RIF 2017 8th place

It has been a while but as everybody else sometimes we get caught up with life and we prioritize what to do. Writing the RIF race report unfortunately didn't make it to the top of the list until..well, Now.
As we are boarding our flight in direction to worlds in Wyoming!!!

So here is a flashback to our race back in June in the beautiful region of Ardeche, France.
We were very fortunate to have Dave Schloss from Australia joining us as our main navigator. We also had Wouter joining us a little bit at the last moment before the race.
Although it isn't ideal to race with two people we didn't know we were well decided to give the race a good shot.
Dave met James and I (Nat) in the south of France a few days prior to the race and we drove up to lac Devesset, HQ of the race where we met Wouter
The gear list was rather exhaustive, more specifically the first aid. It took us a while to gather everything. I think we could have been wounded for weeks without medical help and we would have been fine. We had enough to open a little mobile hospital.
 
I was a little disappointed to not have a copy of the road book in French. Being a French race I knew the translation in the English book would be missing a few nuances that would be very helpful during the race. The navigators being anglophone there was no way we would take the French version and we couldn't have both.
The gear check went pretty smooth and before we knew it the start of the race was there. 

The race started at midnight with a swim run. I must admit I thought I was going to drown about a thousand times but we made it alive, got our maps at the end, looked at them semi quickly and shot off on our bikes. We started at a decent pace...we were finally racing. Unfortunately that was short lived. About 30km in the race Wouter's derailleur failed. He replaced the derailleur hanger, jumped back on the bike but another part failed resulting in many stops and Wouter having to walk all the up hills during this first leg. With not much hope to fix the derailleur and having lost a few hours our chances to make the dark zone with the lead teams later in the race became a no go.
The next leg involved a nice trek with rock hopping in the river bed followed by a paddle. We had some fun paddling. We then saw the bikes again. After some James Magic Wouter's bike was working although he had still to push occasionally uphill or to put the chain back on. We spent most of that leg in the dark with a few teams around. On one of the steep descent in the dark I managed to face plant in the gravel dislocating (again) my wrist and damaging my knee a bit. After a good scrub we finished that leg.
We ended that leg at the start of the big paddle where we slept for a couple hours. A medic tried to put the wrist in place and off we went. That was a lot of fun with some slides, Rapids (with the two other guys shouting yyyeeewwww every time they went down a rapid before hitting a rock). Lots of laugher there. My favourite part was the second part when we had to go up river for a few hours and we kept on passing teams after teams.t
The next leg was a big trek with a caving section soon after the start of it. That leg was very nice, mostly in gorges. The caving was pretty quick and not as challenging as last year in Australia :). We knew as we progressed in the trek that we would miss the dark zone and would have to stop for a while so the urgency was gone. We got 5h sleep at a CP where the dark zone was and started hiking to the rappel as soon as it was lifted. The rappel was amazing. Two length hanging from the rope that was going away from the cliff making us spin and forced us to look at the gorges from an angle you would never otherwise. It got a little too much for me and I had to close my eyes to do part of the descent as I wasn't feeling great.
The rest of the trek went well with a few river crossings.
Followed was a bike that went pretty uneventfully except for Dave going over the bars and breaking his shifters and a couple flats (not our race for biking I'm telling you)
At the end of the bike was our last short paddle. James by then had kind of managed to fix Wouter's bike but we managed to get a new derailleur then that we ended up not using.
The last paddle went well and we finished it in the dark.
The next trek went well although mostly in the dark. I was sleeping for part of it. We ended up trekking up to the end of that trek with the all male French team. For the last few legs we kept on passing each other.
The bike that followed was a lot of climbing which I kind of liked a lot. We ended up riding along the guys team the entire way. Half way was a little via ferrata that was pretty cool.
The last trek was pretty long. We took it fairly easy even indulging for ice cream in the small village.
The last bike was supposed to be a couple hours but for some reason the night demons played with Dave's mind and he thought we weren't where we were supposed to be. That little bike ended up being an 8h+ bike ride with lots of back and forth on the same road but hey at least we got our money worth.

The last leg was sailing across lake Devesset which I ended up being pretty good at :D

All up we didn't get very lucky with the bikes but we were still happy to make it to the end with lots of laughters along the way. That's ended up being more an expedition than a race for us but we made it.
The organization was really good and very helpful. Can't wait for Reunion island next year :)

Zion Ultra-My first 100 miler by James Galipeau -3rd female

On April 7^th Nathalie and I (James) lined up early in the morning for our first 100 mile (160km) ultra. Following our 120km ultra in France last year (and Nat’s 3^rd place finish among the women), Nat became interested in the idea of trying to qualify for the Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc (UTMB), one of the pinnacle ultra-distance races in the world. With the limited options for qualifying races and trying to work around our AR schedule, we landed on the Zion Ultra, a race just outside of Zion National Park in Utah. Given the long winter in the Ottawa-Gatineau area, training for a 100-mile ultra in April is not an easy thing to do. We did the best we could, combining snowshoe running, trail running on snow (when possible), road running, and alpine ski touring (a great workout for the climbing muscles). But I could not help being quite worried about entering such a long running race under-trained, and the risk of injury that this might pose for both of us. Nevertheless, we lined ourselves up for the 6:00am start, not really knowing how things would go.

