STW: post-race report
Race Date: Saturday May 6th
(yeah, I'm a bit behind)
I actually got a good sleep the night before the race and woke up at a normal hour. Late morning I packed up and headed to Athens to meet Daniel & Hunter. After a quick stop at WalMart to get canned food - the race holds a big food drive - (and we still forgot to grab the 5th chem light we were required to have), we headed east to McCormick, SC and Baker Creek State Park. We got there as the last teams were finishing the sport division race, a 6-8hr event. We lazily went through check in and set up our transition area, then just sat back and enjoyed the beautiful weather - sunny and in the low 80s. Then I reorganized my pack a few more times before our pre-race meeting at 5:45.
The meeting went over the normal things, then we were given our maps as we exited at 6:15. With orders to report back at 6:45 for final announcements (and a race start at 7), the rush was on to plot 35 points. We ran up to the start and in a few minutes the race was on. The race began with the traditional short swim to our canoes (crappy aluminum ones) that were tethered in deep water. We threw ourselves over the sides and paddled to one CP that was apparently only going to be around for 45 min. It was a boat and the guy had the flag on a stick that everyone was trying to grab - definitely chaotic. We decided to get one more nearby CP in the boat before heading back to transition and hop on our bikes. (This race was a rogaine, so we could get checkpoints in any order).
We headed north on our bikes to the De La Howe School as night fell. With rain forecast in the early morning hours, we wanted to get to a ropes challenge course before things got slippery. A few teams were already around as we came upon a monolithic 3-sided wall, around 50-70' high. Each teammember was to conquer one side. I went first up the side resembling a rock climbing wall. The holds were few and it was tougher than I thought. Things got hairy when I grabbed one hold only to find several large bumble bees hanging out inside. (Star had warned me but I forgot by the time I was up there). I finally got to the top of the ledge; the problem was I had to get over the top onto the platform. I had nothing. I hung out for a bit to rest, then I saw some other guy coming up from the other side - he graciously pulled me over and I had victory. After I was down, I looked over the maps and planned our route while Hunter & Daniel went up their rope challenges.
From here, the action leveled out. We would bike to an area, stash them, then go after the points on foot. We could see from the maps that none were located in prominent terrain features. We would need to find an attack point, shoot a bearing, and hold it. The distances often weren't that far; however, we weren't ready for how thick the brush was. Our routes had to be adjusted often. The first few we found relatively easily. We usually ran into a team along the way that we either hooked up with or pointed us in the right direction. As we were leaving the DLH area, our luck left us. We couldn't find a few, but hoped to reenergize ourselves with an easy one behind a barn. HA! There were 4 other teams with us as we circled a pond, lights shining in every direction. We spent way too long there and we all left without the punch. Luckily there was a hose at the barn (a renovated building, not an old one full of animals), so I could refill my water bladder. Then the sprinkles started (and I didn't bring my jacket - I'm not sure why as I'm usually prepared). We tried to hit another point on our way back to transition, but again we were met with nothing except thick brush that seemingly wanted to eat us.
We got back to our TA at dawn and set off on a paddle. The rain wasn't that bad initially, but the water choppy. It was a nice change of pace for a little bit and I was happy to be off my foot (it hadn't bothered be yet, but I'm still treating it a bit gingerly and didn't want to overdo it). After 45min or so, Hunter and I both got the sleepies. I could paddle a few strokes before I nodded off; I could tell he was doing the same. (Poor Daniel had to put up with us). All of a sudden though his red bull kicked in and somehow it jazzed me up too. We grabbed one CP on an island, then paddled across to a peninsula, stashing our boat while we grabbed a handful there. The rain was coming down real good now and the forest service roads turned into orange creeks. As long as we kept moving we were warm, even though temps were dropping. Not knowing how bad it would be on the water, we left plenty of time to get back to the finish line. We finished with 12 CPs in 18hr 25min (with a 20hr limit, we could have stayed out a bit longer and perhaps gotten a few more points). This finish gave us an 11th place finish in the co-ed elite division.
