts, paddles, pfd's and our bivy sacks knowing that we would not be able to paddle on the river given the dark zone for paddling at 8pm. Before we could paddle we had to punch CP36 on a slot canyon which led to the Shoalhaven River where the packrafting would occur. We made the decision to drop our non-mandatory gear, hike down to CP36 and punch, hike back up and then take the land route to the put-in. Our thinking was that the slot canyon could be a significant time suck if there was a lot of climbing required with our heavy packs.

When we finally hit the river we saw a few teams camped waiting for the paddle dark zone to lift and river left looked good for some trekking. We were able to cover around 8k before stopping for some sleep.

When we woke we continued along river left for a few more kms until we were cliffed out. We stripped down and swam across to the other side but then were able to continue to trek on river right until the 5am dark zone lift passing Sweco along the way as they slept.

Once we put on the rapids were pretty fun but shallow and we scrapped bottom quite a few times. Near the end Todd and I broached a rock and flipped in which was kind of comical. Sighting in the am looking straight into the rising sun was so difficult. Unfortunately we hung up on another rock and put a hole in the floor of the Gnu which we were able to fix with some Leukotape.

The flat portion of the paddle towards the end went pretty fast given the huge tailwind we were getting and we paddled into the dam TA in the morning sun.

We felt pretty good heading into the TA and just needed to grab more food and h2o.

We portaged down around the dam to the put in and set off with sunny skies. Unfortunately that didn't last too long and soon after we were in a few nasty downpours getting completely soaked. The rapids were marked on the map but it became tough to distinguish which rapids were worthy of mapping and which were not. Fortunately we did portage around the two rapids which presented some unsafe conditions.

At one point we had decided that we had made it past the mandatory portage rapid 50 and had also passed the next CP. After a paddle up river to where we thought it was we discovered (with the help of Merrell) that we were still up river of rapid 50 and needed to continue further down river.

Once past rapid 50 it was obvious that we were now out of the rapids as the water suddenly stopped flowing and our progress slowed. Temperatures continued to drop as we paddled on the river and the sun set. We made slow progress from here on as some struggled with sleep dep. and being cold. I ended up taking the map from Todd as he was very sleepy/low on calories. I was concerned that he wasn't able to pay enough attention and we might end up heading the wrong way.

As we approached the take-out in town the skies opened up again just as we were about to get off the river which made for a very cold exit. Fortunately there was a boathouse with showers at the TA and Nathalie was able to warm up along with the help of a dehydrated meal.

The original plan was to get an hour of sleep but as we were getting into dry clothes the rain stopped so we built our bikes and prepared to head out.

The last bike leg had about the same amount of climbing as the 2nd leg but over twice the distance and the hope was that it would be much more rideable and it proved to be so. Unfortunately we were all struggling with sleepiness so within the first 20k we decided to lay down for a 45 minute sleep which helped a ton and was just enough to get us to the finish.

It was a very cold night but we kept making forward progress and eventually daylight came and with it much warmer temps. There was definitely an eagerness to get to the finish driving the team.

As we approached the final TA we made a slight nav mistake which allowed 2 teams to pass us. When we arrived at the TA there was 3 teams there and Eastwind had just left.

Not exactly the finish we wanted but we certainly weren't going to waste the opportunity to pass some teams. We made our way out onto the beach and could see four teams ahead of us. We ran hard and were quick through the two swims and Todd made some great route choices. We passed all of the teams but Eastwind who despite our efforts still seemed to have a 1k lead on us.

As we approached the last CP we saw Eastwind's cameraman and he asked us if we had seen his team. We couldn't believe we had passed them along the way but didn't stick around to wonder how. 

We continued to run all the way to the finish expecting to see them come around each corner ahead of us but it wasn't to be and we finished a few minutes ahead of them in 21st place.

