CHECKPOINT TRACKER NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS-WEST VIRGINIA USA- SEPTEMBER 2012- 1ST PLACE DUO CO-ED, 4TH OVERALL

Alexandre Provost, French Canadian very good and experienced adventure racer, and I, went as team Untamed New England powered by Unleash Compression in the US to compete in a 28 hours adventure race taking part in West Virginia end of September.

There was more than 40 teams total (solos, duos and 4 people teams) and I reckon we were the only not American team there.

After a 13 hours drive we got there, did our check in, prepared our gears, went to race briefing and went to bed. The maps were distributed in the morning only, which was a good thing so we could have some extra sleep before starting.

At 6am we had the maps and spent the two hours that followed marking our course. We then left by bus to the start line.

Race started just over 10:30 am in white water rafting. We were in the second wave (there was 3) of 5 boats and we had 3 other duo coed teams in our boat. I don't need to mention to most of you that my strength is paddling but unfortunately for me there was no paddling section in this race. I mean no paddling section where it would have been just the both of us. In the raft were three nice duo coed but unfortunately again none of the girls had a great background in paddling which made the work a little harder on us for the hour and half or so that we were in the boat. Our guide was awesome and the rapids were pretty cool. Alex was in the front with another brave man while I was sitting two rows behind.

TA1, we had a great transition pretty fast and in no time we were running up the gentle slope of the road that was leaving the TA direction the top of the hill. The weather wasn't the nicest weather I have ever seen in a race (I think it rained 20h out of the 28 hours that we raced) but at least it wasn't cold. Alex being faster than me on foot I had to take the tow kind of soonish in the race if I wanted to keep up with him. We almost got the first CP wrong due to too much excitement of finding (the wrong) pole with another solo male, but we corrected ourselves fairly quickly. A few other navigational mistakes followed for the next hour but we will call that "an adjustment to the course". After that Alex navigation was spot on for the rest of the course so I can't complain really :). A few hours and CPs later in very scenic locations, we got to TA2.

TA2 we jumped on the bikes, direction down hill to a massive bridge were we saw the train earlier. From there on started this twisty slippery muddy and technical single track that I didn't like that much. Alex was very patient and waited for me a lot. The sun went down and after a few hours and a crash for me on a slippery root, we finally got to TA3.

TA3 was the transition to the timetrial on foot. It was a 5km out and back to a CP and we thought there would be only one winner out of it so we didn't race it as a time trial but took it just as a part of the race. We walked some bits of it, uphills and technical stuff. We ended up (at the awards) winning the time trial for the duo coed category in 36 min :) which was faster than all the other categories (even the solo male) except from the coed team of 4 (SOG) who did it in daylight.

Back to TA3/4 and back on the bike for some sweet single tracks riding. I made a mistake in my translation of the rules there understanding that counter clockwise meant clockwise :( It is when we met another team that they explained to me that it meant anti clockwise...duhhh!!!! Alex wasn't impressed with my translating skills on that one :/. We then turned around and re rode the whole section anti clockwise.

TA5 was a relay orienteering section where we could split and go pick up each some CPs. I picked two and Alex had 6 to grab. I was pretty pleased with my orienteering at night and got my two CPs fairly quickly. I should have taken more than the two but we thought it would be ok since the other ones were all in the same area. I waited and got cold for an hour at TA and was super happy to see Alex coming back. All that time we had one team duo co ed ahead of us but he came back ahead of them...only problem was that he missed two CPs...Oh well we figured that if we were leaving fast enough and picking up more CPs in the optional CPs that were next we could still be fine so we moved on to the next section.

The next section consisted in 17 optional checkpoints including the river boarding section where we had to be in between 7 to 9am to participate and grab in the same time a couple more CPs. We could either use the bike to start with and then trek back to the bikes or the opposite or to use the bike and then back to the TA and trek to the start of the river board. We decided to trek from the TA in direction to the river boarding section and try to pick up as many CPs on our way. Alex navigation was at his best and Jeezzz he got us to one that I really wondered and am still wondering how the hell he did it. We were following a “track” that I thought for a while was an imaginary track as I could obviously not see it or follow Alex on it getting stuck in thorns and bushes every five minutes. We trek the whole night and both walking as Zombies. I can recall Alex zigzagging closer and closer to the edge of another “trail” that we were following along a fairly steep slope along the river thinking first that he was avoiding the prickly bushes and realizing after that he was actually falling asleep. I even had a tiny hallucination when I looked at Alex and saw a dog trekking along his side…didn’t last long and I swallowed lots of candies to wake me up then J. We ended up taking 5 optional CPs on that stretch.

The river boarding was thanks to NRS a blast for me. I know Alex found it a bit rough because he is not so much of a water person but I loved it. NRS had shipped for us to river board (rescue boards) and a wetsuit for me which has been highly appreciated. The boards were broad and fast and the few rapids we went through were fun. At first with the fins and stuff my feet tended to cramp a bit with the cold water but it went away very quickly. 2h15 later we were in TA running up the hill to our bikes. We didn’t have many hours left to the finish but we decided on a good route and got a few more CPs. Just before coming in we still had 40 min and argued a little bit on whether to go and get a last one or not knowing that any minute after 14:35 was a disqualification. Alex pulled out good arguments and off we went. Thanks god we did as we would know later that it could have cost us the first place if we didn’t have done it. We ended up with an additional 7 CPs leaving in total only 5 CPs behind on that part of the race.