The race basically featured 4 steep climbs up to the top of different mesas (flat top mountains), where we would do one or more loops, often along the edge of the mountain, making for some very scenic views along the way. There was not a ton of elevation, but it almost all occurred in 4 climbs. The first of these was about 3km in the race. Nat and I both started out near the front of the pack of  about 250 racers, not wanting to get caught in the traffic jam that we’d been told occurs part way up the first climb where there’s a short rope section up a steep rock face. As we ran along at a comfortable pace, Nat was all smiles, commenting “I wish adventure races all started this slowly!” After a while I pulled away a little from Nat as we continued to climb. I was feeling good and the pace was reasonable. We both thought that this was the last time we would likely see each other before the end of the race, so we wished each other a good race and parted ways.

Around the 35km mark, something went very wrong for me. One minute I was feeling great and the next minute my body was cooked. I’ve bonked before and this didn’t feel like a bonk. I’ve been dehydrated before and this didn’t feel like that either. It just felt like I hit a wall without any warning and very early into the race. It didn’t make any sense to me, but it was very real and I needed to do something about it. We were on a very flat smooth rock section of the course, yet I still couldn’t even jog. My hunch was (and still is) that a few months of work and life related busy-ness and stress (some good and some not so good - but the body still registers it all as stress) caught up to me. At that point, since I was in the middle of nowhere, my only choice was to walk to the next aid station. So I walked the next 5 or 6 kms to the aid station, expecting that Nat would pass me at any time. Once I got to the aid station, I decided I would wait for Nat to arrive and then try to run with her. If I couldn’t keep up, I would just try to put-put along to see if I could just finish the race.

A few minutes later, Nat arrived with a concerned “what the hell are you doing here???!!!” when she saw me (I found out that this was because she originally thought I had stopped on purpose to wait and run with her). I explained the situation and off we went together. I quickly learned that Nat had been quite busy during the first 40km… busy making trail buddies. It seemed that every time we passed or were passed by somebody, Nat would say “this is my new friend (insert name here)” and they would start talking like old friends...

Despite still not feeling well, I was able to keep pace with Nat, although I could tell I was working harder than she was most of the time. She was moving along at a nice steady rhythm and looking strong the whole time. The course was filled with amazing views, excellent and somewhat technical single track, double track, wide open smooth rock flat mountain top trails, and a few long gravel road sections, making for a nice variety.

At about the 90km mark was a steep descent to an aid station only to return up the same way we came down. We started down the rocky technical downhill and Nat led the way, setting a great pace. I struggled to keep up as she continued to gain speed and confidence as we bombed down the mountain. It seemed that the further we got down the mountain, the stronger and faster Nat got and the more I struggled. The aid station at the bottom was both a literal and figurative low point in the race for me. I struggle to remember a time I’ve felt this bad in any long distance race. I was spent and not entirely clear on why or how to make it better. I ate and drank and just tried to calm my body down, but things were not getting better. I suggested to Nat that she should just head out without me, as we guessed that she was likely in the top 5 women at this point,  to which she kindly (but firmly) informed me that she wanted to stay with me and help me keep going, as long as I was willing. So I asked her for a few more minutes of rest before heading out to the big climb back up. As we finally started to climb back up the mesa, we soon saw 3 women coming down to the aid station. I felt bad for Nat, as I knew I had cost her an extra 10 minutes or so at the aid station and now there were a few women hot on her heels. Surprisingly, I felt better on the climb out than I had felt on the descent, so I tried to pick up the pace a little to get some of that time back that we had lost, while taking a few short breaks as we climbed.

Night fell quickly as we continued on this climb. I slowly started to feel better as we kept a quick but steady fast-hiking pace in the somewhat technical single-track trails. I felt like we could make good time in the night as it’s something that we are quite used to doing in AR. So I just focused on moving forward without pushing myself into a big energy deficit. Meanwhile, Nat just plugged away, always looking strong and being positive and supportive.

We finally arrived at the final “section” of the race, which consisted of 3 loops (red, white, and blue) all leaving and finishing at the same aid station before heading for the finish line. Here we would potentially get a better sense of how many women were ahead or close behind us on the course. As we arrived, Nat spotted one woman who seemed to be already starting the blue trail, meaning she was likely a couple hours ahead. Then out of the dark came an older woman who had passed us before dark – earlier she had gone by us jogging uphill on a gravel road, which was quite impressive considering her age and the point in the race. We assumed that she was completing the red trail, which meant she had put 8km on us. But she informed Nat that she had blown up on the trail and was just coming in to the aid station for the first time (like us). Needless to say, this put a little fire under Nat’s butt. The best description for the rest of the ~40km of the race from this point on is “running scared”. Nat set a fast hiking pace on all the uphills and ran all the flats and downhills - certainly faster than I think I would have done if I were running alone at that point. Each time back into the aid station was just like old times in AR – Nat transitioning very quickly, then checking her watch and impatiently waiting to get moving.