Race Summary:

Thursday - 12:31pm - Kayak 5:14:00 35.0 km   

Thursday - 5:45pm - Trek 2:03:00 14.0 km  

Thursday – 7:48pm - Kayak 1:44:00 13.0 km

Thursday – 9:32pm - Mtn Bike 9:09:00 95.0 km

 Friday – 6:41am - Trek 9:23:00 38.0 km  

Friday – 4:04pm - Kayak 6:24:00 37.0 km

Friday – 10:28pm – Mtn Bike 9:17:00 + 1 hour sleep  58.0 km   

Saturday – 8:45am - Trek 19:30:00 35.0 km

Sunday – 4:15am - Mtn Bike 5:48:00 + 1 hour sleep  70.0 km

Sunday – 10:02am - Trek (Caving) 5:00:00 5.0 km  

Sunday – 3:02pm - Trek & Packrafting 18:20:00 + 2 hours sleep  48.0 km

Monday – 11:22am - Kayak 11:44:00 56.0 km  

Monday – 11:06pm - Mtn Bike 11:16:00 + 45 min sleep 99.0 km  

Tuesday – 11:27pm - Trek 2:33:00  18.0 km

Tuesday - 2:00pm - Finish

Total: 121 hours 29 minutes (5 nights)
Sleep: 4 hours 45 minutes

Team Canada AR's Race Report From Wilderness Traverse

After a very chaotic summer, our team decided at the last minute to sign up for the Wilderness Traverse 24 hour adventure race in Parry Sound, Ontario. This race never disappoints and always draws a strong field, so we were excited to have the chance to race it again this year. After some scrambling to find a team mate, we (Jason, Nat, and James) finally managed to coax Ryan VanGorder to join us for the race. 

Stunning scenery on the paddle

We knew ahead of time that the race would feature 4 legs – paddle, bike, trek, and bike – with a swim on the trek section. But the rest was a mystery until we got the maps on Friday night. The paddle had what looked like two major options: 1. The Northern route, which looked shorter but had more portaging, and 2. The Southern route, which looked longer but with less portaging. The first bike was short and relatively straightforward. The trek looked like it would certainly be the crux of the race, with few big features on the map, and tons of water everywhere. The final bike looked like what we have come to expect in this region – a mix of roads and trails that would likely be more challenging than they appear on the map. 

After an early morning bus ride to the start line, we snatched up two decent looking canoes and got ourselves ready for the race start. The start in canoes was the usual chaos – boats going in all directions, crazy waves everywhere, and the challenge of keeping contact with your team mates in the other canoe. Nathalie and James were paired up in one canoe, with Jason and Ryan doing the navigation from the other boat. After some jostling on the water, the cluster of teams began to thin out. We were up amongst the leaders when we pulled in to a bay briefly to see if it was our turnoff for the Southern route – it wasn’t. We lost some ground to the lead teams and paddled hard to get ourselves back into the mix. We had decided to take the Southern route, feeling that our paddling was stronger than our portaging versus the strong teams in the race. But it was a tough call to make and difficult to know which way would be faster. It looked as though about half the teams went on the southern route while the other half went north.  As it turned out, the Northern route, despite having more portaging, was about 10 to 20 minutes faster (based on teams were paddling with before the split in routes). We managed to get off the paddle tied for 5^th place in just over 5 ½ hours. 

Our paddle track (in red) on the Southern route vs. the Northern route (in blue)

 After a quick transition to the bike, we headed out for a quick hammer session in 5^th place. We posted a fast time on this section lasting just about 1 ½ hours and maintained our 5^th place overall. After another speedy transition, we set out in 4^th place for what we knew would be a long and challenging section of the race. We moved well through the bush, following our bearing and trying to match any features we could to the map. Everything seemed to be going well, until we came across a set of train tracks. While this was helpful in the sense of being a feature that we could easily find on the map (although we wouldn’t be sure where we were on the tracks), it was not at all where we expected to be. This was confirmed by the navigator staring into his map, slowly moving his eyes further away from the intended target, and finally finding the train tracks on the map – followed by a less-than-enthusiastic “oh sh*t…”. What had started as a b-line through the bush to try and catch the leaders quickly became an exercise in navigating to find another big feature so we could confirm where we were – not an easy thing to do in this area! 

Taking the scenic route (in red) to the first trekking CP!

