2006 GRAAR Salomon/Moosejaw Spring Adventure Challenge

Team Sparty On/SMAC – Phil Shrader and John Pollock




We were all pretty happy that the forecast for frost did not come to fruition. The air was chilly, but it looked to be a great day for racing. The maps were handed out at the pre-race briefing. It was the first time John had a chance to review an AR map. The initial run, mountain biking, and canoeing looked pretty straight forward. Each stage had an optional CP which from the beginning we planned to get.

At the start we headed for CP1. My navigation was a little off but we made the best of it by continuing on to the river where the optional CPA was located. A quick river crossing to get the feet wet first thing is always a good thing. Once located, it was a straight shot west back to CP1. Back to the road that lead to CP3 and the trail to CP2. Both were easily located and we were off to the bike drop and CP4. It wasn’t until we hit the bike drop that we realized how bloody our legs were from the raspberry bushes around CP1. Note: consider gaiters for next race. The loop around to CP5 was not very technical, but required some tight steering around trees and bends in the trail. After CP5 I noticed a low hum coming from my rear tire. Going over a couple roots confirmed that it was going flat. I contemplated trying to make it to the canoe drop at TA1, but I would have to change the tube either way so better to do it now before more damage is done. I removed the tire from the bike and tried to pull the tire off rim. My fingers weren’t working so I grabbed my required gear tire levers and went to work removing the tire. I put a new tube on the rim and pumped it up. We were back in the race. The required gear isn’t just to slow you down, but it really comes in handy when needed. As we made our way to the bike drop my rear tire was sounding strange again. It occurred to me that I had not checked the tire for foreign objects. Is it possible a nail was still in the tire and I punctured my new tube as well? We made it to TA1 and I decided to wait until after the canoeing to worry about the tire again.

The long paddle upstream caused our shoulders to burn with lactic acid, but with teams right in front and behind we didn’t have a chance to rest the weary muscles. We made CP6 and optional CPB then headed back downstream to grab CP7. Downstream with the wind at your back is much easier. After CP7 we went back upstream to the take-out. A little muddy, but our arms could finally rest.

First thing I did when we reached our bikes was to check the tire pressure. It hadn’t changed while we were canoeing but needed topping off. I pumped it up and we were riding again. It seemed to be holding just fine. We snaked our way to CP8 and CP9 then onto optional CPC. Again, nothing too technical but some tight spaces between the trees.

We reached CP10 where we received our orienteering map. A quick change of shoes and some electrolytes and we were running to the first CP. CPD was easy enough to find then we headed south to CPE in a reentrant. I made a wrong guess that sent us up the wrong reentrant. We spent way to many minutes running in circles looking for CPE. Clearer minds prevailed and we headed to the other reentrant and found CPE as clear as day. Too much time wasted instead of accepting the fact that I might be wrong. A quick trail run took us to CPF and another run to CPG. North to an overlook and CPH then back to CPI. We headed east for CPJ. When we hit a road I assumed we had overshot CPJ. We looped around a couple times then realized we had not gone far enough. After the race I noticed the road was on the map between CPI and CPJ. Remember to look closely at the map when lost. From CPJ we followed the ridge to CPK and bushwhacked north to CPL. We emerged a little bloody and scraped but close to CPL. We only had a trail run to the last control, CPM. We arrived at CPM just after two other teams. They both headed for the road. We took a shorter, clear path to the road and emerged about 20 yards ahead of them. The race back to the finish was on. We all heaved our weary legs as fast as we could. We decided to stay on the road instead of trying a shortcut to the parking lot. We didn’t want to hit any barriers with teams so close behind us. A final kick leading up to the parking lot was exactly what we needed. Just as we cleared the tent corner to finish, another team was right there, they had taken the short cut.

We took third overall and first in the male/male division. A good race for us, especially this being John’s first adventure race. We had fun and learned some important lessons. Required gear is useful, accept you might be wrong, double check the map, take more time to consider the best route, and that little extra kick in the end can make a difference.

Thanks to GRAAR (http://www.graar.org) for a great race and SMAC (http://www.smacworld.com) for their support.