We ended up first place duo co-ed, 4th place overall. We argued a fair bit during the race being the first race we have ever done together but we know we can work on our differences and can’t wait to race together again.

We would like to thank Untamed New England for believing in us and giving us the opportunity to go on the American territory to race such a beautiful race. Thank you also to NRS and Unleash Compression for the support and the gears!

N.L.

VICTORY AT FRONTIER ADVENTURE RACING FALL CLASSIC FOR 3RD STRAIGHT YEAR!

Racing with regular team Raidpulse.com teammates Yannick Huneault and Jean-Yves Dionne at the Frontier 12h fall classic in Kellerman's resort, Parry Sound, Ontario on thanksgiving week-end.

Long day on the road. Dropped the bikes at TA2 on the way and finally arrived at Kellerman's resort just in time for the 2030 race briefing (maps handed at 2000). We were staying at Quality Inn about 10 min drive from race HQ.

The Course:

Boat 12k

Trek 18k

Mountain bike 35k

Portage 5k

Total distance 70k

We mapped until late and finally got to bed at 0100. I was not too happy with my mapping results as I found that it lacked details and colors for different markers but knew we would be fine. When you do the maps you generally print the important things in your mind and for anything less than 24h it's ok. After some observation and a bit of maths we figured the fastest way for us to get to CP1 was to start with a portage east then south-east all on road to cut the peninsula and resume on the intended paddling route to the portage trail east right after the power line. JY was the first one to notice it and it made sens for us as we knew Running Free with Angus at the engine position would be hard to follow. We also wanted to avoid the rush hour at the two first portages.

0445 up for breakfast, get dressed for war, empty our room and hit the road to be at Kellerman's for 0530. Weather was kind of ok, but we knew we were in for a wet and cold one.

I almost had a heart attack a few minutes before the start as I lost sight of my map case... but after looking in the canoe and the car I finally found it beside our TA bag #1 on the ground... rookie move. All teams gathered on the beach for the 0600 start. As all teams entered the water in their boats, we lingered on the beach on the edge of the water just looking around and waiting for the 'GO'. Geoff mentioned something like 'there is still one team on the beach, so we will wait for them...' on the mic, but Bill Young later told me that when he saw it was us he said to Geoff to just start the race as he immediately saw we were up to something. 10-9-8... JY took the boat on his shoulder, turned around and on 'GO' we started running east to the road that would lead us south-east back to the Otter lake long arm. Surprisingly we are the only ones doing this... always a bit stressful when you are the only team making a move... but we were pretty confident about it so we just executed. We had skimmed down the weight for this first section with Yannick carrying our only backpack with pretty much all mandatory gear. JY and myself only had our PFDs on (with food and fluid for this first section) which made it easier for portages. The 3 of us switched approximately every 800m and got to the Otter lake long arm in a good time. There was actually a boat ramp so easy access. We were not cold anymore.

So we started paddling and saw that we were clearly in the lead, suddenly infused with extra confidence and strength. We saw some lights at some point but figured they were at least 10-20 minutes back. Found the portage and quickly made it to the small lake. After getting over a beaver damn we got to the end of the lake where CP1 was supposed to be. After some 10 minutes looking around and counter confirming everything, we saw some lights in the forest... Brad arriving with the CP. 'You guys are just killing it...'. We quickly punched and resumed racing with our third portage to Forget lake. There was no trail and we did not bother with the flags mentioned in the race briefing and just went straight for it and got to the lake in no time. JY killed it with the boat on his shoulder. From there it was pretty much all out to CP2 with only a short portage to Blackstone lake. We looked around for CP2 (both sides) but quickly went on as it was not on the bridge as intended and we were 100% sure of our position. It was on the way so no possible trick there anyway.

We got to CP3/TA1, JY and I picked up our backpack and quickly started our trek, bushwaking from the TA to CP4, then ACP-A and then ACP-B. Then there was a sudden panic... no passport! It seemed we had lost the passport somewhere between CP4 and ACP-B. I think it's the first time it ever happen to a team I am racing with. We discussed our options a bit and decided to go on and keep punching on our race instruction sheet but also decided that we needed to go back to CP4 to punch it again as it was the only one we could not prove our passage (CP1=ok, CP2 (not there), CP3=TA, ACPA-B SPORTIdent). Thinking back, it should not have been such a big deal but at that point we did not have the lost passport related 10min penalty on our mind, so it was more stressful than it should have been considering we had already banked a 10min credit from CP1, and could have avoided the detour back to CP4.