 After finally re-orienting ourselves and getting back on track, we eventually made it to the first trekking CP, only to find out that we had lost about 1 ½ hours to the lead teams. We refocused and pushed on the get the rest of the trekking CPs as quickly as possible. At many points in the trek we were faced with the decision to swim across a long narrow channel of water (usually about 50m – 100m wide) or to contour around (sometimes 500m or more). Earlier in the evening we chose the swim option, but as it got dark we opted most of the time for the contouring. However, this did not preclude us from multiple romps through the muddy, swampy areas that seemed to be everywhere. We finally finished the trek about 3 ½ hours behind the leaders and in 9^th place.

Getting close to the finish line!

The final transition was slower than the previous two, as we were wet, cold, and somewhat disappointed to be so far behind the leaders. But we pushed on to the final section of the race knowing we were strong on the bike and were hopeful that we could gain back some of the ground we lost in the trek. The bike ride was challenging and quite cold at times overnight - particularly when we were on the open road or wading through swamps. But we rode well and managed to make up some ground for the most part. Unfortunately we struggled to find one particular trailhead that we thought was in a gravel pit, but turned out to be just before the gravel pit. However, we were still able to cross the finish line in 5^th place in the co-ed division and 7^th place overall.

While this was certainly not our best race, even a bad day on an adventure race course is still a good day J. We had some real highlights and some great challenges as well during the race and unfortunately this time we came out on the wrong end of some difficult navigation. But we still had a great time and worked well together. It was an unexpected and welcome opportunity for us to get in one more race before the adventure racing world championships in early November. It was great to race with Ryan and hopefully we will get another chance down the line to race with him again. But for now, it’s time to turn our sights to the few final weeks of training for the world championships!

What a great spot for a checkpoint!

Cowboy Tough 3,5 days Expedition race 2015-7th overall (1st of the Adventure class)

Jason, James and I decided to do Cowboy Tough a few months ago but we didn't have a 4th.
We needed a 4th but most of all we needed a navigator so Jason wouldn't be on his own for the entire race.
That's when the race director put us in touch with Fritz (racer of Rev3).
We didn't know Fritz before and Unfortunately didn't have time to do a race all together prior the expedition.
We all flew to Wyoming on the Tuesday, Jason, James and I meeting up in Denver and then driving up to Casper while Fritz was supposed to meet us up there at about the same time.
After taking possession of what must be the pick up with the roughest suspension on earth, we started our drive and stopped on the way to do our groceries.
Fritz got delayed and delayed again and finally made it to the hotel past midnight...without one of his bags (that he got the next day on time for the race).
Wednesday was the check in and gear check, then race briefing and packing the boxes.
We managed to have a decent night of sleep before the race which is always a bonus in those races.
On Thursday morning we took the bus up to Buffalo where the race started.

 

Day1:
The race started with a small Orienteering course in town with different challenges: a shot of whiskey, punching a CP at the bottom of a 10-12 feet deep pool, collecting a telegram and a bullet casing. The orienteering was on foot and as soon as we were done we ran back to the TA (start), took our bikes and left for a couple of hours on the bike.
The first CP on the bike was a challenge. We got to a corral and were told that one of us needed to get in there and pick up a ribbon from a cow's tail (they were babies).
I heard a start of conversation in the team to know who was going and decided we didnt have time for that, so I jumped in...and then realized that I'm scared of cows :S but hey, I was in there, so I did my best and ended up getting one without getting hurt :)

Jumped back on bikes to get to the paddle.

There were two kind of canoes laying there and we picked the first one we saw that looked ok...big mistake. We ended up being passed by everybody who had the other kind of canoes. We thought they were about the same but there was actually 15 and 17 feet long canoes (if i'm correct).
Anyway the paddle was kind of painful because of the CPs not being exactly where they were supposed to be and one was not in place at all, which made us turn around for a while.
We saw the Yogas, Nuun, and Swiss Army turning around but we decided to try a little more to find it...without success.
By the time we came back, those teams were gone on the bike and we met them back up at the next challenge. In that one we had to guess a 3 letter word by flag signals. One or two persons were running to a far away field and were doing flag signals to make us guess a word.

