I participated in my first adventure race today. All I can say is WOW! The race consisted of running approx 3 miles, canoeing 1.5 miles and biking approx 15 miles. In between there were a few obstacles that needed to be accomplished continuing in the race. I was a little intimidated upon starting because we had to sign our lives away in 3 waiver forms and provide insurance info.
Our team had a rough start. One team mate has bike troubles so we actually started the race 5 minutes AFTER it started. The good side to this....we never had to try and pass folks on a single track trail. The running trail wasn't technical so we finished that and quickly moved to the canoe section.
I've come to the conclusion that we really aren't very good at canoeing. We zigged and zagged up and down the river. Sigh. The breeze felt good and the scenery was nice so I can't complain too much about how much we sucked at this. My team mates had such up beat outlook that this might have been my favorite part of the race.
We made it back to the transition area and started out on our bike ride. Parts of the trail were technical and I did surprisingly better than I thought. I also bit the ground harder than I thought possible. I've now got a bruise and some battle marks on my shoulder to show for this race. I feel like such a macho woman. :-)
Out of 32 teams there were 8 DNF. I don't know if I've ever been a race where there was a 25% drop out before. I think that was due to the weather conditions of mid-90's for both temp and humidity. We came in dead last but at least we finished. Along the way, we did see some carnage. One person had a really bad spill on their bike and the paramedics were already on the scene when we arrived. A few people were just sitting on the side of the trail waiting for help or to be picked up. There was not much to do but offer them some water.
Being last we did get a very loud cheer from the other teams as we crossed the finish line. Two of the other teams were from our running group. The ladies took first and the other group took 5th. One of the gents from our group won the bike raffle and took home a Gary Fisher mountain bike. Surprisingly before we made it back from the race he and his fiancé had already decided to donate it to a local charity so they can sell/auction it off for some $. I am constantly amazed by the amount of generosity and selflessness I see in other people. | 