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Team
LooseGravel wins the Fourth Annual Planet Adventure 24-Hour Challenge
Forty three teams started the Fourth Annual Planet Adventure 24-Hour Challenge race with a hilly 2 mile trail run that included a boulder field and then a 6 mile hilly bike ride to the start of the paddle leg. The first paddle leg was 6.5 miles around beautiful Cagles Mill Lake. Teams than beached their canoes and embarked on a 12 mile FARSTA "O" course. A FARSTA is a unique orienteering event that takes its name from a Swedish town. All teams are required to hit the same control points, but in a different order, therefore not being able to follow other teams. After the FARSTA "O" course, teams then paddled to the lower Cataract Falls, where they had a 1.5 mile trek to the upper Cataract Falls to negotiate a spectacular 300 foot Tyrolean traverse. After negotiating the traverse, teams paddled back to their bikes completing 17 miles of paddling. Teams biked back to TA 1 after racing 9.5 to 14 hours in record high 80 degree temperatures for early April in Indiana. After leaving TA 1, teams journeyed on a 40 mile mountain bike leg that included more tough hills, gravel roads and creek crossings. Teams finished this bike leg with a single track loop around Wasatch Lake. Most teams headed out to complete the final and rugged orienteering course in complete darkness in terrain that included thick brush and steep ravines. Teams then raced back to the finish line at Wasatch Lake to finish what was undoubtedly the most challenging and exciting Planet Adventure race. Here are the following top ten teams: 1
LooseGravel 18:19:00 For complete race results, please visit the Global X Racing website at www.GlobalXRacing.com. Congratulations to the following three teams that qualified for the 2004 USARA Adventure Race National Championships that will be held in French Lick, Indiana on November 5-6th: Team LooseGravel, Team Infiterra Sports and Team Chirosport. Congratulations to all the teams that came and competed in the Fourth Annual Planet Adventure 24-Hour Challenge, Presented By, The Extreme Outfitters and showed what the true spirit of Adventure Racing is all about. The above press release appeared in www.checkpointzero.com. It is a well written and factual recap of the race. The following are my recollections; some may be embellished for the reader's entertainment. It was my good fortune to race with Team Chirosport. Unfortunately it came at a high cost. In last year's race, Dave Yang caught a toe on the first mountain biking leg of the race and sustained a severe tib/fib fracture. The Race Directors, Joe Lawson and Jerry Lyons offered Chirosport the opportunity to race this year. I was asked by Ron and Sue Stonitsch and Jamey Sanders to join them. The location of the pre and post race activities and transitions was at beautiful Wasatch Lodge overlooking Wasatch Lake. The manager's of the country retreat, Eldie and Marsha Miller were extremely accommodating and pleasant. Teams set up their transitions under tents and tarps. At the briefing, teams were given three (3) USGS 1:24,000 topo maps for the first of three sections of the race. We also received an information sheet explaining FARSTA, a Swedish orienteering event which was to be a part of the race. The briefing was well organized and relatively short, allowing plenty of time to drive the 20 minutes over winding county roads back to the motel to prepare the maps, equipment and get some rest.
At CP5, the 12 mile FARSTA "O" course began at the Lieber State Recreation Area. The directions on the FARSTA information sheet stated that teams would complete two loops. At the end of each loop they would check in at CP5. We were in 5th place at this point. Ron did an outstanding job of navigation. We completed the FARSTA section in 3:52. Temperatures were heating up and the sun was unrelenting. I had brought a couple of bucks stashed away for emergency use. There, directly in front of us as we ran through a campground was a Pepsi machine. After repeated attempts to feed the bills into it, just like the commercial, an ice cold 16 ounce bottle came tumbling out. Not since little league baseball did a Pepsi taste so good. After sharing the drink, spirits were high as we bushwhacked though the sticker bushes and up and down steep re- entrants. During this crashing through the brush and running trails, potential disaster struck. The map case was lost! All the race maps except for the orienteering map were gone and with them the rest of the course. As we discussed our dilemma, all we could do was to push on. If we had to, we would follow a team on the final paddle leg to the Tyrolean traverse. When we arrived back at CP5 to check in after the second loop, we were approached by the race director. He advised us that we were going to receive two 15 minute penalties. One for not checking in after the first loop, and the other for loosing mandatory equipment, the map case. Although not overly thrilled with this turn of events, we sat in the shade under a shelter for the full 30 minutes. Unfortunately, we had just caught up with two teams. Fortunately, no teams passed us while in the penalty box although two teams caught up with us as we were pushing off from shore. Back on beautiful Cagle Mills Lake, we paddled to CP6 and CP7 located seven miles away. We were focused on not letting the two teams pass us. We dug deep and quickly outdistanced them. Until, we decided to go to CP6. Unfortunately, we had all forgotten that in the briefing we were told to disregard CP6. Due to the low water conditions, the bay it was located in was only a couple inches deep and the bottom was muck. We can attest to the conditions. After dragging the canoes through the muddy bottom for quite a distance, I had another revelation. I looked at the passport, of which CP6 was crossed off, and loudly proclaimed my displeasure! We regrouped and drug the canoes to shore. After a portage back to the main lake, we were off again. The two teams which were following us were now quite a distance in front of us. We had wondered why they didn't follow us up the bay, now we knew. I bet they were laughing the entire time they were paddling by. Upon reaching the lower Cataract Falls CP7, after fighting