As we finally left the last aid station for the last time, Nat was convinced that the older woman would show up any time and blow past us. We headed out for what was listed as a 10km leg to the finish line. Shortly after leaving we both ran into blister problems. I could feel that the entire tip of my little toe on my left foot was blistered like a water balloon and with each step I could feel the swooshing of the fluid, expecting it to pop with each step (which it eventually did). Nat rarely gets blisters, but had been struggling with very sore feet from the pounding on the road, so she changed shoes when we first got to the last aid station and it appeared that this was not a good decision. Less than 1km after leaving on the leg to the finish her blister popped and it was clearly very painful. She screamed and hopped and stumbled, but refused to stop, fearing that we would be caught any minute by the woman behind. Instead she just focused on watching the kms to the finish roll down on her GPS watch. She had also given me my assignment – keep looking back to see if the other woman was coming.

The next 10kms were a combination of excitement to finish, agony over blisters and the beating our bodies had taken, worry about who may be catching up, and a very narrow focus on just getting to the finish line. Nat continued to check her watch every few minutes, always disappointed by how little ground we had covered since the last time she checked. We passed a few guys along the way, most of whom Nat knew from earlier in the race. Finally we got to the 158km mark of the race. Nat proudly exclaimed that there were only 2kms left and set her focus on just pushing through them. Almost as soon as she made this remark, we encountered a support person coming up the trail towards us. Surely this was a good sign that we were close. He gave us a big smile and a congratulations, saying “Only 2.5 miles to go!” Wait WHAT???? Surely he meant 2.5kms… So Nat asked him again for the distance. He showed us on his GPS watch and then informed us that the race was, in fact, not 100 miles, but actually over 102 miles. Nobody had informed us of this, and Nat was clearly wrecked by this news. She had carefully calculated her energy to give it all she had to get to the finish line and with 2km to go, after nearly 26 hours of running, the finish line moved by nearly 4kms. The next few kms were a combination of exhaustion, frustration, fear of being passed, and physical agony from expecting to be off our feet by then. Each time we would crest a hill, we expected to be able to see the finish line in the distance, only to be met by another hilltop ahead. When we finally did see the finish line off in the distance, the feeling was mainly one of relief. Nobody close behind and downhill all the way to the finish line.

We crossed the line in just over 26 hours and 10 minutes. After asking race officials and getting the printouts, Nat was informed that she had finished 3^rd among the women (finishing about 50 minutes ahead of the 4^th place woman) and 35^th and 36^th overall. She ran a great technical and tactical race, took good care of her body, and was even willing to give up her race to help me get to the finish line. While it was not the race I was hoping for, I’m very happy that Nat and I ended up running most of it together, and I know that she enabled me to finish much faster than I could have finished if I had raced alone. It’s truly amazing to witness her pushing her limits and persevere through everything. And although we have raced together in France and now at Zion, I am very impressed by the fact that in both cases she has insisted on doing these ultras completely on her own – refusing to take even a piece of food from me during the race. While the merits of teamwork are endless, there’s something very empowering about knowing you were able to achieve a personal goal all on your own. Congratulations and Thank You to Nathalie for this race.   

XPD Australia ARWC 2016- 21st place

Here is Jason's race report:

AR World Champs- Shoalhaven, Australia with Nathalie Long, James Galipeau and navigator Todd Nowack. As a Canadian living in Australia he would be a perfect addition for this race.

After a week of screwing around with gear and bins I was happy to get them turning in just before the maps distribution. To limit any influence from Google maps we would get maps while locked in a conference room 3 hours before transferring to the start. We quickly outlined our route on the 2 sets of (38) A4 maps for the race.

The race would start with a Lemans start to the kayak in Jervis Bay with James and Nat in the SCR ski and Todd and I in the sit-on-top kayak. After clearing the initial mayhem we settled in around 25th place. Todd and I were not as fast as the surfski so we set up the tow which worked well as we paddled east towards the distant points. Approaching each of these points was tricky as there were waves breaking on shoals all around them.

We swapped paddling positions after each of the first 4 points trying to find a set-up with equal boat speeds between the two boats but none of them seemed to work well. We seemed to fade a little towards the end and were happy to get to the take out when we did. We were joined by a few surfacing dolphins just as we got there.

Going into this race we knew quick transitions were going to be important so additional focus would be required. It paid off early as we passed Tecnu in transition here.

This trek had a little of everything- Sandy beaches, coasteering and powerline running with awesome views as we traveled to the second paddle leg.

