RACE: Sweaty Otter 24hr Adventure Race Aug 9-10 2008

Well, well, well, I did my first 24hr race this weekend, and yes, I was exhausted. We finished 5th in our division, and 10th overrall, which I am extremely happy with. I raced with team Chupacabra, who are April and Ellie Hernann, and we turned out to have an extremely efficient and consistent team, always making forward progress, even when we hit the proverbial "roadblock," and had to re-orient ourselves.

Total mileage for the race was around 73miles on/off road on our mountain bikes, 15 or so miles on foot and between 5-7miles in canoe. Other highlights were the zip-line, riding singletrack in virtual darkness with nothing but headlamps, and of course, just the general running around in the woods.

After the pre-race meeting, there was a ten second countdown and we were off on our 3mile trail run and then back to the transition area (TA1) for the first set of maps. Three miles in the woods put a nice distance between a lot of the teams to spread things out. We got moving on our bikes and headed out to the New Fane trail head for some singletrack. Nothing crazy to write about, it was definitely fun and had a few good, rocky climbs, but a smart, intermediate trail.

Next was the first orienteering course (o-course) and this is where we felt our first pangs of frustration. Three of the checkpoints we found quickly, but the other two, well they took us longer.

Canoeing was awesome. It really felt like we were in a planetarium during the three hours that we paddled to the checkpoint. We saw four or five shooting stars while we were out on the water. With the temperature dropping like it did, April was almost hypothermic and we followed some other teams' suit and wrapped her up in her emergency blanket. Trouble is, when you're going downhill on a bike in excess of 30mph, the wind doesn't care how many layers you're wearing, it's just effing cold.

Time for some more singletrack!!! This route was a little harder, or maybe it was because it was 4am when we started. The trail took us about an hour, but it was a first racing in pitch black with only a few lights showing the way.

The zip line, how 'bout it? I did it twice.

Back at the Zilmer trail head is the start of the final and optional o-course. We end up getting four of them and my knees felt every single step we took.

I would say I ate 10-12 energy gels, 7-8Power/Cliff Bars, a few bananas, a full bag of beef jerky and drank 250oz of water and electrolyte drinks.

Thanks to April and Ellie Hernann for welcoming me to Team Chupacabra with open arms, and thanks to all of Team Fat Otter and the volunteers for putting this race together. I will absolutely be back next year!