Sunday, March 22nd, we competed in our 2nd Adventure/3rd Endurance Race. It was at a state park west of Fort Riley. 100 racers turned out for the event consisting of 2 or 4 person teams. Ken and I would have been happy to come in around the middle of the pack but we ended up getting 1st in the co-ed 2 person division. We won $90 and got medals. We were pretty pumped! The race consisted of orienteering, rappelling, running/trekking, canoeing and biking. The course was about 25 miles in total length and it took us 7 hours and 22 minutes to complete. After the race we ran home to get Matthew and headed back out for the awards dinner. It was also my first day to be away from Matthew so that was tough on me. Luckily my mind and body were so busy I didn't have time to dwell on it. Our sitter said he did great and he was in a good mood when we got home so I know he was fine! Ken and I both feel pretty good today and nothing is too terribly sore. I'm going to write a race report below if anyone is interested to know what an adventure race actually is!
Race Report
They say that an adventure race actually starts the day you register for the race. Upon registration you're given a check list of items that you need to have to race. For example: whistle, emergency blanket, knife, flashlight, compass, map plotting tool, first-aid kit, food and water to name a few. We arrived to the race site around 7:30 Sunday morning and got our bikes set up. Then we went to the start of the race and laid all our gear out for a gear check. A race official checked to make sure we had all the required gear before being allowed to race. We carried everything with us all throughout the race. It was our responsibility to have food and water for the day also. After the gear check we were given our first set of instructions and coordinates to plot out on the map. The coordinates were a series of checkpoints (cp) that we needed to get to and punch our race passport proving we did indeed make it to each checkpoint. Along with each coordinate were instructions on how to get to each cp (run, bike or canoe). The times below are all approximate. I tried to pay attention to how long everything took us but it just started blurring together. Everything was cross country with very little running or biking taking place on any sort of paved road.
The race time officially started when we were plotting our first set of checkpoints. After plotting the map, we had to run about 15 min to cp 1 and punch our passport. From there we ran to our bikes for a cross country ride. Along the ride we hit cp number 2 and after about an hour on the bike we arrived to a transition area where we had to leave our bikes and run/hike to a lake for checkpoints 3a, 3b, and 3c. The run to the lake was about 20-30 minutes and there we picked up our canoes and carried them to the water. The canoe was so heavy I didn't think I could carry it and of course they didn't have them too close to the water, that would have just been too easy! We got on the lake and rowed to our first cp there, pulled the canoe up on the shore and ran looking for a piece of paper taped to a tree with song lyrics and the artist of the song. The first one was easy to find and then we got back to the canoe and rowed to the 2nd cp on the lake. After getting on land at the second stop this cp was a little harder to find. No cp was on a marked path, we had to follow the map and hope Ken's plotting was right on (which it was every time!), and make our way through brush and trees to find a little blue flag marking the cp. After 20 minutes or so of looking, we located the tree with the song and artist and headed out on the canoe to our last cp on the lake. After rowing to our 3rd stop, this cp proved to be the most difficult to find. There were about 20 racers at this stop the same time as us and no one could find the tree with the song and artist. We spent about 40 minutes there looking for it and finally found the cp and hurried back to our canoe to row back to the starting point on the lake. This is where the canoeing got tough. The wind was blowing approx. 20-30 miles an hour all day and on the lake it kept turning our canoe around. After almost tipping over twice we finally made it to shore and then had to carry our canoe back to where we got it from. Then we headed back to our bikes. Here we had to show a race official we found all 3 artist/songs and she punched our passport for cp 3. This is where we got our second set of directions and coordinates.
Ken plotted out the coordinates and we started the second part of the race. It began with us having to climb to the top of the hill where we were and rappel down it. Then we grabbed all our gear except for our bikes and climbed back up the hill to give them our rappel gear. Now we were off to find 4 cps on foot. Ken's ability to navigate cross country is amazing. He found us the shortest way to each cp, where we punched our passport and then after finding all 4 we headed back to our bikes. As before none of these cps were easily found. When we arrived to the area Ken had plotted we split up and went looking for that little blue flag with the puncher hanging from a tree. It took about 3 hrs to complete that part. My feet were killing me and I was so ready to jump back on the bike.
At last we were headed to the finish line. We had to carry our bike up a steep, rocky hill and then we hit a road and headed back. We had one more cp to find on the way back. Part of our ride back was on a paved road and part was on gravel, easier than our first cross country bike. We found the last cp, punched our passport and then rode the final length to the finish line. Our last bike ride took about an hour. When we got to the finish line the official made sure we'd hit all our cps before telling us we'd come in first in our division. We were so happy and proud of ourselves!
We hope to do many more races!