We did relatively ok at it and were back on the bike quickly.
A couple of hours more and we were in TA ready to tackle the first big Trek that would take us up to 10 000 feet.
We started the trek with the Yoga and left them behind as we were climbing (one of their team mate wasn't feeling great). We had a great climb, passing a few teams on the way. Jason's navigation was awesome and we got all the CPs without any troubles up to CP 18. On the way down from CP16 we met Dart Nuun going up, which meant we had passed them somewhere on the way. We were moving well. On the way to CP18 Fritz started to have feet problems so we stopped for him to fix them. As we kept on going he started not feeling very well with GI issues that went on for the whole night. CP19 ended up being the race breaker for us.
The trail disappeared and we turned around and around for 4 to 5 hours. We were by then at 10 000 feet or close. I was feeling sicky from the altitude and just wanted to get back down. I really wanted to find that CP quickly. Fritz wasn't feeling any better at this point, so he couldn't help Jason which didn't simplify the situation.
After finally finding the CP we made another mistake going to CP20 that cost us another 2h+...the race was kind of over...we had missed a cut off.
The morale of the team went down and by the time we got to transition we didn't know if we would be allowed to keep on racing or not.

Day2:
They decided to put us on an "adventure class" course, which only meant that you had missed a cut off and were not forced to get mandatory points from there on but could get any CPs (mandatory or optional).
We decided to go for it and get as many CPs as we could, like if we were still on course.
After a sluggish 1h45 transition, we left on the bikes. We reached the rappel CP pretty quickly and decided to go for more CPs instead of just riding to the End of day transition. So we kept on going on the regular route and picking up CPs. One of the CP was on the top of a mountain. It was so windy.
We decided to go to the end of day after CP32 (I didnt want to but got outvoted). That ride was ssssooooo long and boring. We did it all at night and it was just a repetitive gravel road with not much to keep you awake. That was our second night awake and we rode all night until early morning (we actually stopped for a 15min nap on the side of the road).
Day3:
We got to TA and decided to go for some Optional CPs since we still had a bit of time. We hit two of them pretty quickly and messed up one in a creek that cost us a bit of time.
We got back to TA just on time to leave for Day3..on the bike again.
We rode a part of that bike ride with the Yoga. I guess we were kind of just following but we had to stop after a while and then we didn't know where we were. After turning around for a while we finally made it back on track...for 10 minutes before my first flat.
My tire was pretty new but had so many little cuts it was unbelievable.
The rocks were sharp I guess. We changed the tube just to get a second flat 2 min later.
James decided to cut open a punctured tube to make a protective layer for the new tube inside the tire...it worked.
We got to a CP at the canyon that was really pretty and even got burgers thanks to NYARA :)

Leaving there was again pretty hard (as every transition or stops we did) but we managed to get back on the road and picked up more optional CPs.

 

We struggled for a while and ended up not finding a CP at a well and decided to go to TA.
We got to TA end of day 3 after 63 hours of racing or so...and no sleep. We agreed on having a 2h stop which would include getting changed eating and sleeping. Alarm was set for 2am and we were supposed to leave for the orienteering course at 2:15am sharp....After barely 1h15 of sleep I was awake, looking at the map to see which CPs we would have time to get. By 2am I had a plan and was ready to wake the guys up.
That last TA was a nightmare to leave, and we ended up not getting out of the transition until 2:45am. But Hey at least we went...We picked up the first 3 Cps easily and decided to go for a couple more...problem is we went way too far and ended up picking up a CP we didn't plan to pick and missed the two others that we wanted to take closer to us...it was a bit of a rush to get back in the TA right on time to not be cut off and jump on our bikes.
Day4:
The bike was a 70 mile bike ride back to Casper with some elevation, especially at the start. We managed a good pace and within half the bike ride we had passed many teams.

The second half of the ride was my favorite.
We rode in an echelon formation with Nordic adventure racing team for a while and that was very cool. After a while we decided to go just our team and we took off. It felt fast and great.
By the time we reached town we had reached and passed a lot of teams. We got to the last TA where we took our packrafts and ran to the put in 3 miles upstream. We picked up our last CP and went down river in no time thanks to the current.

Arriving at the finish line, Jason and Fritz decided to race James and I to cross the line first :)

In summary a lot of fun but very disappointed to not have stayed on the full course. We were fit and fast and I am more than sure that we could have done great if only we could have helped Jason with the nav a little more when he needed it. This is the second race that Jason, James and I have done together and once again I loved racing with them and would do it all over again anytime.
I didn't mention it too much but I did spend my time freezing my butt (I really thought it would be a warm race) and when i wasn't freezing I sunburnt real good :/
On a super positive side I loved my Altra Lonepeaks to bits. I didn't have any feet pain which is really rare for me and my 2XU and Pearl Izumi clothing and equipment worked really well. We rode 392km in 3,5 days and I didn't get a rash. First time ever and I only used cream once prior to the race...I am stoked!!!

