Training Log Archive: getawaystix

AR World Champs 2012 France – Race Report

Finally! The World Championships, and a chance to test ourselves against the best in the sport. While our team had success earlier this year at AR World Series events in Ecuador and Costa Rica, the competition paled in comparison to what we'd face in France. And while it seemed our team was harmonious in those earlier races, unfortunately it wasn't the case as we possessed varying levels of commitment, experience and for whatever reason the team wasn't gelling. Simply fielding a strong, cohesive team for any expedition race is no doubt one of the most difficult aspects of our sport. With our team composition woes in mind, Kyle, Doug and I made the difficult decision to switch team-mates for the World Champs. We hoped to bring in two equally experienced and dedicated team members who we could gain more experience racing with for the future. The decision didn't go exactly to plan as most experienced racers couldn't commit to the world champs, however we did find two capable team-mates in Ursula Tracz and Sam Clark. I'd raced with Ursula in 2010 at both Untamed New England and the World Champs in Spain. She was young and inexperienced at the time, but possessed all the attributes to make a top flight racer: super-determined, great fitness, solid skill-set and an unwavering commitment to the team, not to mention she'd been gaining more valuable experience in the years since. Her strongest discipline is also running, which suited the World Champs this year as the organizers touted a trekking intensive route. Sam was a bit of a wildcard for us, we knew he'd placed highly at the Coast to Coast event in New Zealand and had also been a member of Richard Usher's Team Subway at this year's GODZone event. However, we'd never raced with Sam and this would be only his fourth start at an expedition-length event. Nevertheless, pre-race email exchanges were positive and it appeared we'd have a cohesive team.

The Prologue - ~4k Urban Orienteering

With a 45 minute time cap and us being unclear beforehand about the impact of doing well here, we knew we'd have to run hard throughout. The highlight, or perhaps lowlight was Kyle getting flat-tired off the start and having to fight back through 250 racers to find and replace his shoe. The navigation went reasonably smooth and with only a few small errors we managed 6th place, which was satisfying and good for the confidence. It turned out the prologue would determine the start order the next day with 30 seconds separating each team, so while it wasn't critically important, a large mishap on this leg could have resulted in up to a 30 minute deficit at the start.

Day 1 – 16k High Mountain (Glacier Trek), 5k MTB, 30k Trek, 24k MTB, 40k Trek

With a minimum time limit of 7.5hrs on the High Mountain section any team finishing before then would need to wait before entering the 1st TA (this was to ensure safe racing on the glaciers). Since the leg was attainable in under 7.5hrs it effectively meant a re-start, thus nullifying any advantage gained from the prologue. The High Mountain went reasonably well for us, albeit with a few crampon issues and some issues with not having been roped-up for glacier travel together before, but we finished within the top ten, rested up, reviewed maps and prepared for the re-start.

The short bike separating the High Mountain and ensuing trek contained some technical descending, Sam lead the charge, but Kyle and Ursula were delayed by dropped water bottles and getting caught behind less technically proficient riders.

The next trek contained significant climbing beginning at 1300m and crossing 3 passes over 2500m. It was also becoming increasingly hot. Not long into the trek Sam slowed due to the heat. We re-arranged gear and impressively Ursula towed Sam to the first major pass, did I mention she was strong on her feet! We finished the leg around 10th place and set off on the next predominantly downhill mountain bike, which was notable for some exposed, steep-sided ridge riding in the dark where a fall could spell disaster.

In looking at the stages before the race, we knew the first 36 hours would be critical. There was a dark-zone being enforced (i.e. you had to stop and wait for daylight to continue) between 8pm and 6:45am on three consecutive legs of canyoning, rafting and kayaking, which it appeared we should make it through before the end of the 2nd day.