Then my navigation got a bit flaky. For some obscur reasons, we took an unreliable trail that was running southwest of ACP-B and that I misinterpreted as the trail on the map. I guess I did not noticed at TA1 that it was actually a road... so instead of running on a road we bushwaked our way to the marsh/lake north of CP5. It did not take us that much time as the forest was not very dense but I knew something was wrong when we crossed a teenagers team once we finally got to the road just north of the marsh/lake. We located ourselves quickly and went on to CP5 which was in and out. We saw solos KURA (Adrian Makurat) and Unleash Frenchie (Nathalie Long) doing good at that point, so it was clear our trek in the bush cost us some time on our rivals. Back on the road we hit the afterburner (as LosDobos would put it) and furiously ran until we hit our marker for our detour to revisit CP4. Back on the road quickly we went for another in and out bushwak to CP6. Then we hit the light speed button this time and ran the next 4k non stop passing Adrenaline Rush on the way. I figured our two mistakes must have taken us down to 4th place at that point, but it seemed we were gaining back... we guessed Running Free were in front and maybe another team and/or solo. We focused on the task and did not looked behind at our mistakes anymore. CP7 was bang on from the road contour line/curve. On the way to CP8 (side of McQuillan lake) we used the high ground east of CP7 for 600m then headed straight north. We got slightly east of the CP but were on it in no time. JY went to punch our race instructions sheet/passport and saw Angus (RF). Apparently he seemed a bit puzzled by what JY was using as passport. From that point we knew we had caught back with the leaders and we headed pretty much straight to CP9, then CP10 and CP11/TA2. JY kept telling us he heard Running Free voices 200m behind him but I suspect he was making it up to make us go faster.

We got out of the bush to TA2/CP11 first, but knew that our lead was on the slim side (turned out it was 7min). We took a bit more time than usual to change into our bike shorts, refuel and get the bike gear ready to hammer the trails. My front tire had lost half of its air pressure so JY pumped it back as much as he could but I was clearly running on very low pressure (which was ok on the trail given the slimy conditions). I desperately wanted to head out before any team could see us but Running Free got in as we were going. JY had some trouble with his towing system right off the bat so he gave it to a team that was arriving from the trek and that offered to put it in their TA bag, sweet (thanks guys). We hammered the power line trail north to CP12, then east-south-east to CP13, that took us a moment to locate even if it was at a trail junction. From there we kept moving fast to ACP-C. Trails were really muddy and again JY stressed us a bit saying he'd heard a team behind, so we kept pushing it.

CP14 was suppose to be located at a major junction. We crossed one but figured it was the trail coming straight from CP13, so we kept looking for the the next major trail junction even if the mileage was getting a bit high and direction a bit off. We crossed some ATVs and when we asked it there was a trail junction a bit further they all agreed... I should know better than asking ATV guys... no offense. So we kept going a bit anyway but nothing made sens anymore, and when we saw a 'Blackstone' sign it was officially time to backtrack. I was a bit angry at myself but knew nothing was over as this was not a clear shot for anyone. A good 12min on the way back we crossed path with Running Free... good news for us. Then right before the first junction that we intended to try Adrenaline Rush, Kinetic Connection and some more teams appeared. They were all going in the same direction we were coming from. I chatted a bit with Adam (AR) and Robert (KC) mentioning how far we went (6k total from ACP-C without the appropriate junction). I remember saying to myself that I should avoid giving important race data to teams that are not far behind us right after that episode. Our lead must have been around 25-30min on RF but again was pretty much gone. So we went on our new trail and everything started making sens and quickly found CP14. It made sens once there, but was pretty hard to figure out with only the topo. Kinetic Connection and Smokie & The Medic (Vince Trudelle) were not far behind us so we had to start moving again.

Then a bit further down the trail a Blondie with a back road map book in her hand appeared from nowhere and asked us to stop, explaining that the bridge that was suppose to be 'assembled' at CP15 (same as CP2) was not there and that we had to take the long way around to go back to Kellerman's. We knew the CP15 area having previously passed there for CP2 and we felt comfortable with crossing the water with our bikes. As it seemed the shortest way and the full course (and some real AR) we elected to just keep going on until the end (roughly 20k) on the initial route. Turned out Kinetic Connection and Smokie & The Medic did the same thing. There was some paved road on the way and my very low pressure front tire did not played well with this, but we rock it anyway as Yannick hammered the front and paced us to the end.

We crossed the finish line/pub door at 1629 to grab first place for the 3rd year in a row! Yeah! :)

Navigation was not that easy on the trek as 1:50 000 maps don't have much contour lines and we hit a few slopes here and there, but beside one major mistake we felt we had a good run at it.

Besides some missing CPs we enjoyed the race/course a lot as it was beautiful. Paddle section was awesome with bright fall colors. It was tighter than it looked. The course was a bit on the long side, especially the last part of the bike section, but harsh weather conditions made it longer and tougher than expected for many teams and organization. The fall classic is the championship race and it has to be tougher than the spring race. It was indeed. Diner and prizing were excellent!

Congratulations to all racers, volunteers and race staff, thank you and see you next year.

Thanks to Yannick and JY, it's always a pleasure to compete besides such talented racers. Thanks to Raid Pulse for its constant support of our team over the years. Try adventure racing with a Quebec touch @ www.raidpulse.com.