Frenchie

Photo credits: Michael Sero and Randy Eriksen, two kick ass photographers

Equinox Traverse 2015-44h AR- 3rd place co-ed, 5th overall

Jason, Nathalie and James as a 3 Person Co-ed Elite team.

Map handout began at 7:00am where we had 90 minutes before the pre-race meeting to transfer all of the off-limit roads, allowable crossing locations and the control/TA locations from a master map set hanging on the wall to our own version. In addition, we had to divide up the gear, batteries and food into a small team bin and a paddle bag and come up with an optimal route for the next 44 hours. In theory a 3 person team should be faster than a 4 person team racing but we certainly could have used a 4th set of hands to get everything done prior to the start. As we lined up I was confident in the first bike route and the following trekking leg but was uneasy about the route I had partially planned for the huge second bike leg. The rest of the course was to be divulged later on the course.

A neutral start helped keep things sane until we hit the first climb when we were allowed to take off. We kept the pace somewhat comfortable on the long climb out of town as we paralleled the Laurel Highland Trail and managed to open a gap on everyone but one solo racer. Once at the top it was a fast rip downhill passing 2 cp’s and yelling out our team number as we went. The route was pretty straightforward with the exception of a short powerline bikewhack, then onto a rail trail I had not been on previously which took us to TA1 at Camp Christian. Within a few seconds we were joined in the TA by Rev3, Odyssey and AAS.
Mtn Bike 1:47:00 [3] 30.0 km (16.8 kph)

All teams left at about the same time but with different route options so it wasn’t long before we were by ourselves on our way to the first cp on the island. From there it was a 6k rail trail run to the remaining points on State land. The USGS map only showed a few old logging roads but we soon discovered a number of unmapped versions that we followed to a majority of the points using the ridgeline as a handrail.

Clue: Top of boulder


None of the points proved too difficult aside from the fact that they were 1000’ above the rail trail. Once we punched them all we descended down to the river and retraced our steps back to the TA along the railtrail which we noticed was slightly uphill the entire way. Something that went unnoticed on the way out.


As we approached the TA we ran into Odyssey where two trails merged and we ran into the TA together. AAS was just a few minutes back and the arrived as we were still transitioning.

Trek 5:17:00 [3] 31.0 km (10:14 / km)

While in the TA we put together the rest of the route for the second bike leg and headed out.

This was a big bike leg, both distance and climbing. We used the USGS map to get us to the Roaring Run Natural Area where a majority of the controls would be. We had transferred the control locations from the USGS map to the park map which had more options for roads and trails making getting to the area of the controls easier. Unfortunately it also made locating the actual controls once near them a little tougher as there location had been transferred (quickly) 2x from the original map at this point and we had to do a little more hunting for them than we should but fortunately James is quite the bloodhound. We were still seeing AAS and Odyssey every now and then so we were making good progress regardless.

"Looks like lots of climbing"

Around 1:30am our plan began to fall apart. We had just punched the Warming Hut control, our last control north of rte 31 and were heading towards one of the southern controls when Odyssey rode past us going the opposite direction which told me we were ahead of them. Then to our surprise as we were riding endlessly downhill towards TA4 we saw Odyssey and AAS heading uphill towards the southern controls from TA4 which was confusing. “They couldn’t have punched all the southern controls already…”. The clue sheet indicated that all of the controls north of 31 had to be punched before checking in at TA3 at 4am. We took this to mean that no other bike-O controls could be punched after leaving TA3 which wasn’t the case. All of the points south of rte 31 were still in play on the way to TA4 but for some reason in the fury of getting everything together we didn’t grasp this concept and tried to clear all of them before punching at TA3 (Cogo’s). We nearly pulled it off as by the time we hit TA3 we had all but 2 punched.