We were now into the first night of the race and one of the longest treks at 40k in the high mountains with 4 passes over 2500m. For the most part we were on trail with the odd bit of off-trail travel, making for what should have been fast travel. Not long in we caught Adidas UK on a rope ascent. We traveled with them and ERTIPS off and on for the next few hours until they both pulled away, along with Adidas AXA while I suffered a nasty bout of sleepmonsters. Kyle did his best to punch, yell at, sing with and generally try to keep me awake and focused, but I eventually had to relent and give him the maps. Unfortunately, sleepmonsters became a reoccurring theme for me in this race and I had nasty bouts on at least 5 occasions.

Day 2 – 40km trek (2nd half), Raft 11km

We picked up speed again in the early morning hours and soon realized the dark zones later that evening were definitely going to come into play unless we hauled. We ran well to a via-ferrata and then again to the canyon where unfortunately confusion ensued. At the start of the via-ferrata the Race Director gave us some updated instructions: a CP had been moved before the canyon, there were two rope activities in the canyon to help us progress, and the roads surrounding the canyon were out-of-bounds. We found the CP above the canyon and soon came to point where it appeared unsafe to travel downstream due to decent size rapids, the canyon walls closing-in and an inability to see what was coming up. We thought it appeared unsafe given the fact we had no life jackets, or helmets and reasoned they wouldn't want us in this terrain without. We back-tracked, looked for a route around (to no avail), saw other confused teams on the other side of the canyon, and over an hour later returned to the same location and forged ahead. It turned out the route down the canyon was safe, however, when we arrived at the Raft put-in we realized numerous teams had passed who opted to trek around and take what we thought were out-of-bounds roads. Apparently penalties would be applied later in the race if we filed a protest. This wouldn't have mattered so much, except we had to wait for a safety briefing before starting to raft and waiting in line behind other teams cost us further valuable time as the dark zone closed in.

As it was, we never would have made it through the upcoming kayak leg dark zone given our late arrival at the start of the via-feratta, however, to make matters worse we ended up getting stuck on the Rafting leg a painful 800m from its end. This put us 2 hours back of a chase pack that piled at the start of the kayak (there was a short trek in between the two legs). It turns out 3 teams cleared the kayak leg and all the dark zones, effectively giving them a 6 hour and 45 minute advantage, since they were forced to stop at the end of the kayak at what was called Assistance Point 1 for a 4 hour mandatory break (something those who got stuck in the dark zone wouldn't need to do). We were stuck on the raft in roughly 14th place (depending on penalties issued surrounding the canyon), there were roughly 10 teams strewn out 3 hours ahead of us also stuck in dark zones, and there were more teams piling up behind us at the start of the canyon. It was still early in the race, but we knew this was a major set-back.

Day 3 – 1km Raft, 6km Trek, 21km Kayak, 6km Trek, 59km MTB, 34km Trek

We set off at daybreak and were moving well given our long rest the night prior. The ensuing kayak leg was a highlight with decent size rapids throughout and one even sending Kyle and I into the drink, good times! A short trek took us to our first major bike leg of the race and it began with a solid climb from 1300 to 2700m. We moved steadily, but our pace was slower than those around us, with Kyle having Ursula on tow on the uphills and Sam and I not able to offer much help. Kyle spotted a good route-choice late in the leg, which saved some time and we arrived in the next TA with the Swiss team we'd started the leg with. Now into our 3rd night we were off on foot again. This trek was predominantly on-trail with some fascinating landmarks, including Roman-era roads and World War II bunkers. We lost time on a few occasions as we struggled to stay on trail in the dark and also while searching for a checkpoint in an aforementioned bunker. We could also see the headlamps of at least 3 teams ahead. We chose a roundabout route into the next TA as the intended approach veered though steep terrain and we figured a longer trail and road based option would be faster in the dark. It seemed to pay-off as we arrived in the TA with what seemed to be the 9th through 13th placed teams.

