Triangle Adventure Racing Team

Proving that Adventure Racers can still go head to head with the specialist, Bruce Dale clocked a 21:49 5k to take 3rd overall at the Wood Chopper’s Festival 5K in West Virginia over the Memorial Day weekend.  Commenting that this 5K was by the far the toughest he had ever completed was a good indication of how intense these short races can be.  There were two hills on the course that only the top three runners at the time were able to run all the way up without walking.  After hovering around the top 1o runners for the first two miles the course flattened out allowing him to move up into third place overall by the finish line.  No complaints really as the top two runners were local high school athletes……

I had the chance to take part in a very well presented wilderness med course during the last weekend of May with classes taking part at Pilot Mountain State Park and Lake Crabtree County Park.  I volunteered to lead the hiking section at Pilot Mountain in exchange for sitting through the course for free.  I was suprised at the amount of information presented to include fire starting and even some pretty decent self defense tips.  The climbing section was well done though with so many people I was only able to score one 70ft rappell before retiring back to Raleigh for the day.   Dr. Ellen Smith the instructor was not only knowledgable but was on my heels the entire hike which included some seriously tough run sections.  If you’re gonna talk the talk, you better walk the walk and she most certainly did.  Check out her website and if she ever comes back to Raleigh volunteer or sign up for a class, definately a plus. 

www.wildmedmd.com

Congrats go out to Charlie Roberts and Brian Thompson for their superb results from the Ultra-OGaine in Chattanooga Tenn…..Charlie (spider-pig) raced SOLO to a 2nd overall…only behind the AR top guns Team Inov-8…Brian followed suit with an 8th overall SOLO effort.  From the race reports, the event took some seriously solid navigation skills coupled with just flat out foot endurance.  Check out more info. on the race at:

http://cpadventures.com/ultra/forms.php

While these two were out tearing it up, Bruce was racing with Columbia SC Trailblazer President Dale Long in the Yuki Series Joy 12 HR Adventure Race in Pilot Mountain NC.  Their final time of 12HRs38Min and 20 Checkpoints was good for 3rd overall.  The race featured about 12 miles of trekking, 40 miles of Mountain Biking and a 12 mile paddle on the Yadkin River.  Featuring incredible scenary and a killer course design including several river crossings the race will be a must do for 2009.   Check out the race pics on our Trailblazer website from the large contingent of RDU-Trailblazer racers that tackled the course.

http://adventureracing.meetup.com/17/photos/

Congrats to Brian Thompson who paired up with Angie Tabor of NC Adventure Racers to take second in the C0-ed category and 6th overall in the 12 HR category of the race.  Featuring a rogaine format the pair were out for well over 11 HRS gathering points.  Check out their pics from the boat transition where they broke in Bruce’s new Mad River canoe during the boat leg. 

A very memorable day indeed…..not so much the results…not so much the race…but very much PISGAH!  If you’ve ridden there you know what I mean that one word says it all.  Thanks to Pisgah Productions and if you haven’t done one of their events don’t worry the Double Dare awaits in Sept/October time frame.  Unlike 2007, the weather was great, the trails in great shape and some seriously good riding was done.  8 hours of riding, four checkpoints and many beers around the keg made for a great day in the mountains. 

My teammate (J.D. Powers) finished 24th of 68 teams in 8HRS 05 MIN with about 50 miles of riding and hike-a-bike.  Looking forward to 2009! 

Three members of Triangle-AR tackled the Umstead 100 Mile endurance run over the weekend of April 5 and 6. Known of it’s hills and of course not to mention an insane 100 miles of running, the races draws hundreds of runners from across the country. For the 2008 version Ernie Chilcott joined the ranks of finishers with a 26HR effort, Brian T. reported having to drop at the 62.5 mile mark as a result of stomach issues…yeah he ONLY ran 62.5 miles…….and Charlie Roberts stopped after completing the 50 mile option due to foot problems….if you see his blog on the Umstead Run you will quickly see why. He casually mentioned that maybe the 77 mile run from just a few weeks before Umstead might not have let his feet get cleared up in time to tackle the 100 miler……..go figure

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 From Bruce Dale (Team 5-0), Bruce raced with Dale Long of Conway SC. Dale is the current Columbia Chapter President, check out their entire race report and results here! Read the rest of this entry »

We get alot of questions from site visitors regarding navigation resources and guidance and so I was able to locate probably the best single document explaining Adventure Racing UTM plotting, navigation, pre-race procedures etc.  Check out this link, courtesy of the NY Adventure Racing Association:

http://home.satx.rr.com/gearjunkie/