At this point we knew we had thrown the chance at the win away. In addition, Nathalie was extremely cold from the downhills so we spent some extra time at the TA (why did they call it a TA anyways??) eating 2 slices of pizza, a bottle of Gatorade and a bottle of Musclemilk each before heading back out to climb past a number of the controls we had already been to on our way to TA4. I’m sure it took a lot for Nathalie to walk back out into the cold for more biking given how cold she was with little chance for the win but there was no apprehension when left. We quickly warmed up with more climbing and the sun came up just as we rode past Seven Springs Resort and punched our last 2 controls on our way to Bear Run.

The entrance to Bear Run was at a marked waypoint and the route was flagged which we found to be the case until it stopped at a trail T intersection before reaching the TA. The USGS map didn’t show a clear way to the TA4 from there and I took us on a circuitous route with 2 bikewhacks to get there.

Mtn Bike 17:40:00 [3] 177.0 km (10 kph)

Bear Run O-course- When we arrived we were given a Bear Run trail map (would have been handy about 1 hour earlier) with 6 controls. At this point AAS and Odyssey had been on course for 2 hours so they were out of touch and we were now racing against Rev3 who had just headed out when we arrived. They had elected to drop two of the bike-O controls so we had a slight cushion to work with. At the TA we were also given the details for the rest of the course. After the O-course we would ride to Confluence to the paddle put-in, paddle to Ohiopyle on the Middle Yough followed by a 4 control trek back to Confluence and then a rail trail ride to the finish. We had to put-in by 6pm and be off the water by 8:30pm.

Hot TA!

Given all this info we decided to drop one out-and-back control on the O-course to ensure enough time for the biking and paddling. As we arrived back to the TA Rev3 was there getting ready to take off towards Confluence. Orienteering 3:47:00 [3] 12.0 km (18:55 / km)  

Despite having spent 4 hours on the Bear Run map I still tried to make it longer than necessary before hitting the flagging tape which led us back out to the waypoint. Rev3 passed us somewhere along the way but then we ran back into them again just before the put-in.

Mtn Bike 3:27:00 [3] 24.0 km (7.0 kph)

With the heat of the day on us the paddle down the middle Yough was very enjoyable. Our reward for the fun was the requirement of carrying the rafts 1k into town from the take-out.

Kayak 1:45:00 [3] 14.0 km (8.0 kph)

Back in Ohiopyle we were given 4 trekking controls to transfer onto our maps, two of which I’d been to before near Sugarloaf and the firetower. Knowing that we had one less point than AAS and Odyssey and one more than Rev3 we were pretty well locked in to third place. Nathalie transposed the control locations onto a park map and entertained us while brushing up on her navigation skills. Near the firetower we ran into Rev3 again and made the descent down to Ramcat and the bikes together.

Trek 6:58:00 [3] 23.0 km

Due to a flat rail trail ride and the enticement of sleep we quickly transitioned and made quick work of the last leg finishing up just after 2:30a Monday morning as the 3rd place Co-ed Elite team.

Mtn Bike 45:00 [3] 14.0 km (18.7 kph)

Thanks to American Adventure Sports for a challenging and fun course. All three of us have raced in the area previously and agreed this was the most-enjoyable version we’ve raced on in the area.     