Somewhere along the way I managed to knock my head pretty hard on a low hanging branch as I jumped up on a ledge and momentarily saw a few early stars.

With another fast TA we were off on another relatively short leg as dusk settled in. We finally found a paddler combination which seemed to work well with James and I in the 3 person sit-on-top drafting off Nat and Todd in the surfski.

Next up would be some tough jeep trail riding with steep climbs and long, fast descents over never-ending water bars which were a lot of fun. We spent most of the night riding with Tecnu and caught a glimpse of Bones at the Pointer Gap Lookout.

The 'highlight' of the ride was the mandatory flagged hike-a-bike down from Florence Head which required multiple sketchy climbs and descents carrying our bikes. Despite the tough terrain we made solid progress and avoided the back-ups those deeper in the field would see here.

The second trek was the first real section of the race. We continued south along the coast and had our first swim of the event through a tidal pool. James, Nat and I decided to strip down and put everything in a dry bag for the crossing. Todd thought he could make it and just carried his shoes. Halfway across he realized his mistake and decided he could just throw his shoes to keep them dry. He skipped the first one across. The second one made it cleanly but the socks stuffed in it ejected part way across and I had to jump back in to save them from becoming shark food.

While we were goofing around we could see Tecnu and RADY'S chasing us down in the distance.

Just prior to heading west for the inland controls we stopped to tape some toes and then ran into Legendary Randy and a bunch of kangaroos.

CP17 was our first mistake of the race. We decided to attack it from the road instead of trying to find the jeep trail which went closer to the point. As we descended down a reentrant expecting to find a stream intersection we saw RADY'S in a reentrant heading the direction we expected the point to be in.

With the distraction we failed to keep track of our position on the map and talked ourselves into wandering around looking for it. Eventually cooler heads prevailed and we decided to re-attack from the jeep trail to the north. Once relocated we walked straight to the point. Looking at the GPS track it appears we just didn't walk up the second reentrant far enough.

We arrived at the Clyde River paddle with about 2 hours of flood tide to paddle up river with so we wasted no time getting onto the water despite that fact that we were starting to need some sleep.

We had the Czech team just in front of us and tried to chase them down but sleepmonsters were an issue and we lost focus. We hooked up the tow which helped to keep everyone awake and eventually we made it to the takeout. We changed, built the bikes and then headed off to the tents in the TA for an hour of sleep.

We knew this next leg was going to be tough given it had over 5000' of climbing according to the logistics map. We realized this very quickly as within the first 10k we had two significant bike pushes uphill. Not long after that the rain started and the temps dropped. Compounding this was a missed turn which forced a 3k backtrack. The rain wasn't bad on the long climbs but it made the long descents very cold and I was happy to have rain pants in the bag to put on.

The rain eventually stopped just before sunrise and the heat of the day started to dry out our clothing as we approached the TA. With the next trekking section heading out on the same road we were riding in on we passed Merrell and Columbia as they were heading out just minutes ahead of us.

This next trek was going to be a tough one with a lot of climbing early in the sun. In theory it was just following the trail through the Budawang Range and for the first 15k that was the case as we went up and through the pass below the Castle. There was multiple stream crossings to re-fill water which made the heat a little easier to deal with through the Monolith valley.

It was pretty amazing that I could be so cold just a few hours before in the rain and then wishing for clouds to hide the sun as we climbed up in the heat.

We spent most of the morning and afternoon changing places back and forth with the Czech team. once through the pass the trail become much tougher to follow and it took both Todd and I following along on our maps to stay on the route as we summited Mt. Tarin, Mt. Haighton and Sturgiss Mountain.

Around dusk we made our second mistake. We had just punched CP29 on a small hill. We dropped off the NE side of it by mistake instead of the NW. We hit a creek which we were expecting but there was no trail running along side of it. It took us about 90 minutes to figure out our mistake and correct it.

The remainder of the trek was in a valley and the trail and terrain improved as we went. Unfortunately our feet were starting to feel the distance and by the time we made it into the TA Nat, Todd and I were suffering with each step.

We were (over)due for some sleep when we arrived at the TA. We changed, built our bikes and then took another hour of sleep. For some reason the TA tents had not made it to the TA but it wasn't raining and my bivy sack was sufficiently warm.

We awoke just as the sun came up and set out on the next leg which would be a road bike ride to the caving. We traveled along well and made it to the next TA quicker than expected despite the headwind.

When we arrived at the Caving TA the only thing we could do was change into trekking shoes. We would have 5 hours off the clock to punch controls in 5 of 6 caves. Our hope was that we could get all 5 punched and then bank some sleep off the clock. Unfortunately we made a slight mistake going to one of the caves and the rest of the caving was slower than anticipated and we used all 5 hours to complete the stage.

The caves we went into were legit! I thought it would be a somewhat contrived event but each one had difficult and unique features to get through.

