Note
At a time when the sport of adventure racing seems to be in decline, we've been fortunate to have two brand new multi-sport events in Southern Ontario, two weekends in a row. Last week was the Adventure Sports Games in Collingwood, six separate races over a 2-day period, testing skills in paddling, running, biking and navigation. After each race, we drove to the next race location, changed our clothes, had a snack, and started whenever we felt like it within a 1-hour period. High intensity, no transitions.
This weekend was Storm The Ten at Kelso Conservation Area, which took almost the opposite approach. The 10-hour race was set up like the popular mountain bike relays, with a mix of running, biking and paddling in each lap, and a variety of team configurations. Solo racers were at the hard core end of the spectrum, and at the other end were more fun-oriented teams of six, who raced their laps in pairs. Teams set up tents in a base camp area around the start/finish area where there was music, a concession stand, Axis Gear shop, and a friendly, fun atmosphere. The weather was perfect.
Each lap started with a run down a grassy slope to 6 (?) steep sets of stairs leading to the beach at Lake Kelso. Then we hopped into our kayak (or canoe, for teams racing in pairs) and paddled to the far end of Lake Kelso - only 7-8 minutes, much of it spent dodging canoeists who didn't know the J stroke! Then we ran up and over a hill, then under the railroad tracks to the bike transition. From there, we rode to the west side of Kelso and ascended the escarpment in a series of big single track switchbacks on the Bruce Trail. I've climbed the escarpment in many places, and this was about as painless a way to do it as I've ever done. (Although I was always happy to get to the top, especially in later laps!) The trails we rode at the top of the escarpment were mostly fast and non-technical. There were occasional rocky or loose sections, but much of the time, I could stay in my big gear. At the far end of the bike loop, there was a SportIdent control to punch. Upon returning to the top of the ski hill, we dropped our bikes at a beautiful viewpoint and went for a rocky, rooty trail run - about 3K, I'd guess - with another SI control halfway around the loop. Then we grabbed our bikes and rode down beside the ski hill to the bike transition. Total biking was about 6 km. Then we ran back over the hill (a ski bunny hill) to our boats, paddled back down the lake, and ran up, up, up all those stairs to the tag-off area where we would pass our SI card (carried on a cord around our neck) to the next racer. So there were 8 transitions per lap, and the fastest racers finished their laps in just under an hour. Phew!
I tried to reduce the impact of the transitions as much as possible, so I wore my bike helmet and running shoes for the entire lap, using platform pedals with PowerGrip straps. Thus the bike/run and run/bike transitions only took a few seconds. The paddling transitions were longer, since we had to wear PFDs and haul our boats to appropriate parking spots. If I were doing this race solo, I think I would take the time to change shoes at the end of the paddle before starting to run, rather than having wet feet all day. Today I was racing in the tag team format with Mrs. L-D, so we were able to dry our feet out between laps.
A big step up from last weekend, there actually was one other team in the female tag team category! They were good competition, taking a 7-minute lead on us in the first lap, which began with a surprise distribution of a map showing a control that racers needed to find to before starting the paddle. I'd guess that it added about 1.6 km of running to that lap. Mrs. L-D ended up trapped at a dead end in a park works yard with several other racers, and they had to roll under barbed wire to get out! A bit more adventure than they were counting on, and it meant that the teams involved had to play catch up. We slowly gained time on our competitors, passing them in our 4th lap. I think we finished about 19 minutes ahead at the end of 8 laps, but I was always looking over my shoulder, knowing that one flat tire could make a huge difference!
As expected, there was great race organization by Storm Events. It was fun to do a different race format, and - like last weekend - this was high intensity stuff. There were several highlights, including biking behind Gally (the captain of Team GimpKnee) as he impressively towed a teammate up the escarpment on twisty, rooty, rocky single track. Wow, I wouldn't even be brave enough to accept a tow in that terrain! Given all my recent falls while trail running, I was feeling quite smug since I was wearing a bike helmet. Naturally, with this increased level of protection, I managed to stay on my feet. 3PinJim and daughter Skye dropped by to visit, as did Smash (Mrs. L-D's husband) with their two kids.
We had a candlelight awards ceremony down on the beach - very nice. Lots of categories and lots of draw prizes, which makes it fun for everyone. The overall winner was the speedy Jason Lane, who somehow managed to squeeze in 10 laps, which STORM had believed was impossible. Particularly impressive after his 2nd place finish in last weekend's Adventure Sports Games. I think the 2nd place male solo managed to do 9 laps, then the winners of most categories had 6 to 8 laps.
We did 8 laps, and both female tag teams finished ahead of the two coed tag teams. (There weren't any male tag teams.) Mrs. L-D was a strong partner, and I enjoyed the tag team format, since it enabled me to push harder when I was racing, knowing that I'd get to rest for an hour in between. It was kind of like doing adventure racing intervals! My laps were all about the same - 1:05, 1:04, 1:07, 1:06. I think I'll log the approximate time doing the different disciplines, rather than logging it all as adventure racing.