Jason

Raid Pulse 8h AR Mont Ste Marie Qc-1st place solo female for Nathalie

For the first time in a couple of years I learnt that there were 3 girls racing solo so we would have a category of our own (I was racing against the guys up to then).
I was excited and nervous at the same time.
The race was a bike start on the road and up to Mont Ste Marie to ride pretty much all the single tracks there.
The rain started as we lined up at the start line. My stress level increased a little knowing that we were going on single tracks with roots and wooden platform that would become very slippery quickly.
I felt good and stayed with the front pack leading to the trails. I decided to climb up to the advanced CP first and make my way back from there. On the way down I missed a turn which forced me to go and do an extra loop. I wasn’t super happy with that but pushed to the TA to the trek where I arrived after 3h of biking (and pushing the bike up that monstrous gravely and sandy road).
When I got to transition I noticed that another solo girl was there. I had kept her behind me on the bike and blamed the fact she passed me on my extra loop. I did a pretty quick transition and left with her to the first CP. After that I decided to take a different route so we wouldn’t be racing together and maybe I would make some time. Orienteering when it’s pure bushwacking is not my strength. After a few CPs I lost my passport so I waited at a CP to see someone and punched my map. My moral went down a lot at that point. Nicky (firend and other solo female) showed up at that CP and we went to the next one together. After that CP she decided to go and do some of the CPs I had done before whilst I had to go and pick up two advanced CPs a bit further away.
I left transition a little too quickly and forgot my map case on my bike. By the time I reached the advanced CP my map was crumbling apart and I couldn’t see much. The transition dot had disappeared and I couldn’t tell the numbers of a few CPs. At that time I was racing along with a coed team and decided to stock with them since I didn’t know how to get back.
When we finally reached the TA the volunteers told me the other girl had left an hour prior. The cut off to do an advanced bike was supposed to be at 2:30pm but they decided to extend it so she was able to go, even if she got there at 2:35pm.. I wasn’t happy but I learnt that she didn’t do all the advanced CPs on foot so maybe I had a chance to catch up. The way It worked is that each CP regular and advanced worth 25 points so if she didn’t get the two CPs on foot but got the two CPs advanced on bike I could still maybe catch up on the paddle and still finish ahead. So without hesitation I took my bike and went away.
That’s when it got better…I left so quickly that I didn’t put my map in my map board on the bike but on top. Going down the massive hill pushing the bike I didn’t realised but I lost my map. Once at the bottom I tried to look where to go and Oh surprise..no more map. So once again I tagged along with some guys until the paddling section where a volunteer gave me his map so I could navigate on the water.
I am ready to go in the boat and I am decided to have a good paddle to compensate all those mistakes.
Where is my boat??? I am looking around, my boat isn’t there! Then I realise that James’s boat was there. James being shorter than me I had to do the paddle section with my knees in my face (didn’t have a screw driver to move the pedals) not very stable with power boats round.
I met James on the water and wasn’t happy…he didn’t realised until I told him what happened even if our boats are two distinctive colors (he did apologize and cleaned my bike at the ned of the race so we are all good :D).
I saw the other girl just a little after seeing James and I knew it would be hard to catch up. She was maybe 10min ahead. At the end of the paddle I jumped on the bike and tried to hammer it to the finish but didn’t catch her. I passed the line not super happy with how my race went and the many mistakes I had done during the day slowing me down so much. To my surprise I finished first solo female. What I didn’t know is that she had missed another CP on the first bike. I had then 25 more points woot woot.
Pretty happy with the result at the end of the day despite all the mistakes I made. I t was a tough course with lots of up and downs…literally…Can’t wait to see the overall results. Thank you Raid Pulse for once again a great and well organised event.
I will be back in August, a little less distracted this time.
Thanks to Nuun and Pacific Health Labs products for keeping us fueled and hydrated throughout the day. I also tested out my new Osprey pack REV6 and I loved it to bits. Perfect AR pack for short races (4-12h).

Nat

Trouble at the Raid International Gaspésie

Our latest adventure had us traveling to Eastern Canada for the Raid International Gaspésie stage race. We knew going in that this 3.5 day race would not be a typical race for us for a number of reasons. First and foremost, we rarely race in stage races, mainly because there are few of them around. But because this would be a stage race instead of a continuous race, we knew the pace of the race would be much higher - something that didn't necessarily favour us going into the race. Second, we knew that this race wouldn't likely have a lot of tough navigation as it was designed as much as a "multi-sport" race as an adventure race. While this provided for an excellent mix of athletes, again, we knew that this would favour some of our competitors. Third, and most importantly, we knew this would not be a typical race because of the beautiful region where we were racing and the knowledge that the race organizers would take us to some of the most beautiful and rugged places. 

For this race, we had three of our usual team members: Stephan Meyer, Nathalie Long, and James Galipeau, but had to scramble in the months leading up to the race to find a 4th person when one of our regulars was no longer able to do the race. Luckily Bruno Haché, an Acadian adventure racer was able to step in and join us for the race. His navigation skills and local knowledge were both an asset to the team for the race.