The most time-consuming cave had a feature called the Flattener which was about 15m long, 10m wide and just tall enough for one person to squeeze through on their stomach using your toes and fingertips to propel you though. Not a good place for someone with a fear of tight spaces.

Once back to the TA we packed up the bikes and loaded up the packs for the next packrafting leg.

In my mind the next three legs were going to be the toughest of the race.

We left the TA loaded down with the packrafts, paddles, pfd's and our bivy sacks knowing that we would not be able to paddle on the river given the dark zone for paddling at 8pm. Before we could paddle we had to punch CP36 on a slot canyon which led to the Shoalhaven River where the packrafting would occur. We made the decision to drop our non-mandatory gear, hike down to CP36 and punch, hike back up and then take the land route to the put-in. Our thinking was that the slot canyon could be a significant time suck if there was a lot of climbing required with our heavy packs.

When we finally hit the river we saw a few teams camped waiting for the paddle dark zone to lift and river left looked good for some trekking. We were able to cover around 8k before stopping for some sleep.

When we woke we continued along river left for a few more kms until we were cliffed out. We stripped down and swam across to the other side but then were able to continue to trek on river right until the 5am dark zone lift passing Sweco along the way as they slept.

Once we put on the rapids were pretty fun but shallow and we scrapped bottom quite a few times. Near the end Todd and I broached a rock and flipped in which was kind of comical. Sighting in the am looking straight into the rising sun was so difficult. Unfortunately we hung up on another rock and put a hole in the floor of the Gnu which we were able to fix with some Leukotape.

The flat portion of the paddle towards the end went pretty fast given the huge tailwind we were getting and we paddled into the dam TA in the morning sun.

We felt pretty good heading into the TA and just needed to grab more food and h2o.

We portaged down around the dam to the put in and set off with sunny skies. Unfortunately that didn't last too long and soon after we were in a few nasty downpours getting completely soaked. The rapids were marked on the map but it became tough to distinguish which rapids were worthy of mapping and which were not. Fortunately we did portage around the two rapids which presented some unsafe conditions.

At one point we had decided that we had made it past the mandatory portage rapid 50 and had also passed the next CP. After a paddle up river to where we thought it was we discovered (with the help of Merrell) that we were still up river of rapid 50 and needed to continue further down river.

Once past rapid 50 it was obvious that we were now out of the rapids as the water suddenly stopped flowing and our progress slowed. Temperatures continued to drop as we paddled on the river and the sun set. We made slow progress from here on as some struggled with sleep dep. and being cold. I ended up taking the map from Todd as he was very sleepy/low on calories. I was concerned that he wasn't able to pay enough attention and we might end up heading the wrong way.

As we approached the take-out in town the skies opened up again just as we were about to get off the river which made for a very cold exit. Fortunately there was a boathouse with showers at the TA and Nathalie was able to warm up along with the help of a dehydrated meal.

The original plan was to get an hour of sleep but as we were getting into dry clothes the rain stopped so we built our bikes and prepared to head out.

The last bike leg had about the same amount of climbing as the 2nd leg but over twice the distance and the hope was that it would be much more rideable and it proved to be so. Unfortunately we were all struggling with sleepiness so within the first 20k we decided to lay down for a 45 minute sleep which helped a ton and was just enough to get us to the finish.

It was a very cold night but we kept making forward progress and eventually daylight came and with it much warmer temps. There was definitely an eagerness to get to the finish driving the team.

As we approached the final TA we made a slight nav mistake which allowed 2 teams to pass us. When we arrived at the TA there was 3 teams there and Eastwind had just left.

Not exactly the finish we wanted but we certainly weren't going to waste the opportunity to pass some teams. We made our way out onto the beach and could see four teams ahead of us. We ran hard and were quick through the two swims and Todd made some great route choices. We passed all of the teams but Eastwind who despite our efforts still seemed to have a 1k lead on us.

As we approached the last CP we saw Eastwind's cameraman and he asked us if we had seen his team. We couldn't believe we had passed them along the way but didn't stick around to wonder how. 

We continued to run all the way to the finish expecting to see them come around each corner ahead of us but it wasn't to be and we finished a few minutes ahead of them in 21st place.

Race Summary:

