| Watertown Challenge racing leaving a checkpoint (from the photo
gallery at http://www.adventureracing.net/pages/xtremeframe.html ADVENTURE RACING in the MIDWEST
First-time racers are encouraged to try
their hand at this booming aerobic sport
By Julie Lynch In the 1980s the marathon distance road race was the new frontier that
invited masses of individuals from all walks of life and all levels of athletic ability to test themselves against the clock and their peers. In the 1990s the triathlon emerged as the next frontier when it became available to mere 
| On the ropes at the MidAmerica Extreme
Challenge |
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mortals, not just Kona tanned Adonises. All measure of individuals, from Clydesdales to Masters to Juniors to Relay Teams, participated in the discipline of swimming, biking
and running over short distances, long distances and medium distances. As the 2000s unfold, adventure racing appears to be emerging as the latest frontier opening up to the average guy or gal next door interested in "something different," something new that will, like the marathon and the triathlon, test physical and mental strength and skill. And while the triathlon took the
discipline of the marathon road race and tossed in swimming and biking, the adventure race has taken the discipline of the triathlon and tossed in a compass, a map, a climbing rope, a paddle and what may seem like ... a whole lot of mud! While the marathon has Boston and the triathlon has Kona hailed as the premier event, there are literally hundreds of other events available at local
and regional levels. Adventure racing is evolving in similar fashion and, while the Raid Gauloises, Eco–Challenge and Southern Traverse battle it out to determine who will be hailed as the premier event, the rest of us can begin to take advantage of the burgeoning list of local and regional one–day adventure races. (There are also two–, three– and five–day events, but this article will focus on the one–day event.)
A one–day adventure race is defined as any race that lasts less than 24
hours. Typically, these races last from six to 12 hours and may or may not include time spent racing in the dark. These have come to be known as "sprint distance" adventure races. Getting ready for a "sprint–distance" adventure race is the focus of this article.
What Division Should I Race In?
Most sprint–distance adventure races only offer a mixed–gender division, which means you must have members of both sexes, and you decide the mix. Some races also offer an all–female or all–male division. Your decision will be based most likely on whom you can convince to do the race with you. The dynamics of a mixed–gender team are always interesting, the camaraderie of an all–female team is electric and the experience of an all–male team is ... well, I don't know. The thing to remember is my rule No. 1 of adventure racing: Personalities Do Matter:
Know Your Teammates. For example, I met my teammates for the 1998 Eco–Challenge in the airport on my way to the race in Australia. But that's another story! Know your teammates and genuinely like them. It is a simple formula that will get you through all the tough, tension–filled moments. Also, keep in mind when looking for teammates that strong and fast are not always the skills that make a team competitive. While it is certainly an advantage to be strong and fast, strategically–skilled and
emotionally–skilled teams often fare better than teams strong and fast without strategic skill or emotional stability. Most sprint distance races are set up for teams of four. I think we will start to see more pairs, and even solo divisions, as races become more logistically efficient. And hey – how about a Masters division? (I'm feeling my age.)
What Events Should We Expect?
The typical events for sprint–distance adventure races include running/hiking, usually with orienteering; biking (off–road, on–road or both); paddling (canoe, kayak or anything that floats, e.g. inner–tube rafts), and climbing (jumar ascending and rappel descending). Other events may
include horseback riding, swimming and mystery events.
Running/Hiking: Typically, sprint–distance adventure race will require you to cover anywhere from 10 to 25 miles on foot. Often this involves serious bushwhacking where running is all but impossible. Competitive teams, however, will run whenever the terrain permits, so don't assume you won't be running. I encourage teams to train for the running/hiking section
off–road on single–track trail and dirt roads, becoming agile over the roots and rocky moraines of the Midwest outback. Learn to run as a team. That means finding a pace that works for everyone over the distance you will be traveling. The good news is that most one–day adventure races are designed so that even if you were not a team of runners, but strong hikers, you can finish in the alloted time.
Biking: The biking in a sprint–distance adventure race could be on–road or
off–road for distances from 30 to 80 miles. It is important to know, for a competitive advantage, the type of biking and the distance, so ask the race directors if they do not indicate it in the race information. More and more one–day events seem designed for cycle–cross type bikes that can be equally competitive on the road and off the road. However, there are races (e.g. Redgranite Adventure Race) where the biking has been all road riding
and races where the biking section demanded mountain bikes (Mid America Xtreme Race).