The first day of the race was a prologue, which consisted of a run on the beach, a bike along the beach and then on roads and trails, a trekking loop on the mountain (with a waterfall CP and a ropes section) a ride back down to the beach, and then a short paddle to the finish. This was an extremely fast day with the overall winners of the day finishing in just over 2 hours. Our team had a decent day on the course, mixed in with a few spots where we lost some valuable time, but all in all we were still in good shape, sitting in 4th in our category at the end of the day. 

Day One of the race had us starting with a short trek section to spread the teams out before getting into the canoes for a paddle down the Cascapedia River. Then after a fast-moving river crossing, it was a trek with a Tyrolean traverse along the way followed by a very fast bike section. At the end of the bike section two team members had to swim across the river once again to retrieve the canoes and bring them back to the other shore where teams would have to put their bikes in the boats and paddle to the finish line. Overall it was another decent day for the team, despite some challenges, which included Bruno getting a leg cramp just as he and James set off on the swim across the fast-moving (freezing!) river to get the boats. Nathalie also twisted her ankle during a trek through slippery rocks in a stream, and one of our canoes capsized in a rapid with 2 of our bikes attached to it at the start of the final paddling section. But we recovered well from each of these setbacks and managed to move up to third place in our category at the end of the first full day of racing. The evening after the day's racing was also pretty amazing as we were hosted by the Mic Mac tribe on their land. We were treated to a spectacular display of traditional drumming and dance, as well as fresh salmon with maple syrup smoked on cedar planks inside hollowed out tree trunks. To cap off the night, there was an amazing display of the Northern Lights.

Day Two would unfortunately barely get started for our team before we ran into serious trouble. The race started off with a paddle section, and for our team, this was also where our race ended. It was a very cool morning that had left a frost on the ground and made for some chilly sleeping (or not sleeping!) the night before. Nathalie had been battling a pretty nasty chest cold that started up just before the race, and the cold, rain, and camping of the previous 3 days was certainly not helping things. We started out pushing pretty hard and trying to manage the "bumper boat" craziness that always comes with a mass paddle start. The plan was for our team to use a tow rope to help us to move faster, but this proved to be very difficult for the first part of the paddle with all of the boat traffic seemingly moving in all directions.Once we finally were able to get our boats attached, it was full steam ahead and we pushed very hard to try and make up some lost ground. Unfortunately this exacerbated Nathalie's chest cold and set off an exercise-induced asthma attack less than 1km from the end of the paddling section. The combination of the stress and chaos of the race combined with the anxiety caused by the asthma attack then caused her to hyperventilate, which immediately got the attention of a few thoughtful teams who stopped to make sure everything was ok, as well as a boat with a camera crew on board. It appeared that Nathalie was getting everything under control and the team began to paddle again to try and get to the transition area. But once again her breathing became very difficult, so her boat pulled to the shore so that she could walk the remaining 300 metres to the TA. She was met half way by a crew of medical staff and other onlookers who immediately tried to help restore her breathing to normal. While the medical team was excellent, it seems that having having so many people in close range created more anxiety and unfortunately Nathalie wasn't able to get her breathing back to normal on her own. So she was taken by ambulance to the hospital (despite her pleas to be unbuckled so that she could keep racing!) where she was warmed up and monitored for a brief time before being released. While she was feeling better, the trip to the hospital meant the end of the race for our team. Nat said this is the worst chest cold she's ever had and it actually got worse the following night - she said she's not sure if she could have continued to race hard on the following day even if the team had been allowed to continue. Stephan however did manage to race on the final day with the team from Costa Rica after one of their team mates had to withdraw from the race as well.

Obviously this was not the result that any of us had hoped for, but we can say that we raced hard for the whole time that we were out there on the course. We all agree that a team mate's health is far more important than any race result and we are all happy that Nathalie didn't suffer any lasting effects from the incident (except for the chest cold that doesn't seem to want to go away!). We are all keenly aware of the dangers that we subject ourselves to when we choose to do an adventure race, and we don't take these risks lightly. So when a serious situation does occur, it reminds us how fortunate we are to be able to race hard and to finish most of the races that we enter. And it's also a very big comfort to know that our fellow competitors care enough to stop their race in order to offer a helping hand when something does go wrong.  

All we can say in the end is that the race course, the region, the organization, and the medical response were all outstanding - and we can't wait to come back again to take care of some unfinished business...

Here is a video recap of the race: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVFwnKAc7lE

James