Day 4 – 33km MTB, 11km Trek/Canyon/Ropes, 59km Kayak

Day 4 began with another big climb on the bikes with a nice dose of hike-a-bike thrown in. We traveled with ERTips off and on for much of the leg, while FJS and the Swiss Team always seemed just a ridge, or corner ahead. The leg contained some high mountain, off-trail riding, as well as more technical, exposed descending. Sam thrived in the technical terrain while Ursula struggled after a nasty crash and loss of valuable confidence. The race was certainly living up to its challenging nature as proposed by the organizers in the months prior. None of the disciplines were dumbed-down, thus benefiting teams with endurance and the technical skills to back it up. After the mountain bike we hit the 2nd Assistance Point where we'd be forced to take a mandatory 4-hour break and also receive maps for the remainder of the event. Unluckily we arrived at 2:30pm meaning we'd be resting through valuable daylight hours. 5 teams had already departed the AP when we arrived, Seagate, Thule and Quechua, who had all made it through the dark zones on the 2nd night, but impressively, so had Silva and Raidlight-Canoe who were gaining impressive ground on the three lead teams. We sat in a loosely bunched group placed 7th through 13th while Adidas UK was a few more hours ahead in 6th.

Out of the AP we immediately found ourselves into some nasty bushwacking and thinking we'd missed a trail, or taken the wrong route. Once on the trail we quickly caught the Swiss who had a team member moving slowly in obvious discomfort (perhaps trashed feet?). At the next CP we caught ERTips and FJS moving us into 8th. This gave us a boost thinking we were in better shape than those around us, but also an advantage heading into a canyoneering section with countless rappels, since we wouldn't need to wait for teams to get off ropes ahead of us. The canyon was a bit of a slog in the dark. I struggled to stay warm from the countless submersions in waterfalls and pools, while Ursula took a beating falling numerous times on the slippery, rocky decent. This night must have been the low point for Ursula as she seemed very weary and possibly hadn't fully bounced back from the tough riding the day before. Kyle nicknamed her the honey-badger for her ability to bounce back after so many tumbles. At the top of a massive 300ft rappel I had to yell at her to wake up and pay attention, since using her gear properly at this point was crucial. The rappel was a monster and it was too bad we'd not appreciate its full exposure being in the dark.

We arrived at the start of the next kayak leg as 7th placed Lafuma was still in the TA. Unfortunately, we couldn't capitalize as Ursula was still struggling (having now lost her voice) and needed sleep, while Kyle seemed the only one with urgency to move quickly. The river level was low with continuous Class I & II rapids as we set off just after 2am. It became difficult to remain together as both boats would alternately hang-up on rocks. A few hours later all of us except Kyle were in serious battles with the Sleepmonsters. This was strange given the fact we were in a technical river requiring concentration that would normally produce some adrenalin to keep us awake. However, we just couldn't keep it together and opted to sleep for an hour and 45 minutes at the midway CP beside a roaring fire.

Day 5 – remainder of 59km Kayak, 8km Trek, 52km MTB

At daybreak we headed off again finishing the remainder of the paddle leap-frogging with FJS, ERTips and Columbia. The next leg was a short 8km trek with another funky, micro-climate-esque canyon ascent. We were moving well at this point and managed to distance ourselves from the teams we'd been paddling with to regain 8th, however, our sleep on the paddle the night before had let Lafuma slip ahead by 2 hours. Both Lafuma and Adidas UK departed on the next bike leg 2 hours ahead. Beyond them, there was a solid 6 hour gap to another group of teams including Thule, Silva, Raidlight-Canoe and Quechua, while Seagate seemed to have a commanding lead a further 5 hours ahead of them. We began riding with another 1200m ascent. Again Kyle was strong having Ursula on tow, while Sam and I gave chase. Again I found myself fighting another bout of sleepmonsters, which lasted a painful hour as I swerved around the road and tried to stay focused on the map. Sam also fought to stay awake for much of this ride. We were moving solidly, but faced a few navigation issues missing one trail in the dark and taking an improper road out of the last CP on the leg. Still, we arrived at the next TA to find Lafuma just leaving and Adidas UK still there. With our sleep issues compounding, we again opted for an hour and 45 minutes of sleep before setting off on what we thought would be the last 20 hours of racing.