This race was quite different than any other I've experienced. Most of the time it didn't even feel like a race - more like a training. The checkpoints were much tougher to get than we anticipated. Daniel and I are relatively young navigators and I think we learned a lot during this race. As a team, we worked well together and had a lot of fun.
photos by Wilderness Adventure Photography
(yeah, I'm a bit behind)
I actually got a good sleep the night before the race and woke up at a normal hour. Late morning I packed up and headed to Athens to meet Daniel & Hunter. After a quick stop at WalMart to get canned food - the race holds a big food drive - (and we still forgot to grab the 5th chem light we were required to have), we headed east to McCormick, SC and Baker Creek State Park. We got there as the last teams were finishing the sport division race, a 6-8hr event. We lazily went through check in and set up our transition area, then just sat back and enjoyed the beautiful weather - sunny and in the low 80s. Then I reorganized my pack a few more times before our pre-race meeting at 5:45.
The meeting went over the normal things, then we were given our maps as we exited at 6:15. With orders to report back at 6:45 for final announcements (and a race start at 7), the rush was on to plot 35 points. We ran up to the start and in a few minutes the race was on. The race began with the traditional short swim to our canoes (crappy aluminum ones) that were tethered in deep water. We threw ourselves over the sides and paddled to one CP that was apparently only going to be around for 45 min. It was a boat and the guy had the flag on a stick that everyone was trying to grab - definitely chaotic. We decided to get one more nearby CP in the boat before heading back to transition and hop on our bikes. (This race was a rogaine, so we could get checkpoints in any order).
We headed north on our bikes to the De La Howe School as night fell. With rain forecast in the early morning hours, we wanted to get to a ropes challenge course before things got slippery. A few teams were already around as we came upon a monolithic 3-sided wall, around 50-70' high. Each teammember was to conquer one side. I went first up the side resembling a rock climbing wall. The holds were few and it was tougher than I thought. Things got hairy when I grabbed one hold only to find several large bumble bees hanging out inside. (Star had warned me but I forgot by the time I was up there). I finally got to the top of the ledge; the problem was I had to get over the top onto the platform. I had nothing. I hung out for a bit to rest, then I saw some other guy coming up from the other side - he graciously pulled me over and I had victory. After I was down, I looked over the maps and planned our route while Hunter & Daniel went up their rope challenges.
From here, the action leveled out. We would bike to an area, stash them, then go after the points on foot. We could see from the maps that none were located in prominent terrain features. We would need to find an attack point, shoot a bearing, and hold it. The distances often weren't that far; however, we weren't ready for how thick the brush was. Our routes had to be adjusted often. The first few we found relatively easily. We usually ran into a team along the way that we either hooked up with or pointed us in the right direction. As we were leaving the DLH area, our luck left us. We couldn't find a few, but hoped to reenergize ourselves with an easy one behind a barn. HA! There were 4 other teams with us as we circled a pond, lights shining in every direction. We spent way too long there and we all left without the punch. Luckily there was a hose at the barn (a renovated building, not an old one full of animals), so I could refill my water bladder. Then the sprinkles started (and I didn't bring my jacket - I'm not sure why as I'm usually prepared). We tried to hit another point on our way back to transition, but again we were met with nothing except thick brush that seemingly wanted to eat us.
We got back to our TA at dawn and set off on a paddle. The rain wasn't that bad initially, but the water choppy. It was a nice change of pace for a little bit and I was happy to be off my foot (it hadn't bothered be yet, but I'm still treating it a bit gingerly and didn't want to overdo it). After 45min or so, Hunter and I both got the sleepies. I could paddle a few strokes before I nodded off; I could tell he was doing the same. (Poor Daniel had to put up with us). All of a sudden though his red bull kicked in and somehow it jazzed me up too. We grabbed one CP on an island, then paddled across to a peninsula, stashing our boat while we grabbed a handful there. The rain was coming down real good now and the forest service roads turned into orange creeks. As long as we kept moving we were warm, even though temps were dropping. Not knowing how bad it would be on the water, we left plenty of time to get back to the finish line. We finished with 12 CPs in 18hr 25min (with a 20hr limit, we could have stayed out a bit longer and perhaps gotten a few more points). This finish gave us an 11th place finish in the co-ed elite division.
This race was quite different than any other I've experienced. Most of the time it didn't even feel like a race - more like a training. The checkpoints were much tougher to get than we anticipated. Daniel and I are relatively young navigators and I think we learned a lot during this race. As a team, we worked well together and had a lot of fun.
photos by Wilderness Adventure Photography
posted by cathi at 9:05 PM
1 Comments:
Great write up Cathi and congrats on the great result.
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