the greenway challenge
Last weekend I traveled up to Chattanooga for my annual birthday race (we should all treat ourselves to such!). Last year was the Gulf Coast HIM; the year before the Mtn Ranger Bike Race. This year the Greenway Challenge Adventure Race was the lucky race; Charlie & his girlfriend Sara the lucky teammates. My friend Jim Farmer has put on this race for 4 years now and it was about time I experienced in person the hype around this little 'ole race that sells out quickly year after year.
Jim is a quirky fellow (said with lotsa love) and likes to have a theme to his events. Last year was Napoleon Dynamite. This year, Seinfeld ruled the day. Jim entertained us during the pre-race meeting wearing a puffy shirt and sombrero. Many of the teams chose names with Seinfeld references (we were the Rabid Anti-Dentites), as were our surprise mystery events.
The day started surprisingly cool (42 in the middle of May?!!), but we started off running and warmed up quick. The first mystery event, the Soup Nazi, had teams dashing around a field collecting soup ingredients. We then began our first of 2 run segments where I quickly realized I need to get back in my running routine. It was only a few miles, but it sure got to me quick. Then we transitioned to the first of 2 bike legs. After a fast lap around the wildflower field, we hit the one short singletrack section we would be on. However backups were already occuring and we sadly were pushing for a good part of it.
When we returned to the TA, the second mystery event greeted us: The Silder: 2 team members would be blindfolded and had to navigate them through a small obstacle course in 3-legged fashion. This event promised some compromising positions, so I let the 2 lovebirds get tied together and I used my voice to slowly guide them to the end. We easily nailed this task! Next up was a paddle on Chickamauga Creek. We hadn't practiced paddling together, so it took a few for us to get in sync (and a bit longer for me to get the steering right).
After a short portage, we headed to the quarry for our next event: The Marine Biologist. Using provided materials (with the addition of paddles if we wanted to go back and get them), we had to create a raft and retrieve golf balls from whale floats at either end. This was another great event for compromising positions hehehehe.... After this, we continued on a run and headed up to the ropes challenge course. Each teammember had to successfully complete 1 event (charlie, cable walk; sara, log walk; me, 2x4 balance beam.. on the 2" side of course). Then we had to get the entire team up and over a 12ft wall. (Thanks to Sara being an incredible climber (oh, and Charlie's great strength as well) this was by far the easiest time I've ever had in going over the wall - comparing to past Blue Ridge and Balance Bar/Hi-Tec races).
At the next transition, we had another mystery event: Bring Steinbrenner His Calzone. We had a ball, a PVC pipe joint and some taped rope... we took some tips from other teams and quickly conquered this. After one more bike loop sans singletrack, we were left with 1 final event: The Slippery Wall... a 12' ramp coated with soapy water that the team had to get up and over. Then the finish line! We ended up in 27th place with a time of 3:05:40.
This event was top notch all the way around (and I'm not saying this to kiss up to Jim either). There were plenty of volunteers, good prizes to those swift top teams (Enduraventure, Mighty Dogs & Litespeed), and great post-race food.. not to mention gorgeous weather.
Afterwards, we went up to Charlie's parent's house on Lake Tellico, where we were treated to laziness, cold beer, and good food. A perfect end to the weekend!
pictures by Steve Lamsey
Jim is a quirky fellow (said with lotsa love) and likes to have a theme to his events. Last year was Napoleon Dynamite. This year, Seinfeld ruled the day. Jim entertained us during the pre-race meeting wearing a puffy shirt and sombrero. Many of the teams chose names with Seinfeld references (we were the Rabid Anti-Dentites), as were our surprise mystery events.
The day started surprisingly cool (42 in the middle of May?!!), but we started off running and warmed up quick. The first mystery event, the Soup Nazi, had teams dashing around a field collecting soup ingredients. We then began our first of 2 run segments where I quickly realized I need to get back in my running routine. It was only a few miles, but it sure got to me quick. Then we transitioned to the first of 2 bike legs. After a fast lap around the wildflower field, we hit the one short singletrack section we would be on. However backups were already occuring and we sadly were pushing for a good part of it.
When we returned to the TA, the second mystery event greeted us: The Silder: 2 team members would be blindfolded and had to navigate them through a small obstacle course in 3-legged fashion. This event promised some compromising positions, so I let the 2 lovebirds get tied together and I used my voice to slowly guide them to the end. We easily nailed this task! Next up was a paddle on Chickamauga Creek. We hadn't practiced paddling together, so it took a few for us to get in sync (and a bit longer for me to get the steering right).
After a short portage, we headed to the quarry for our next event: The Marine Biologist. Using provided materials (with the addition of paddles if we wanted to go back and get them), we had to create a raft and retrieve golf balls from whale floats at either end. This was another great event for compromising positions hehehehe.... After this, we continued on a run and headed up to the ropes challenge course. Each teammember had to successfully complete 1 event (charlie, cable walk; sara, log walk; me, 2x4 balance beam.. on the 2" side of course). Then we had to get the entire team up and over a 12ft wall. (Thanks to Sara being an incredible climber (oh, and Charlie's great strength as well) this was by far the easiest time I've ever had in going over the wall - comparing to past Blue Ridge and Balance Bar/Hi-Tec races).
At the next transition, we had another mystery event: Bring Steinbrenner His Calzone. We had a ball, a PVC pipe joint and some taped rope... we took some tips from other teams and quickly conquered this. After one more bike loop sans singletrack, we were left with 1 final event: The Slippery Wall... a 12' ramp coated with soapy water that the team had to get up and over. Then the finish line! We ended up in 27th place with a time of 3:05:40.
This event was top notch all the way around (and I'm not saying this to kiss up to Jim either). There were plenty of volunteers, good prizes to those swift top teams (Enduraventure, Mighty Dogs & Litespeed), and great post-race food.. not to mention gorgeous weather.
Afterwards, we went up to Charlie's parent's house on Lake Tellico, where we were treated to laziness, cold beer, and good food. A perfect end to the weekend!
posted by cathi at 3:19 PM
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