Thursday - 12:31pm - Kayak 5:14:00 35.0 km   

Thursday - 5:45pm - Trek 2:03:00 14.0 km  

Thursday – 7:48pm - Kayak 1:44:00 13.0 km

Thursday – 9:32pm - Mtn Bike 9:09:00 95.0 km

 Friday – 6:41am - Trek 9:23:00 38.0 km  

Friday – 4:04pm - Kayak 6:24:00 37.0 km

Friday – 10:28pm – Mtn Bike 9:17:00 + 1 hour sleep  58.0 km   

Saturday – 8:45am - Trek 19:30:00 35.0 km

Sunday – 4:15am - Mtn Bike 5:48:00 + 1 hour sleep  70.0 km

Sunday – 10:02am - Trek (Caving) 5:00:00 5.0 km  

Sunday – 3:02pm - Trek & Packrafting 18:20:00 + 2 hours sleep  48.0 km

Monday – 11:22am - Kayak 11:44:00 56.0 km  

Monday – 11:06pm - Mtn Bike 11:16:00 + 45 min sleep 99.0 km  

Tuesday – 11:27pm - Trek 2:33:00  18.0 km

Tuesday - 2:00pm - Finish

Total: 121 hours 29 minutes (5 nights)
Sleep: 4 hours 45 minutes

Wilderness traverse 5th coed

After a very chaotic summer, our team decided at the last minute to sign up for the Wilderness Traverse 24 hour adventure race in Parry Sound, Ontario. This race never disappoints and always draws a strong field, so we were excited to have the chance to race it again this year. After some scrambling to find a team mate, we (Jason, Nat, and James) finally managed to coax Ryan VanGorder to join us for the race. 

Stunning scenery on the paddle

We knew ahead of time that the race would feature 4 legs – paddle, bike, trek, and bike – with a swim on the trek section. But the rest was a mystery until we got the maps on Friday night. The paddle had what looked like two major options: 1. The Northern route, which looked shorter but had more portaging, and 2. The Southern route, which looked longer but with less portaging. The first bike was short and relatively straightforward. The trek looked like it would certainly be the crux of the race, with few big features on the map, and tons of water everywhere. The final bike looked like what we have come to expect in this region – a mix of roads and trails that would likely be more challenging than they appear on the map. 

After an early morning bus ride to the start line, we snatched up two decent looking canoes and got ourselves ready for the race start. The start in canoes was the usual chaos – boats going in all directions, crazy waves everywhere, and the challenge of keeping contact with your team mates in the other canoe. Nathalie and James were paired up in one canoe, with Jason and Ryan doing the navigation from the other boat. After some jostling on the water, the cluster of teams began to thin out. We were up amongst the leaders when we pulled in to a bay briefly to see if it was our turnoff for the Southern route – it wasn’t. We lost some ground to the lead teams and paddled hard to get ourselves back into the mix. We had decided to take the Southern route, feeling that our paddling was stronger than our portaging versus the strong teams in the race. But it was a tough call to make and difficult to know which way would be faster. It looked as though about half the teams went on the southern route while the other half went north.  As it turned out, the Northern route, despite having more portaging, was about 10 to 20 minutes faster (based on teams were paddling with before the split in routes). We managed to get off the paddle tied for 5^th place in just over 5 ½ hours. 

Our paddle track (in red) on the Southern route vs. the Northern route (in blue)

 After a quick transition to the bike, we headed out for a quick hammer session in 5^th place. We posted a fast time on this section lasting just about 1 ½ hours and maintained our 5^th place overall. After another speedy transition, we set out in 4^th place for what we knew would be a long and challenging section of the race. We moved well through the bush, following our bearing and trying to match any features we could to the map. Everything seemed to be going well, until we came across a set of train tracks. While this was helpful in the sense of being a feature that we could easily find on the map (although we wouldn’t be sure where we were on the tracks), it was not at all where we expected to be. This was confirmed by the navigator staring into his map, slowly moving his eyes further away from the intended target, and finally finding the train tracks on the map – followed by a less-than-enthusiastic “oh sh*t…”. What had started as a b-line through the bush to try and catch the leaders quickly became an exercise in navigating to find another big feature so we could confirm where we were – not an easy thing to do in this area! 

Taking the scenic route (in red) to the first trekking CP!

 After finally re-orienting ourselves and getting back on track, we eventually made it to the first trekking CP, only to find out that we had lost about 1 ½ hours to the lead teams. We refocused and pushed on the get the rest of the trekking CPs as quickly as possible. At many points in the trek we were faced with the decision to swim across a long narrow channel of water (usually about 50m – 100m wide) or to contour around (sometimes 500m or more). Earlier in the evening we chose the swim option, but as it got dark we opted most of the time for the contouring. However, this did not preclude us from multiple romps through the muddy, swampy areas that seemed to be everywhere. We finally finished the trek about 3 ½ hours behind the leaders and in 9^th place.

Getting close to the finish line!

The final transition was slower than the previous two, as we were wet, cold, and somewhat disappointed to be so far behind the leaders. But we pushed on to the final section of the race knowing we were strong on the bike and were hopeful that we could gain back some of the ground we lost in the trek. The bike ride was challenging and quite cold at times overnight - particularly when we were on the open road or wading through swamps. But we rode well and managed to make up some ground for the most part. Unfortunately we struggled to find one particular trailhead that we thought was in a gravel pit, but turned out to be just before the gravel pit. However, we were still able to cross the finish line in 5^th place in the co-ed division and 7^th place overall.