the stiff current of the river and low water conditions, having to drag the canoe for ¼ mile, we quickly took off in a jog to CP8 and the Tyrolean traverse over the upper Cataract Falls at CP9. The traverse was 300' long and about 100' above the river. A back log of teams occurred due to a lack of pulleys and helmets. We reached the start of the traverse prepared to go. Fortunately, helmets and pulleys arrived just as we were ready. Jamey took the traverse without a pulley using only a carabineer. With a slack rope, it was a feat of strength and persistence. He crossed with no problem. Other teams using this method were on the rope for a long time, completely sapping their upper body strength. The crossing was spectacular. We crossed in 40 minutes. This quick crossing allowed us to pass the two teams that had passed us at ill fated CP6. Back to the canoes at CP10 for the final paddle to CP11 at the Cunot boat landing. Overall, we paddled over 18 miles in 4:12. It seemed the wind was never to our back the entire paddle. Either in our face or at a stiff cross- wind. On to the bikes for a short six mile ride back to the Wasatch Lake transition area. During the transition, we were given the UTM coordinates for the final two legs of the race. Fortunately, we arrived at the transition in waning daylight. The boys ate, filled water bladders, changed clothes, and prepared the bikes while Sue sat in the vehicle with her twin 12 volt breast pumps. She is nursing beautiful Cadence Marie. I would guess there haven't been many lactating females racing before. The transition took 1:18. We were refreshed and ready to tackle the rest of the course. It was back on the bikes for a 33 mile mountain biking leg to CP12, CP13, CP14, CP15, through Cuba and back to Wasatch Lake. This bike leg was over back country gravel roads. The roads were punctuated by long steep climbs with agitated dogs, (the race director advised at the briefing that all houses had at least 3 dogs and that on the longest steepest hill we would encounter "Fast Eddie") and toads. The gravel was loose on many of the climbs and fast downhill's making conditions somewhat dicey. The creek crossings were quite enjoyable and reminded me of Raid the North Elliot Lake. We encountered Fast Eddie standing in the road. At first, all we saw were two glowing eye balls in the middle of road. Fortunately, he apparently was either tired or full when we passed. We lost no limbs and gave our regards. Strategically, I wondered whether to be first, last or in the middle of the pack. Which position would be the most inviting for the dogs midnight snack? Once back to Wasatch Lake, a single track ride up a steep hill to CP16, a fast down hill and cruise along the shore of the lake to CP17 followed to the transition. The transition at Wasatch Lake CP18 was brief. A quick 4.5 mile ride over gravel roads and single track through pines to a hike a bike through sticker bushes took us to CP19 located on an island in a creek in the Owen Putnam State Forest. The CP was manned by one of the most pleasant, happy, and personable volunteers I have ever encountered. He was wonderful. Thank you for the encouragement and kind words. He provided us with a 1:15,000 scale orienteering map. The "O" points were laid out on spurs and at the base of re-entrants. Spirits were high as we systematically got the points in 3:39. The end was near. The 4.5 mile ride back to Wasatch Lake and the finish line was fast. I had the sense that the wind was to my back, the hills were flat, and that an unseen force was drawing me to the finish line. Overall, we had biked for 4:03. We crossed the finish line in 19:35. We were all ecstatic to learn from Joe Lawson, the race director who met us at the finish that we had officially finished 3rd in the Coed Division. We were even more excited to learn that we had qualified for the National Championships!
KUDO'S to Joe, Jerry, Greg and all of the staff and volunteers of Global X who made this race possible and for presenting such a well organized, safe, and flawless event. Thank you to the Sponsor's who appeared committed to the sport of adventure racing. And finally, thank you to the church group for the post race meal. It was without a doubt, the most extensive and delicious meal I have ever encountered in an adventure race, marathon, or civic function. Gerry |
INDIANAPOLIS,
IN - April 20, 2004 - Today from Indianapolis, the headquarters
of Global X Racing, the Global Source for Adventure Racing &
Multi-Sport Events, race directors Joe Lawson, Jerry Lyons and
Greg Arnold announce that Team LooseGravel wins the Fourth Annual
Planet Adventure 24-Hour Challenge in 18 Hours and 19 minutes.
The
Fourth Annual Planet Adventure 24-Hour Challenge, Indiana's Original
and Premier Adventure Race, and one of the longest running Adventure
Races in the U.S. started at 8:00 am on Saturday April, 17th on
beautiful Wasatch Lake in Poland, Indiana under ideal race conditions
with morning temperatures in the 50's.
The
race started promptly at 0800 with a mass start to the trail run.
Naturally the run was up a steep hill overlooking the lake. We
finished the 2 mile trail run in 22 minutes. The fastest time
was 18 minutes and the slowest was 26. From the trail run it was
on to the bikes. The biking section took us to the Cunot boat
landing at Cagles Mill Lake. We carried the canoes to the lake
and began the paddle. Things just didn't seem right though. Ron
and I dug in and quickly caught the leaders. It seemed that Sue
and Jamey were paddling as hard as we were but unable to keep
up. Then, in frustrated revelation, it came to them. They had
got into the canoe backwards! Sue said she thought the front was
awfully cramped. Jamey thought the ridge in the molded seat was
quite uncomfortable. They pulled to shore and quickly switched.
Once righted, they were able to easily keep pace while paddling
the length of the lake to CP 2, CP 3 and CP4. The CP's were all
located off shore, on steep hillsides. 
Looking
back on the race, I don't recall every having to overcome so much
adversity in one race. By staying focused and persistent, and
being committed to the team concept and each other we succeeded.
It feels so good and satisfying! Thank you to Ron, Sue, and Jamey
for allowing me opportunity and experience.