The weather was terrible. 36 degrees...rain...but it was certainly fun and boy do we have stories!
5 inches of mud. Pedaling the bikes just to be able to go DOWNHILL!
Our day started great. We finished the orienteering section in a very respectable amount of time, nearly walking directly to each point that we decided to pursue.
Coming into the first transition area, our support crew was on top of things for us. The coffee was on. Jenny would have made a professional seamstress jealous with her field techique of poncho modification for me. We were in and out of the T/A in about 20 minutes. Keep in mind, this is a long time in a T/A for a competitive team...but we are not at a competitive level...but we are at a "Let's have fun doing this" level.
Then the long stage to T/A 2. We were on the bikes and moving. I have to admit that the trail rides were pretty darn fun. Difficult and challenging...but fun. This leg really took a lot out of us. We realized early on that we were likely going to miss the ropes section. The problem was that as the day wore on, it just continued to get colder and colder. Stopping for a quick rest and bite to eat was almost as bad as not stopping. Keeping moving kept us warm, but a quick stop allowed for weary legs to take a much needed break. What this did however; was to make us extremely cold and difficult to get a move on again.
Coming back onto the main highway from the trails, we noticed it was about 9:30pm. Given the stages left and the ever dropping temperature, the team decided to hang things up. By this time there were several teams that needed to call it quits and we think it was the right thing to do. By this point, there was no way we were going to complete the race and we just wanted to save the misery.
Great race though. Two of our team members were first time adventure racers. Heck of a way to get started!
Pictures will be posted soon. Below is a reprint from the front cover of the Perry County News, the newspaper for the county that hosted the race. Included in the article is a great picture of Team RnR unloading and getting ready for the race kick-off. See below:
Weekend challenge race no walk in the
woods
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Rain, wind keep many teams from finishing
course
TELL CITY - More than 100 athletes participating in a weekend
endurance race across Perry County expected to be pushed to their limits. But
Mother Nature upped the ante Saturday, blasting teams with cold rain and gusty
winds that slowed their progress on foot, by bike and canoe and even through the
air.
“The weather made it hard on everyone. For us, the biggest problem
was the mud,” said John Farless, a Perry County racer whose three-person team
took first place in their division. But the victory didn’t come easy. “On some
trails, we had to push our bikes through 5 or 6 inches of slop.”
Farless and teammates Jennifer York of Evansville and
Chicago’s Diane Hutchinson completed the multi-stage course in just over 27
hours. During that entire time they logged nearly 100 miles and rested for no
more than 20 minutes. Of the 33 teams that began Saturday morning, only theirs
and nine others finished.
Despite the weather, the winning team, Bagel
Works-Absolute Endo, raced to the finish line in over 18 hours. Considering the
conditions, including a fast-moving Ohio River teams had to paddle in, the time
was remarkable and was a subject of conversation all day.
“They raced
ahead of everyone else and stayed there,” said Cristal Garrison, a member of the
support crew stationed under a Tipsaw Lake shelterhouse late Sunday morning.
“They had a great time.”
The Planet Adventure 24-Hour Challenge consisted
of several events, beginning with an orienteering run through areas of the
Tipsaw recreation area Saturday morning. After completing that phase, teams
mounted their mountain bikes and began a long ride that took them into Mogan
Ridge.
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| Racers unload gear at Tipsaw Lake Saturday morning. |
Later in the day they reached German Ridge, where a
ropes course was set up over a wooded ravine. Each team member climbed into a
safety harness and traversed a cable and rope by hand. The race also required
teams to rappel down the face of a nearby cliff.
From there teams had to
trek on foot through the national forest to a canoeing segment. Teams were
expected to paddle the Ohio River to Mano Point, but strong currents prompted
race officials to cancel portions of the paddling event late in the event. Three
teams having trouble making headway were helped by conservation officers and one
group beached their canoe and kindled a small fire in order to warm themselves.
No one was injured and Garrison said the call to authorities was simply a
standard precaution.
Like conventional marathon runners, endurance racers
often train for months to better handle the physical rigors of endurance events.
Farless said his regimen included nighttime runs and biking across hilly
terrain.
“There was an advantage in being able to train on hills,” he
said, pointing out the difficulties some racers from flat prairie areas had in
traversing the hilly course.
Race teams hailed from Indiana, Illinois,
Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania.
Mental
Fatigue
Extreme physical activity coupled with a lack of sleep took
its toll on competitors. Some racers have long shared stories about falling
asleep while biking long distances, comments Farless said he once doubted. The
weekend changed his mind.
“I felt myself dozing off a few times and I
missed turns because of being fatigued mentally,” he said.
Most teams had
support crews that transported bikes, changes of dry clothing and other gear
during the day. They also made repairs to bikes, refilled water bladders racers
carried and even cooked meals. Farless’ team enjoyed a hot meal of spaghetti at
Mano Point courtesy of his support team: Aaron Hamm, Mark Wolf and his son,
Evon, and Bridgette Bowman.
He credited his teammates for their
experience in past events. “We couldn’t have asked for a better team. Jennifer’s
positive outlook, Diane’s race experience and my knowledge of the local terrain
were all key points in our performance,” he said. “Our ability to stay positive
through the mentally and physically challenging portions of the race, along with
the excellent work of our support crew, kept us going till the end.”
Joe
Jones, a fourth team member unable to participate due to a family medical
emergency, was a subject of conversation during the race. “He and (his family’s
struggles) were part of what kept us motivated to finish the race,” Farless
said.
Race organizers kept close tabs on teams, Farless said. “The Planet
Adventure people were there the whole time and would see teams about every hour,
asking if everyone was feeling OK,” Farless said. “When you have better than 30
teams to keep tabs of, that’s quite a lot of work.”
He voiced hope the
county could again host a similar event.