The Cradle of Liberty, 2014-Reflections from an RD

My fifth turn as an RD is now in the books, and what a time it was. I started adventure racing nine years ago…I think…and I started race directing five years ago. Four years ago, my partner in crime, teammate, and wife, Abby Perkiss, started directing races with me and every time out proves to be nothing less than spectacular as we learn more and more about the wonderful sport of Adventure Racing and the people that make it so very special. In my fifth rodeo, Abby and I designed what we knew would be an epic course for the GOALS ARA Cradle of Liberty, and when the dust had settled we were in awe of the racers that trusted us with their precious time and we drove home from the event brainstorming for next year.

We started scouting this course over a year ago after a casual day trip on Memorial Day weekend to Swatara State Park and the locally famed Boxcar Rocks. While Swatara has little infrastructure, we immediately fell in love with it as our dogs and we climbed around ruined locks, shuffled through dark tunnels that did not, sadly, make the course, and wandered along the serene and picturesque Swatara Creek.

From out first scouting trip to Swatara, site of P1

 

Boxcar was even more enchanting as we clambered about the massive container-sized boulders that lay along one of the two high ridges above Swatara, a long forgotten pile of massive, natural dominoes that are any climbers’ dream for a fun afternoon of bouldering and even climbing. With these two points in mind we returned home, hit the maps, the satellites, and the books to flesh out ideas for the Cradle of Liberty 2014 before returning several times for long weekends of trekking, riding and paddling along the course.

Boxcar Rocks in all their glory

Before long we had the major players in mind: Sweet Arrow LakeCounty Park would serve as our start-line, teams would paddle down the Swatara Creek to the State Park before heading off into the State Gamelands and tracts of Weiser State Forest. There would be massive climbs, serene reservoirs and ponds, enchanting creeks, lofty vistas and more along the way. Our biggest issue was the fact that we wanted racers to traverse the entire course with the sun shining as we constantly remarked on just how beautiful the course would be. Considering that we scouted most of the course in the fall and winter, we knew the course would be that much more spectacular in the summer months.

Along the way, we picked up friend and fellow racer and race director Bruce Kuo as our back up RD. With Abby pregnant for most of the scouting process and our daughter Zoe due a couple of months before race-day, we were anxious about being unable to serve as full-time RDs come June, and thankfully Bruce signed on. Before race weekend came, however, there was our scouting weekend, a brutal weekend in March when Bruce and I biked and ran through hours of freezing rain and ice to test the course but also for him to get to know it. While some might have wondered if our scouting out of summer months meant easier conditions, I can genuinely say no one would have wanted to run around that course in the conditions Bruce did. We were trekking through iced over undergrowth, degrees away from hypothermia, skating across sheets of ice on our bikes, and soaking wet the whole time. It may not have been the same thick undergrowth and we may have cut things short before the dead of night, but the test was as brutal as any conditions I’ve ever been in as a racer (maybe with the exception of the freezing paddle from hell in my first Nationals race in Missouri…that was something else…).

From one of our winter scouting trips

Wintery mix behind us (it actually seemed that most of our scouting trips were accompanied by intense weather) spring rolled along with mapping, mapping, and more mapping, not to mention a fair bit of document-writing and revision. When we finally set out the week of to set the course we were nervous and ready to finally get to Saturday morning. For the most part the three of us (Abby, Bruce and I) set things relatively smoothly. That said, the paddle turned into a mess as we found downed trees periodically along the course, and unfortunately many of them were hazardous enough that we spent several hours working on portages.

At one point, I settled myself along the creek bank, below P4, and pulled my kayak up on the bank. Armed with a rusty wood saw and my bare hands, I hacked a portage along the creek bank. Thankfully a semi-defined track presented itself or I might have been out until well passed dark, and as it was, I found myself lashing my boat back on the Subaru around dusk. Another bushwhacking trip early on Friday morning with Bill Gibbons and we had recut a portage that I had created months before in a location I was more comfortable with for the racers safety. Paddle saved, we finished setting the course before Friday night registration and a handful of hours of sleep.