Training for the biking section requires that you spend time both on–road as a team, perfecting your ability to ride as a group (pulling, drafting, passing), and off–road as a team riding single track and bushwhacking with your bikes. (Can each of you carry your bikes through swamps and across fallen trees?) In addition, practice navigation skills while biking. This often
requires one rider to read a map while riding, another to record and report distance using a bike computer and the other members of the team watching for road signs and other clues.
Maybe most importantly, learn as a team how to most efficiently deal with bike mechanical problems. Every adventure race I have ever done involved bike breakdowns from flat tires to broken seat tubes, snapped chains and mangled derailurs. Know how to fix them, rig them, duct tape them – and
know how to do it fast. A fun team training exercise is to see how fast, working as a team, you can fix a flat tire.
Bottom line, you don't have to have the most expensive and best bike on the market to enjoy a day of adventure racing. Chances are your bike will get trashed, so why cringe because your bike was shiny, new and expensive. Enjoy your old reliable two wheeler and save your pennies for a light canoe paddle instead.
Paddling: Paddling in sprint–distance adventure races can last anywhere from one to five hours, depending on the type of paddling (canoe, kayak, raft, inflatables) and where you paddle (river shallow, river raging whitewater, flatwater calm, flatwater with squalls, etc). Get the picture? So, as a team, be prepared for anything. In the sprint–distance adventure races held in the Midwest in the last two years, paddling has included whitewater
in single inflatable kayaks, flatwater in canoes, river in rafts and flatwater in kayaks.
Paddling may be the event that most often keeps individuals or teams from trying adventure racing. While most folks can get out to train on a bike or run or hike, gaining access to paddling can be difficult. The good news is that you don't have to be an expert paddler to enjoy an adventure race. Basic canoe skills and comfort using a kayak paddle (which can be
practiced in a canoe) are sufficient to get started. Many county and/or city parks in the Midwest, that are situated on a lake, rent canoes. Granted they are often big, cumbersome aluminum ones, but the basic skills to paddle them are the same used in an adventure race.
Most adventure races paddling section involve a crude and often cruel paddling experience. For example, one race held last year required all four members of the team to be in one canoe with one member blindfolded and
another only able to use one arm. The inflatables used on the whitewater rivers are difficult to maneuver no matter how skilled you are and often the race supplies the canoes and they are – you guessed it, big, cumbersome aluminum or plastic ones! So don't worry about perfecting your "hup" and comfort in a marathon racing canoe – adventure race paddling remains somewhat crude.
If you want a competitive advantage, invest in the lightest–weight canoe
paddle you can afford. You will often have to portage sections of the race and/or carry your paddle during the running or biking section. A lightweight paddle is also appreciated after three or four hours of paddling. Finally, if you want to invest in a canoe, lightweight is also the way to go, but keep in mind that many adventure races require your entire team to fit in one boat. Purchasing a solo, kevlar canoe that weighs 35 pounds might be inviting,
but picture it with you and all three of your teammates in it.
Climbing: Climbing might be the least understood of all events for first–time sprint–distance adventure racers. Typically the climbing sections involve starting on the ground and ascending anywhere from 40 to 100 feet up a fixed rope using a jumar (a camming device attatched to a foot/stirrup device called an etrier). The rope is often hanging on the face of a rock or
off a waterfall. The other type of "climbing" involves rappelling down a length of rope, again 40 to 100 feet from the top of a rock face or ledge or waterfall.
A qualified rock–climbing instructor should teach you the skills for jumaring and rappelling. Most major cities in the Midwest now have rock–climbing gyms and clubs where such instruction can be obtained. Climbing experts can also recommend the equipment required for the jumar and the rappel.
Don't skimp on quality here. If you borrow someone else's equipment, have a qualified rock–climbing instructor at least check it out. When you climb, your life is truly in your hands.
Neither event requires the nimble feats of climbing and placing of protection used in classic rock climbing. Instead, the art of jumaring and rappelling involves absolutely knowing how to use the equipment, including wearing a harness and a helmet, and a certain level of comfort dangling from a rope
50 feet off the ground. A great way to train for jumaring, when you cannot get to the climbing gym, is to begin doing pull–ups. Do three sets to exhaustion four days a week and you will "fly" up those ropes come race day.
Orienteering: Perhaps it is the orienteering section of adventure races that truly set it apart from the marathon and the triathlon (although if you have ever "lost" your bike in the rows of racks at a triathlon, you might have
wished for a map and compass). Orienteering occurs in most adventure races, no matter the distance. In most cases, it requires teams to use a map (usually a topography map, usually 1:24,000) and a compass.
