Triangle Adventure Racing Team

by Brian Thompson - Triangle Adventure Racing Team

The race started at 6:00am with the distribution of maps and passports. Ernie, Charlie and I waited expectantly by our gear as Sean ran back from race HQ with the maps. The first leg turned out to be a small portage to the boat ramp on Blue Ridge Lake followed by a long paddle. Charlie plotted the CPs for the paddling leg while the rest of us got the gear ready. After about 15min we were on our way. We were using Charlie’s canoe, which fortunately was small enough for one person to carry on their shoulders. We rotated during the portage.one person carrying the canoe, one person carrying the paddling gear, one person checking the map. This worked well, but not as well as some of the teams that literally ran by us with their canoes on rollers. We’ll have to remember that little trick for the next race.

At the canoe put-in, you could barely see the light sticks of the lead teams already on the water. Apparently, they took off immediately after receiving the maps and plotted CPs while in the canoes…another useful trick to remember for the next race. We donned our paddling gear, put the boat in the water and quickly hit our paddling stride. All of the paddling CPs were just off the lake shore, giving us a chance to get out of the boat and stretch the legs every once and awhile. We crossed Blue Ridge Lake several times and were pretty much able to hold our position throughout.

After 4 ½ hours of paddling we reached the first transition area in a tie for 7th. Sean had everything ready for the next leg - mountain biking. Charlie plotted the CPs, Ernie fixed a flat, I helped Sean load the canoe on the truck. Pretty routine but we somehow lost 4 positions and left the TA in 11th.

Luckily the rain had held off during the paddle and appeared to be doing the same during the bike. We quickly hit an unmanned CP marking the start of a long uphill single-track leading to the top of Green Mountain. This is where things started to hurt. Ernie and Charlie are both strong on the bike and it ’s far from my strong point. I tried not to hold them back too much, but wound up having to walk several sections. After a short (too short) downhill ride to CP8, the trail headed upward again to Davenport and Rocky Mountains. Again more walking, but surprisingly, only a few teams passed us during this leg. We finally exited the single-track trail at CP9 and continued eastward on paved roads. After just a couple of miles, we turned onto a series of fire roads that seemed to go on forever. At this point I was really dragging. Thankfully, the night before, Charlie had rigged an improvised tow system using a carabiner, runner, elastic cord and, of course, duct tape. Charlie was strong enough to tow me up the hills for the remainder of the
biking leg. After a few of hours of riding we hit CP10, and then eventually CP11, and then finally we rolled into TA2 around 5:30pm and in 9th place.

Sean had snagged a primo spot at the TA and had quite the setup - a roaring fire, tarp to keep the rain off and a steaming pot of raman noodles. After a short rest we headed off on the trekking leg.

At this point our luck with the weather ran out and the slow drizzle had built into a steady rain. Dusk was turning into night and on came the headlamps. The first part of the trek was difficult, heading straight up the Benton-Mackaye Trail to Tooni Mountain. Little John Dick and Big John Dick Mountains soon followed. The elevations at the peaks and along the ridge lines were over 3000ft which made for a very cold, very wet trek. There were several teams leapfrogging each other along this part of the trek. We soon came to the point where we had to bushwhack to CP14. Charlie made an excellent choice of routes and we hit CP14 without any trouble. A short hike along fire roads led us to CP15 from which point we were to bushwhack to CP16. The passport suggested a route that appeared to take us miles out of the way, however the now infamous Mill Creek route offered a prominent hand rail that should have taken us straight to the next checkpoint. We headed off into the wilderness for what would eventually become a 5 ½ hour bushwhack. This particular part of the forest was a combination of thick rhododendron, slick deadfall, steep ravines and treacherous stream crossings. There were so many streams that picking up the one we wanted proved very difficult. We eventually came across Team NADs who was likewise having trouble navigating this part of the course. We collaborated together for maybe an hour and finally went separate ways.only to cross paths with them in another two. After 5 or so hours of stumbling through the woods, I
caught a glimpse of a distant headlamp. After some discussion we figured we would go ask this other team if they had any idea of where they were (because we sure as hell didn’t). As luck would have it, what we thought was a headlamp was in realty a stop sign. And beside the stop sign. CP16. Miraculously, we were in 8th place.

At this point I was really feeling bad.bad enough to want to drop out. Thankfully, Ernie and Charlie convinced me to push through it. Again, both were really strong. Ernie took my pack and Charlie helped me up some of the steeper hills. After a lengthy hike and some more excellent navigation on Charlie’s part, we hit CP17 and then more hiking and finally at 8:30am we hit CP18. The volunteers at CP18 indicated that we would miss the cutoff at TA3 (and thus be forced to drop out) if we continued on the full course to CP19, so the decision was made to proceed directly TA3 on an alternate course. A volunteer at CP18 indicated that it was a short, flat hike back to the TA. It was anything but short and flat. Two hours later, at 10:30am, we arrived at TA3.

Sean as usual had everything ready to go and made sure to keep us on schedule.we only had 30 minutes to transition before the cutoff. We swapped our trekking shoes for bikes and set out on the final biking leg, a short but tortuous ride back to the Start/Finish line. My tank was on empty the whole way. Ernie took up the towing responsibilities as we plodded along backcountry roads. We eventually crossed the finish line at 1:48pm.

All in all it was a very tough but fair race. There were only 20 official finishers out of the 78 teams that started. Of those, only 7 were able to complete the full course. Twelve other teams either missed the final cutoff or finished unofficially. The remaining 46 teams dropped out of the race at some point. We were fortunate enough to be the first team that finished the alternate course and placed 8th overall.

This was my first time racing as a member of a team and it was great having such strong teammates as Ernie and Charlie. A lot of thanks also to Sean for handling all the support duties by himself.

Here are the only two pictures we have from the race, right as the team rides up to the finish line.

2nd all-male team, 8th overall (31 hrs 42 min). 78 teams started, only 22 crossed the finish line. Charlie, Ernie and Brian raced. Sean supported.

1st overall, expert category in Orienteering Score “O”. Punched 410 of 460 available points. _Brian, Ernie, and Charlie competed as a team.