All things told, the first half of the race went off without much of a hitch. The prologue, paddle, bike, mountain biking loop, and the trek in the woods around Lebanon Reservoir all went smoothly and it seemed that everyone was glowing if not a bit tired from working hard and from the heat. The mountain bike loop and paddle in particular seemed to be highlights for teams, with fast and fun riding for all and a beautiful morning for the paddle (thankfully all the mandatory portaging seemed to be an afterthought thanks to the pretty float the Swatara offers). Out of Lebanon, racers faced their first major physical test, a short but steep hike-a-bike and shortly after a leg-grinding climb over the second ridge of Goldmine Road.

One of our favorite CPs, the old log cabin in Swatara

 

Bruce and I converged to play around and set Boxcar as riders were laboring over the mountain, and as we rolled into TA 4, the end of the ride, I half expected teams to be miserable after the brutal climb, but we were relieved to find smiling faces and enthusiasm for the rest of the course. A handful of teams sadly missed the 9 PM cutoff at the TA, but most of those teams forged on anyway, seemingly unaffected and still focused on finishing the course.

The Cherubinis at the old forge, TA 2 and TA 3

The Lebanon dam, gateway to Leg 3

As racers streamed off into the dark woods behind the school for the 10 mile trek to the next TA, I think Abby and I both took a big breath, knowing that it would be hard and the crux of the race for many teams in one way or the other; for competitive teams it might determine who ended up on the podium, for others it might be the difference between crossing the finish line by bike versus in a car. Several hours later, teams began to trickle into the TA. A handful of teams had knocked off four or more of the seven points on the trek, but many had averaged just two. Racers were bleary from working so hard and from sleep deprivation, and I think we expected many of them to roll into TA demoralized if not somewhat broken, physically and mentally.

Sure enough teams were tired in every sense of the word, but we were absolutely amazed at the spirit on display from every racer that rolled into TA 5. A team or two elected to stop racing, others set off for a fair bit of biking, some rolled in without a single checkpoint to show for their labors, but no one complained, most racers still offered a smile, and they forged on, heading back through the Gamelands on their bikes to TA 6 where they would have a chance to play around on Boxcar Rocks before a final climb and ride to the finish.

Around 3:30 AM, I set off for Boxcar to get things ready for the racers. As Bruce and I stood about in the dim morning light, reflecting on the course thus far, I was petrified that half the field wouldn’t make it to Boxcar in time to finish. The rocks opened at 5:30 and teams then had four plus hours to get themselves through seven miles of biking and some optional foot points, but I feared that the trek and the huge ridge climb on the bike would undo many teams. Once again, I was amazed at our racers’ perseverance. The happy folks from Halfway There DC appeared right on time for the 530 opening of the rocks. And teams began streaming in soon after, having made smart decisions throughout the night to make sure they made it to the finish line. I was amazed again and between the brutal trek and a tough ride to TA 6, I was as proud of every single racer out there as I could possibly be. So many tough people, so many wise decisions, so much thoughtful (and accurate) self-reflection to make sure that they could get to the finish. It was an awesome moment seeing them come in team by team and a hughe moment of relief knowing that they were going to make it.

 We had spent months pondering how to best use the boulders at Boxcar. We wanted teams to really experience them, but without a map it was hard to imagine how to best do so. We finally settled on a pictographic map with clues to guide them through a course on the boulders, and as teams came back in, mostly happy and glowing from their half-hour or so romp on the boulders, we knew we had made the right decision to save Boxcar for the end.

Ultimately, racers came across the finish line physically and mentally drained as we knew they would, but they also appeared, for the most part, jubilant at the adventure they had completed. We had said before the race that we felt our course was more about the journey through the Legs rather than about all the checkpoints, and it seemed that this approach played out as team after team seemed happy with their experiences regardless of how many controls they actually found. Still, we were disappointed that so many teams had to skip so much in the second half of the race, and as we sat about taking notes the next night we highlighted our disappointment with this and pledged we would do better by our friends next year.

And so, the Cradle of Liberty 2014 has come to a close. I felt a bit sad pulling out of the Swatara area on Monday morning, sad that we wouldn’t be coming back anytime soon, sad that some of our racers had not been able to share every beautiful corner of nature this land had to offer, sad that I won’t be playing around in those high ridges again for a while. But as we drove back down the interstate to Philly, Abby and I turned our attention to next year, for we already have an idea in mind for 2015. And if that all comes together the way we hope it does, we hope our third go at the Cradle 24 will be even better than this year…maybe just not as big.