Most courses are a well–guarded secret until only hours before the race. Your team may know that the race is to be held in a general vicinity, but will not know the exact course. Just prior to the start of the race (usually
one to two hours before the race starts), teams are given instructions and a map of the race course. You and your team will have about one hour to decipher the maps, plot the coordinates, if required, and plan your strategy for covering the terrain.
Typically, this means locating a series of checkpoints (called CPs) where race officials will mark your team's passport when you arrive. You must find the CPs in the order given and usually have an allotted amount of time
in which to reach each CP. At some CPs, you may have to perform tasks (such as knot tying) or solve a riddle or complete a puzzle.
Recognizing that the shortest distance between two points, however, may not be the quickest way to reach a CP. Depending on the terrain, your mode of travel (hiking or biking), you will need to have the orienteering skills of map reading, compass use and plotting coordinates on a map, and determining coordinates on a pre–plotted map.
The best way to become a skilled navigator is to first consult some of the many excellent resources available in books and on the Web. Next, take to the woods and practice, practice, practice. While training for the 1997 Raid Gauloises, a local Boy Scout troop laid out a demanding course for our team to traverse in the Wausau Rib Mountain area. Orienteering is one part skill, one part technology (invest in a good compass) and one part
intuitive artistry. I've wallowed in the quicksand of the Patagonia jungle, lost, alongside one of the military's best pointman. Luckily, we were a cohesive enough team that we just laughed and plodded on. Orienteering will test the emotional meddle of your team. Everyone should have at least a rudimentary ability to orienteer. Don't rely on one person. What if that is the person who drops out of the race due to illness, injury or frustration?
Horseback Riding and Mystery Events
Horseback Riding: Horseback riding, while not always a part of adventure races, will be if the race location has access to horses that are suitable, and a place to ride them. From my experience, this is the event most teams
have the least amount of skill in. To acquire the skill to get through the horseback riding section, each member of the team should be comfortable riding a horse in open terrain at a walk, trot and gallop. Most races in the Midwest use Western–style riding equipment (like cowboys), versus English–style riding equipment (like Prince Charles). Getting good instruction in either style is what is important. The list of skills you'll need to
be comfortable with is a bit lengthy for this article, but suffice it to say that you need to be able to not only stay on your horse but also to have a "sense" about horses. Remember those four–legged critters become "part" of the team, and you will want them to cooperate and "get along" with you as you gallop down the dusty trail. The team that not only can ride but also understand horse psychology will have the competitive edge.
Mystery Events: First introduced by the High–Tec Adventure Series, "mystery events" often show up in adventure races when you least desire them. Mystery events run the gamut from odd physical skill challenges like obstacle courses, (crawling under low lying ropes through the mud or carrying your lightest teammate across a balance beam) to mental tests and team riddles. Many of the events look like National Lampoon goes to
military boot camp and "Survivor" combined. Often the events are aimed at slowing down or throwing off the front running teams to give the back of the pack teams a competitive edge. They are usually fun to do and always fun for the spectators to watch.
Adventure racing is in its infancy as a multisport event for the masses. However, the interest in it is growing. Most registration for local and regional races closes before the deadline, with 40 or 50 teams showing up
to race. Each year more and more races appear on multisport event calendars.
Adventure racing offers teams a chance to not only test physical skill, but also strategic skill, technical skill and maybe, most important, emotional skill. If things go awry in a marathon or a triathlon, you can blame the weather, your equipment, or yourself. If they go awry in an adventure race, you can quickly meet your own demons and own them, or project them
into the frustrated faces of your teammates. I know I've been there. But you can also experience the team exhilaration of discovering a checkpoint, the unspoken appreciation of a hand helping you across a rocky portage, the silly banter of too many hours paddling, and the deep felt respect for teammates exceeding yours and their expectations.
Perhaps we are being offered a metaphor of our own evolution as individuals, and as a society, by the increasing popularity of adventure
races. We are connected as never before in the history of civilized society and, while this connectivity has as many disadvantages as advantages, it offers us an opportunity to create community. It invites us to learn to join together to share our adventures and to use the collective power of each other to go further and do more than we can going it alone.
Next month, we'll talk about mandatory gear, clothing, nutrition, race day strategy, transitions and support crews team psychology.
Julie Lynch has been adventure racing since 1995 and has competed in international races such as the Raid Gauloises, the ESPN Extreme Games and the Eco–Challenge. She is a contributing author to "The Complete Adventure Racing Book" in bookstores June 2001. She lives and trains in and around Lake Mills, Wisconsin. Readers with questions or comments can contact Lynch at wldrnss4me@aol.com
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