While this was certainly not our best race, even a bad day on an adventure race course is still a good day J. We had some real highlights and some great challenges as well during the race and unfortunately this time we came out on the wrong end of some difficult navigation. But we still had a great time and worked well together. It was an unexpected and welcome opportunity for us to get in one more race before the adventure racing world championships in early November. It was great to race with Ryan and hopefully we will get another chance down the line to race with him again. But for now, it’s time to turn our sights to the few final weeks of training for the world championships!

What a great spot for a checkpoint!

Cowboy tough 2016- 6th place

2016 Cameco Cowboy Tough Adventure Race, Casper, WY

Team Canada AR Race Report

With James on loan to Adventure Medical Kits for this race we recruited Charles Triponez and Matt Hayes to join us for the race. Both would be solid additions to the squad with a ton of racing experience to draw from.

Race check-in began Wednesday at 11:00am with the typical forms to hand in, rappel check, mandatory gear check, map handout and racer weigh in.

 

 

Jason was not happy to find out he was the heavyweight on the team for this race. We spent the remainder of the afternoon going over the maps with optional points to plot and routes to find and then a final pack of the gear bins just before handing them in at 8:30pm.

 

 

1:50:00, 49 km.

The race would start as a group ride along a bike path out of town following an ATV with a rolling road closure at the intersections. 

 

Once we hit the road the pace amped up a little but it wasn’t too bad until we started onto the gentle climbs where the initial team selection was made with AMK, Tecnu, Yogaslackers, Swedish Armed Forces, Team North Face and us making the cut. We hammer along and put about 5 minutes into the remaining peleton before reaching the first transition area. This was exactly what we hoped would happen as we had a small cushion for the transition topaddling, avoiding a massive hurricane for the most part.

2:20:00, 28 km.

We put on the North Platte River for what would be over 100 miles of paddling with a few stops mixed in. We were just ahead of Team North Face but they took a better line through the first small ripples and passed us. We ended up following them all the way to the Water Challenge at anabandoned fort, passing Journey Racing along the way.

0:10:00, 1.0 km.

The Water Challenge involved a take-out at a small landing where each team needed to haul 4 buckets of water up to a cistern in the old fort in teams of two being careful not to lose too much water out of the bucket or you’d have to make a second trip.

 

 

 

AMK and Tecnu were both one bucket trip ahead of us at this point.

1:45:00 21.0 km.

Once the challenge was complete it was back into the boats for an uneventful paddle to the town of Douglas.

0:45:00 7.0 km.

In Douglas there was a canoe drop for a short urban o-course with points at a WWII Internment Camp, a stop at the College Inn for a shot of whiskey and in a train car museum. 

 

 

We took the opportunity to fill up our bladders for the next long paddle leg just before putting back in.

3:00:00 36 km.

Back on the river the current was still flowing well and we continued to make solid progress in the Mad River 16’ bananas through the afternoon. This section seemed long however as we did not see another team the entire way.

2:00:00 8.0 km.

Midway through this leg there were 5 optional points to pick up just prior to the

reservoir. The 5 points were up on a plateau and split by a large reentrant in the middle. Charles saw his first bald eagle just before the take-out. There were multiple strategies used by teams to get the points with a majority landing at the reentrant and doing two out-and- backs to get them all including us.

5:40:00 35.0 km.

The 5 optional points provided a nice break from paddling but it there was still more to go so we got back into the boats for the remaining portion of leg 3 paddle. 

 

Unfortunately it was in the Glendo Reservoir and the current was no longer providing help. In addition, a solid wind had picked

up straight across the water right into our teeth as night fell. We never had water over the bow but I am sure it was very close a few times. A number of teams behind us took shelter as the winds continued to build through the night. We paddled the entire reservoir with the two-person team of Nordic Adventure

hot on our sterns. I’m sure they were happy to have another team near-by in case they had an issue.

Later in the race we heard of another 2-person team that spent over an hour waiting for a rescue after their boat sank.

6:00:00 49.0 km.

At the take-out we portaged the canoes to the TA and transitioned to biking. There were a number of optional bike points to pick up in the challenging Glendo Bike Trail system. There was an impressive amount of work done to make these trails, cut straight into the canyon walls and along the tops of the nearby hills with giant slabs of rock as the trail bed. Most of the trails were rideable but there was still a fair amount of bike pushing required, mostly anytime we went up-hill. Somewhere along the way I dinged my derailleur and it would act up for the remainder of the race. It’s surprisingmore people didn’t knock them off on rocks completely here.

5:20:00 39.0 km.

We made it back to the TA in time to score 11 minutes of time credit since the paddle 4 dark zone didn’t lift until 5:30am. We filled up bladders and then portaged down to the river on the other side of the reservoir dam. 

It wasn’t easy starting back up paddling given the distance we had paddled in the 20 hours before but that quickly changed when we say the first set of rapids coming up.

We made it through with a solid line without scouting but a number of the earlier teams had at least one boat capsize here. There was a number of smaller rapids along this last leg which made this paddle go by relatively quickly.

