APRIL 29, 2007
Marsh Creek State Park
CHESTER COUNTY, PA
20 MILES/6 HOURS (Bike, Run, Canoe and other feats of strength)
Results (unofficial):
Team HKI had a good showing, but unfortunately couldn't find one checkpoint on the last leg of the race - the bike. The race started with the race organizer shouting instructions regarding the race and the crowd of racers trying to figure out what the hell was going on.
The prologue: One team member runs about 100 yards to the lake where three or four volunteers were tossing passports (checkpoint collection sheet). Cold water mixed with frantic racers equals thrown elbows and people pushing weaker racers under. I think it was a bad way to start a race, but whatever. This is adventure racing for you.
The first leg: Team HKI team up with Team Tricerat forming Team Enter the Draggin. Luckily we had the same course route (orienteering course, challenge course, canoe course, bike course). We were firing on all cyclinders at the get go, which is a blessing and a curse. The excitement and energy is a good thing, but the lack of reading the map thoroughly, got us off track after CP 1. We figured the errors of our way once we hit a horse field and turned around. We got back on track and got into the meat of the O-course. We were finding the CPs pretty easily until we got to the dreaded quarry trail...we spent over a half hour looking for one CP. We eventually found it and found the remaining CPs pretty easily. On the way back to the staging area, I tweaked my ankle pretty bad...but pushed through it.
The second leg: The challenges were pretty simple. since I ran the prologue, Jimmie offered to climb the rock wall. He scaled the wall with nary a problem..except for the first attempt when one of the handles came loose. Scary moment. He got back on the horse and climbed the wall like a spider - 2 points HKI!
Up next was the partner carry. I was tentative on this one since I just tweaked my ankle. I opted to go first carrying Jammie piggyback style. Then I was hoisted on Jimmie's shoulder fireman-style. I'm pretty sure it hurt me, more than it hurt him.
The last leg was the ping-pong ball/tube challenge. Basic premise - fill a five foot pvc pipe with water to retrieve the ping-pong ball inside. The challenge - there were two holes on the tube which one team member had to plug up with hands only. The kicker, the team members had to alternate positions - waterman/hole-plugger. In the end, my beer pong skills prevailed as I blew the ping-pong ball out of the pipe.
The third leg: I thought canoes were or leisurely strolls in the lake, maybe a nice picnic. Five miles in a canoe, with headwinds, is pure torture. Finding the CP's was easy, the distance was the killer. I don't even want to talk about it anymore.
The last leg: Our strong suit, biking. We started off a little confused, but got on course. The day started to become long and I didn't hydrate/eat well enough. I started bonking a little after midway. We all started to become a little irritated that we couldn't find CPs. At the end Team Tricerat broke off and ended the course by finding the last two remaining CPs. Unfortunately, we couldn't find the last CP.
All in all, I had a great day and learned a lot from my mistakes. I'm glad we ran with Toby and Hoppe and hopefully we do more of these races together.
Result are hopefully forthcoming.
Marsh Creek State Park
CHESTER COUNTY, PA
20 MILES/6 HOURS (Bike, Run, Canoe and other feats of strength)
Results (unofficial):
Team HKI had a good showing, but unfortunately couldn't find one checkpoint on the last leg of the race - the bike. The race started with the race organizer shouting instructions regarding the race and the crowd of racers trying to figure out what the hell was going on.
The prologue: One team member runs about 100 yards to the lake where three or four volunteers were tossing passports (checkpoint collection sheet). Cold water mixed with frantic racers equals thrown elbows and people pushing weaker racers under. I think it was a bad way to start a race, but whatever. This is adventure racing for you.
The first leg: Team HKI team up with Team Tricerat forming Team Enter the Draggin. Luckily we had the same course route (orienteering course, challenge course, canoe course, bike course). We were firing on all cyclinders at the get go, which is a blessing and a curse. The excitement and energy is a good thing, but the lack of reading the map thoroughly, got us off track after CP 1. We figured the errors of our way once we hit a horse field and turned around. We got back on track and got into the meat of the O-course. We were finding the CPs pretty easily until we got to the dreaded quarry trail...we spent over a half hour looking for one CP. We eventually found it and found the remaining CPs pretty easily. On the way back to the staging area, I tweaked my ankle pretty bad...but pushed through it.
The second leg: The challenges were pretty simple. since I ran the prologue, Jimmie offered to climb the rock wall. He scaled the wall with nary a problem..except for the first attempt when one of the handles came loose. Scary moment. He got back on the horse and climbed the wall like a spider - 2 points HKI!
Up next was the partner carry. I was tentative on this one since I just tweaked my ankle. I opted to go first carrying Jammie piggyback style. Then I was hoisted on Jimmie's shoulder fireman-style. I'm pretty sure it hurt me, more than it hurt him.
The last leg was the ping-pong ball/tube challenge. Basic premise - fill a five foot pvc pipe with water to retrieve the ping-pong ball inside. The challenge - there were two holes on the tube which one team member had to plug up with hands only. The kicker, the team members had to alternate positions - waterman/hole-plugger. In the end, my beer pong skills prevailed as I blew the ping-pong ball out of the pipe.
The third leg: I thought canoes were or leisurely strolls in the lake, maybe a nice picnic. Five miles in a canoe, with headwinds, is pure torture. Finding the CP's was easy, the distance was the killer. I don't even want to talk about it anymore.
The last leg: Our strong suit, biking. We started off a little confused, but got on course. The day started to become long and I didn't hydrate/eat well enough. I started bonking a little after midway. We all started to become a little irritated that we couldn't find CPs. At the end Team Tricerat broke off and ended the course by finding the last two remaining CPs. Unfortunately, we couldn't find the last CP.
All in all, I had a great day and learned a lot from my mistakes. I'm glad we ran with Toby and Hoppe and hopefully we do more of these races together.
Result are hopefully forthcoming.
Team Tricerat (Toby Carson & Matt Hoppe) and Team HKI (Cameron Chesnik & Jimmie Lobley)
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