An hour after shutting down for sleep we were woken by the TA staff informing us Sam was very ill. Puzzled, we went to check on him and found he was in a delirious state and had been vomiting and dry-heaving for a short time. We moved him to a warmer area out of the wind, but I don't think being cold was an issue as his body was burning up. After another hour of sleep and trying to have Sam sip water and eat light food we tried to get him up to see if he could walk, but he crumpled to the ground and snuggled up in his vomit. At this point we knew we were going to be here longer than anticipated. We had the TA staff try to get in touch with race HQ to see if there was an event doctor close by. We then decided to rest a further 4 hours hoping Sam might improve enough to continue. Around the same time I noticed Adidas UK preparing to leave the TA, they'd also been there for some time and I caught a glimpse of one team member vomiting and hobbling around with incredibly sore feet. They continued early that morning and managed to finish the race a day and a half later, which is a testament to their team-work and perseverance. Finishing with a strong team is easy, but finishing when things aren't going to plan is all the more impressive.

After sunrise we were up again and had Sam walk a short distance to the restrooms. He was more coherent at this point, but had been unable to eat or drink for over 6 hours. One of the event doctors also arrived and gave Sam some drugs to help with the symptoms. The cause appeared to be a combination of a bad flu and exhaustion. Sam had some light food and drink while we opted for more rest before taking a crack at the upcoming trek. A few hours later and we set off. Progress was slow, but at least we were moving forward. Not long in and Sam was again stopped by diarrhea and shortly thereafter more vomiting. Some concerned hikers offered aid, but at this point there wasn't much anyone could do and really all Sam needed was time to rest. We'd moved less than 1km in about an hour and with Sam not improving our prospects for finishing the upcoming 34km trek seemed dim. Not to mention it was a remote mountainous area and perhaps not the best place for a severely ill person. We opted to return to the TA and see if we could get Sam further treatment from the medical staff. Amazingly, Sam was reluctant to turn around and wanted to continue. I provided details of our current pace, how long it would take to finish the upcoming trek and also how sick he'd been the night prior before he agreed that turning around might be the best idea. To say Sam is determined would be a bit of an understatement!

On our way back to the TA we passed our fellow Canadians on Team Pentathlon Des Neiges/Processia. They looked great and were moving well as we exchanged hugs and high fives and wished them success in reeling in what was fast becoming a field of the walking wounded. They'd go on to finish 13th and be one of only 17 teams to finish the full course.

Back at the TA we asked if the doctor could be summoned again and if Sam could receive some bags of IV to help aid his recovery. Kyle had read the rules and understood that we'd only receive a time penalty for having the IV's administered. At this point our only concern was trying to finish the race and the rankings didn't matter. We also had plenty of time before any course cut-offs would become a concern. Luckily, a doctor was again available and Sam was able to receive two bags of IV, however we learned this resulted in us becoming unranked and out of the official competition, versus only receiving a time penalty. While Kyle and Sam were still keen to try and finish the event unranked, this last bit of news was the straw that broke the camels back for Ursula and I as we didn't see the purpose of continuing under the circumstances. With heavy hearts we officially dropped from the competition.

My congratulations go out to all the teams who finished one of the tougher and certainly more technically demanding courses I've raced on in recent years. A huge thank-you has to go to the organizers who designed an incredible route worthy of crowning a World Championship team. Congrats also to Seagate for coming in as the race favourites and achieving 1st place under the pressure.

C • Awesome! 10

Leg O - trek out & back attempt

Leg L - Kayak

Leg M - Trek

Leg N - MTB

Leg J - MTB

Leg K - Trek/Canyon

Leg D - Raft finish

Leg E - Trek

Leg F - Kayak

Leg G - Trek

Leg H - MTB

Leg I - Trek

Leg C - AR World Champs - Trek

Leg D - Raft

Leg A - AR World Champs - Trek/Glacier

Leg B (part) - Trek 30, MTB 24

Prologue - Urban-O AR World Champs

Event: Logs Rocks and Steel - A Multisport Adventure