Just prior to entering the Wendover Canyon there was another set of rapids to negotiate which everyone was keen to clear without swimming. They were set up in an S turn so that there was not one clear side to stay on and required traversing from river right to left in the middle of the S. Fortunatelyboth of our boats negotiated them without an issue.

Once clear of the remaining river obstacles we set our sights on catching Journey Racing who were again ahead of us. We caught them just prior to entering the Guernsey Reservoir with a number of pick-ups originally intended to wake up a few of the sleepy paddlers on the team. For some reason there was a new take-out location and we wasting a little time heading to the mapped version before figuring it out.

I guess the lady jumping up and down and pointing should have been a clue we picked up on sooner.

We packed up our paddle gear and wished it a fond farewell, hoping to never see it again then transitioned to biking.

4:40:00 73.0 km.

The bike leg consisted of a few early controls to reward those not taking the bike Fast Forward option prior to Paddle 4. We rode to those with Journey Racing but they put some tome on us when we stopped at a well for water. The next portion of the leg was on a busy road but we had a great tailwind and it made for some fast traveling. In the distance we could see the mountains we were riding to and as we slowly got closer to them the climbing increased. The last 10k was mostly all uphill granny gear climbing.

6:05:00 21.0 km.

We rolled into the TA looking forward to the first real trekking and it didn’t disappoint.

 

There were no controls mid-route to keep you on track, just solid navigation. Fortunately we had the aid of daylight and a tone of scenery to use for handrails and we could see Laramie Peak in the distance.

 

 

Matt did a great job of locating the South Branch and we made a good call to exit the canyon towards the end before getting boxed in. We cleared the saddle just as the sun set and then descended down to the next TA and our gear bins.

AMK arrived from the Laramie Peak climb as we were transitioning and had taken the lead from Tecnu on the climb up. We finished our TA then tried to get an hour of sleep prior to the KOM climb.

Unfortunately the TA was too noisy and only Matt and Nathalie got any sleep.

4:50:00 20.0 km.

We set off for the climb with a gravel road run to the trailhead. There must have been 150 switchbacks on the climb to the top. Once there we glanced around at the view quickly, punched and then set off on the descent. I think I tripped over every rock in my sleep-deprived state on the way down.

6:35:00 57.0 km.

Back at the TA we transitioned to biking and then attempted another hour of sleep.

With the aid of some earplugs we were all successful in finally sleeping and I felt significantly better once awaking.

The next bike leg had some great downhills with 5-8 km stretches of coasting at 35 kph and we made solid time while heading towards the next o-course.

4:00:00 13.0 km.

The next o-course contained an ascent and a rappel which we went to first, then on to the remaining points.
 

photo credit Chris Radcliff

 

It was a cool area for orienteering with some big features to locate controls on (lots of climbing). Around this time we started looking at our schedule and we were about 4 hours

behind. There was still some slack time before the race finish but the urgency needed to stay high to ensure we clear the course.

6:20:00 71.0 km.

Much to our disappointment the Wyoming Winds picked up and we had a tough

sidewind to contend with on the next biking leg along with some considerable granny gear climbing.

 

photo credit Chris Radcliff

 

Halfway through the leg we turned straight into to it which slowed our pace to a crawl (12-15 kph).

Eventually as the sun went down the wind did as well making the last few km to the TA much easier.

1:40:00 10.0 km.

The next o-course was basically a small valley in the middle of a cattle farm. We

picked up 5 easy points here and I’m not really sure what the purpose of this stop was other than a prescribed chance to get off your bike in the middle of a 150 km ride which was appreciated.

6:54:00 70.0 km.

As we left on to Bike 6 we had a great view of an approaching thunderstorm. Our route took us straight into the heart of it but we made it through without incident most-likely due to Nathalie keeping her head ducked down lower than everyone else’s on the team as we rode past.

While under the storm the air was completely still. Once we made it past we were instantly greeted with a cold front and the temps dropped to the mid-40’s. Just after punching the only control on the ride we decided to get 30 minutes of sleep.

Once barely awake again we set out on the long 2000 ft climb up to the Muddy Mtn TA. It was a granny gear climb all the way to the top.

3:00:00 17.0 km.

As we were transitioning to for the last o-course we noticed that Team North Face was still there and sleeping. They heard us arrive and set out just ahead of us. 

Unfortunately we struggled with the first point on the ridge and lost and chance of passing them for 5 th place. The remaining controls went smoothly and we headed back to our last TA of the race.

3:16:00 25.0 km.

There were a number of teams in the TA. By this time they were mostly the teams on the bike tour option, those who were skipping all of the o-course controls to stay on schedule to reach the finish before it closed. It was a nice ride down Muddy Mtn to the base of Casper Mtn despite our difficulties in sitting on our bike seats. The road turned to pavement making the climb to the top easier.

Once at the top it was a 3000 ft. descent to the bottom and the finish in Casper where we arrived in 6th place, the last team to clear the course.