Stretcher Carry to Finish
At the finish
THFV dump Jan off.
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Tree Huggers Race report- ESAR 06 Emergency Services Adventure Race. Last year we won this race. Mark Arnold, the organizer, politely hinted that perhaps it would be nice to not bring experienced racers to destroy the fire, police, ambulance and military teams. Mind you, there were some tough AR teams this year- Children's Wish is captained by Glen Edwards who races with the mighty LSN, Wayne and Andre were racing against us on Team Hunger with a top male triathlete, and Canadian Hardcore were there fresh from winning the Storm 2-day. I managed to get 2 young friends, Pate Neumann and Britt Webster to race with me, the day after their highschool prom. Britt's on the National Junior XC ski team, and Pate is on the XC development squad, and races O-cup MTB. Still, it's about more than fitness, and they've never done a race this long. Pate and I did the plotting and he did all the bike nav. Britt was the paddling navigator. We started on bikes at Albion Hills. Luckily we managed to make it to the front, and within minutes were by ourselves out there. I had to work ha-a-a-rd to keep up with Pate in the singletrack on my recumbent, but we left Albion in 2nd place, behind CW. In Palgrave we had 4 orienteering controls, where we spiked them all and moved into the lead. Britt's a fantastic runner but has never had to bushwhack or cross a river. We got her through despite her plans to take off her shoes to keep them dry. Later in the heat she was wishing for more rivers to cross. We were pretty well matched in this run. A dirt road ride next where Pate gave me a tow up a couple of hills (He's way smaller than me), then into the Dingle and a hard loose trail climb to Glen Haffy. There we had 15 minutes to catch a fish in the pond, but could leave immediately if we caught one. I was looking forward to a 15 minute break, but 6 minutes in I managed to catch a minnow about 2cm long! The staff confirmed -it's a fish- so with a loud "Fish On", off we went.We saw 2nd place CW coming in as we left. Some good bike nav by Pate and a long, hot, hilly road ride to the Orangeville Resevoir. I took another tow up a hill or two from Pate, and Britt politely waited up in this section. They are such strong athletes! The only place I was faster was on the downhills and headwind sections. Onto the canoes to find 3 CPs. We had a huge lead, but went searching for a CP on the wrong island in thick nasty bush, to Britt's horror. Pate ran into an attack-goose. Children's Wish had caught up and followed us to the right island. Considering all our paddling practice consisted of 10 minutes in a backyard pond, we did quite well and kept our lead. Even with the nav error, my amazing teammates were loving every minute. Next a short bike ride with Britt setting a hard pace, then orienteering at the Goodyear Scout Camp, which is Glen E's training area. They passed us in transition and we were neck-and-neck, but we outran them and found a nice dirt road instead of a bushwhack. Finally, a beautiful but hilly run on the Bruce Trail in Hockley Valley. With CW right behind us, my legs were running out of gas. Britt was prancing along like a deer, so she towed me for about 1.5 hilly km. (I didn't mind swallowing my pride to be towed by an 18 YO female!) At the finish we did a climbing wall, then a stretcher carry to the line. Just as we finished CW came over the wall, so it was a close win! I got to cheer in the Hunger lads and the Tree Huggers from Venus, who both won their categories as well! THFV (Barb, Jan, Lucy) were 9th overall, in a really tough race. Andre described it as a real hammer-fest. My teammates never stopped smiling or saying "This is so awesome", even when I was back there almost doing CPR on myself. I certainly pushed hard to keep up. Pate did a super job of bike nav, and they were both well organized, and patient waiting for the old guy. Their first AR, and they win it all! They had to miss the awards as Pate flew to Thunder Bay for the XC Team Training that evening.
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