Redemption

Several months ago when we signed up for Untamed New England, many of us had a lofty goal to take another shot at the podium and hence gain some redemption from our late race debacle in last year’s Adventure Racing World Series qualifier. After having an optional checkpoint in our pocket which guaranteed a third place finish last year, we couldn’t make it to the finish in time and ended up getting bussed out of the woods a few hours after the official cutoff. With memories of last year’s depressing end in mind, GOALS ARA sent two teams to this year’s addition with Abby also racing on ARMD and a two person GOALS team in the mix as well.
We dreamed of what could have been in the year between races, and I know Bruce and I both hoped for a podium finish. But as the winter and spring passed by, and more teams signed up, my goals shifted dramatically. As race day approached, the field of teams turned into a who’s who of top east coast competition with many top racers from Canada throwing into the mix, not to mention a number of very strong west coast teams as well. Now, it seemed, finishing in the top ten would be a significant accomplishment, and top five, while not the official podium, was the absolute dream, if no longer an actual goal.
And so it was that 40 plus teams edged the bows of canoes and kayaks to the starting line last Thursday, watches ticking slightly past noon, nerves high as we all drifted together in a massed raft of boats. Low murmurs drifted across the water as we all waited for a countdown or some further instruction, but instead a cannon roared from the shore behind us, causing hearts to leap as boats took off, trying to break free from the pack for open water and the short, four-checkpoint paddle prologue that would begin to separate teams.
From there on, day one of this three day adventure race would see teams in and out of their boats, paddling across the beautiful and remote lakes that make up the headwaters of the Connecticut River. Long portages, mostly on road but with one punishing stretch on crowded and narrow single track trail, divided the field in two and took all teams well into the night if not into the next day. After a chaotic start, we found ourselves well back in the field after coming off the prologue, but we settled into a rhythm after the trail portage and first conservation project, and we began to slowly climb up the rankings, coming into the night O-relay somewhere around 13th or 14th.
After each of us ran a different orienteering loop, we set off in our boats one final time, making our way down the gurgling, shallow waters of the Connecticut to the takeout on the Canadian border. There we transitioned to bikes and set off to the north, riding along the border to the first bike point and the beginning of the rest of the race. As I saw it through the slow progress of the first day of paddling, once we got to the bikes, the real competition would begin. The navigation would kick up a notch (or ten as it turned out), and it was my feeling that Bruce, Dan, Ali and I would have a chance to make up some lost time, hopefully pass some teams and do well over the remaining two days as they would be full of bike, foot and nav. Indeed, after our first bike section, we came into the transition in the top ten, and after a long eight to nine hours of foot, much of which challenged teams’ off-trail skills, we came into the ropes in seventh place (I think).
By this point, I found myself physically exhausted, and the zip line and rappel in the beautiful mountain gorge, full of cascading water and cheerful spectators, was a welcome, though not necessarily refreshing break. After completing the ropes, I managed to get enough calories and water into me to start feeling better, and we set off in pursuit of EMS, who had been leaving the TA as we arrived. The second half of this monster 35 mile trek looked to be a fair bit shorter in distance than what we had already done, but it was also apparent that most of it would be off trail. And indeed it was; we made our way north from the TA to our attack point, entering the woods right at dusk. We made good time to start, marching our way through the thick foliage up toward the summit of our first mountain and the first of two controls on the way to the Primus TA. While grueling and time consuming, we reached the summit with little problem and found the control. Following this, however, we entered a hellacious section of compass bearings, mangling and destroying undergrowth and trees, and sleep-monsters, obstacles that by all accounts tormented all racers. By this point the field had been whittled down significantly, most teams having failed to make the first time-cutoff at the ropes; I’d estimate that 15 or so teams were allowed to set off into this particularly challenging section, and of them, only eight teams came out the other side in time for the race’s final cut-off. Indeed, I had my moments on top of the trail-less mountains and ridges, as we searched for the second control, when I began to despair that we would make it through on time, but as the sun rose, red highlights shining through the trees, we finally located the final control and began to descend to the Primus Camping TA.
Once into the TA, we were finally able to rest, and after 30-40 minutes of sleep, our only rest for the race, we knocked out two short loops, one of biking and one a mixture of trekking and swimming. By this point the race leaders had divided again into two groups; four teams had broken open a significant lead, and the podium would surely be filled by three of those teams. We had come off the trek in 5th place, and while we gave up that spot by sleeping, we hoped to take it back by the end of the race. Coming off the trek and beating the final cut off were the fast and experienced teams EMS, Milton Basement Racers and a team called BRAT. I hadn’t heard of the name, but I recognized the racers and knew they would be strong competition over the final 24 hours.
And with that, the race began anew for us; we managed to pass EMS again by the end of the bike loop, meaning Milton was the only team ahead of us other than the top four. We saw them several times as we worked our way through the swim leg, Ali hauling our gear to and from small islands off the shore line as we swam alongside her to nab the three controls on the loop, and by the time we rode off we had closed the gap to 20 minutes. Not long after starting off on the final ride, we passed them again, and for the next ten hours, we would periodically run into Milton and eventually EMS again as well. The biking took us to a unique waterfall climb, in which all teammates were tethered together and told to hike up a half-mile stretch of creek full of small pools and falls, punching a series of controls as we went. Afterwards, a five to six mile ride and tie waited before the last leg of biking back to the Balsams and the finish.
As we worked our way through the final stretch, memories of last year haunted me; once again we found ourselves in a spot without a clear trail in thick undergrowth with only a mere two kilometers between us and the trails we needed to finish the course. Milton was struggling through the trails and marshes nearby, and while we hadn’t seen EMS lately, we knew they must be close. Indeed as we finally settled on a plan which would either get us to the finish or potentially mean another DNF, we ran into EMS for a final time. We quickly moved along, passing Milton on the trail not longer after before turning up an unmapped trail we had explored briefly two hours prior. While it wasn’t on any map and though it rambled north over a mountain (in the opposite direction from where we wanted to go) we set off, hoping it would somehow get us through the impenetrable morass surrounding us.
Twenty minutes later, we soared down an open trail, coming down the southern flanks of the mountain and exiting onto the very trail we had been hoping to reach. We knew Milton was somewhere close behind, and EMS was likely behind them. We quickly turned down the road, biking into the darkness, and after navigating through a maze of trails, we finally found our way to CP33, a payphone from which we called the Balsams to check in. At this point, we had four hours left, and we took off, racing through the morning woods to bag our last two controls, and when we finally reached the Balsams, we had finished where we had hoped, in fifth place.
Without question, the race has climbed to the very top of my racing highlights. Not only did I officially finish my first multi day race, but I did it with a stellar group of teammates in a way I could have only dreamed of. We raced at a high level, physically and mentally, and we managed to stay sharp throughout. While I may have wielded the maps for the duration for the race, there were countless moments when Bruce, Dan and Ali helped us find the right way with comments, questions and observations that I could not always understand on my own. The effort was as complete as I can imagine, and the end result as wonderful as I could have dreamed as I sat in my kayak three days before looking at the dozens of stellar teams and athletes waiting to embark on three days of racing in the wilds of New England. We may not have taken a spot on the podium, but racing with Bruce, Dan and Ali and accomplishing everything we did against a field as powerful and deep as this one more than made up for the disappointment of last year’s race. If only every race could be this good…