Dec 31, 2009

Year end summary.

Team Calleva was growing up in 2009. Still long way to catch up our friends from the team Too Many Kids, but we are getting close. Here are our new heroes Danil and Leon:

We also have new racers joined the team in 2009. They got hooked up by Calleva races and are ready for longer and more serious events. It doesn't mean that Calleva race is "not serious". We are now known as the toughest sprint around:



We're starting the New Year with a traditional New Year DIET hosted by TeamHalfwayThere.com

Happy New Year and good results in 2010

Dec 27, 2009

Roaring Plains

Remember E-Fix 2007?... Via Ferrata, real white water, snow on the trekking... and night orienteering on the top of Roaring Plains. This year was the second Christmas we went through the E-Fix course, almost tradition already. It was at least foot of snow on the slops and snowshoes were the must to get up. Visibility was very limited due to the ice storm and it was very hard to follow trails. Roaring plains were... loud... like a jet plain. Now we know why no trees can survive up there: 60 mph wind with even stronger gusts keeps the plains bald. Here is the slideshow from the Flatrock creek waterfalls. To some we manage to get really close:


Dec 12, 2009

O-Marathon II report.

By Dima
Running is not my favorite discipline and once in a while (no, once in a WHILE) I force myself to run a competitive event. I cannot survive “just running” for more than 1 hour. Running with a map is a little better; my brain is busy analyzing something else beyond slow moving reality. Delaware Valley Orienteering Association created my perfect event: Orienteering Marathon. This year was the second time they host the event. The first one was in November 2007 and I got 3rd place in division. This time turnout was much better and I finished only 13th out of 21 (25th out of 71 overall). This is not very impressive result, taking into account that really strong runners were doing full marathon. Navigation this year was easier than in 2007, but it didn’t prevent me from getting lost around CP9. Thanks to Bill for telling me were I am. Total running distance for me was about 25-26 km, but between CP9 and CP16 I was doing a very conservative route choice. My finish time was 2:55:48 that is faster than my result in 2007. And of course it was nice to see old friend:

I took this photo 30 seconds before the start, sorry for quality, winter sun is crazy.

P.S. I started the O-Marathon II with strong symptoms of cold; they all gone after I finished. Running in chilly weather is the cure!

Dec 7, 2009

First day of snow updates

Posted by Dima

It was amazing white weekend. If you spent it in front of your computer updating your site or reading somebody's else news, you probably not a racer and reading this text by mistake :-). We spent both days outside with our running off-road stroller. Leon was happy to see his first ever snow and getting ready for West Virginia trip on Christmas.



Now updates:

1) Mark your calendar... January 24th, 2010 Quantico orienteering meeting at Great Falls, VA (scroll down to the 24th). Meet Director: Fedor Iskhakov; Course Setter: Marina Iskhakova. Yes, our guests from Red Fox will host this event. Don't miss your chance to test "Russian style" navigation. All levels (white to blue) will be presented.

2) Calleva Race 2010 is going to be a big surprise. We have the draft course ready and even the first working map is already printed. Now is the time to get all permits. We need 6 different permits from 5 different organizations. We got the first one this Friday. Official announcement of the race will be out this week!

Nov 20, 2009

2010 race calendar.

Our racing plans for 2010 are HUGE! Today we had the final meeting with Calleva directors for budget and race schedule approval.We are good to go and we are going to make it full speed. Our race calendar is now online. Race results of 2008-09 season are updated as well. Looks like we are going to race much more next year!
Another great news: We now can announce the date for 2010 Calleva Adventure Race. Mark your calendar: August 8th 2010. Updates and detail will be published on the Calleva Race website in a week or so. We are working hard on a completely new course for 2010 and it's a good training for us as well. The new location is remote and rarely visited, so don't expect to see us on your regular training trails.
Our last event for 2009 will be O Marathon II in Fair Hill, MD. See you there in 3 weeks.
Don't let the season end!

Nov 13, 2009

It's a boy!!!

Congratulations to Vlad and Alena on the arrival of newborn baby boy!

On the photo proud family on the way from the hospital. Everybody is doing great!
One more racer in team Calleva! :-)

Nov 10, 2009

Odyssey Rogain. Reports, results and photos.

KAREN
True to Odyssey's reputation, the 8 hour Rogaine had many climbs, descents and bushwhacks. Russians must be part billy goat--for Dima, Fedor and Marina scaled the mountains with ease. Val was more of a pack mule and me, well maybe a tortoise, you know--slow and steady wins the race. Haha, there was nothing slow about this race. We cruised through the 8 hour course in less than six hours, at least an hour before the next team. Our speed was due mostly to our almost perfect navigators, Fedor and Marina. But we ran when we could and took "short cuts" straight up the mountains, and then straight back down. To and from the race we played "how many people can fit in a Mazda?" reminding me of high school and squeezing 6 people in my red Fiero. Perfect weather topped off the day along with the unofficial 1st place win. It was a treat to get to race with such wonderful people!

VAL
The 2nd Annual orienteering event was something very special for team Calleva. Last year we came to the event not knowing how or what was going to take place. We eventually won the event, but I suffered some major cramps and other teammates had various injuries blossom. So this year we were coming injury free, and hoping for the same results. But it was with a twist of sorts...
New to the team is a Russian couple (Fedor and Marina) who have an extensive orienteering and adventure racing resume. I kinda laughed at myself, because this would mean running!! Something I have not focused on in a few months! Now the twist is that Marina recently gave birth to a beautiful daughter, (Ariadna) approximately 5 months ago, and is breastfeeding! So Marina can't participate in a race over 4 hours because she needs to feed Ariadna. This is actually amazing that she can even race, this soon after giving birth. So the team decided to take on this race with Fedor and Marina each only participating in one leg of the race. This would allow Marina to still tend to her daughter Ariadna.
The race ensues with Fedor leading Dima, Karen and I. Straight up a hill! We were the first out of the starting house and eventually finished the 3hour 30minute course in approximately 2hours 15minutes, still in first. After about 15 minutes to plot the next course and prepwork, we set out with Marina. She led us around the course where the orienteering points were a little more difficult to find. Some bushwacking, more hill climbing and then some eagle eye vision from Karen brought us to the last checkpoint. The last checkpoint was already known to be tough one because it was located on a broad spur and teams had missed it. We all fanned out only to be met by another team. I just happened to be on the far left side and after about 12 minutes.... MARINA...KAREN...DIMA..I FOUND IT! A short celebration dance by Marina and then we headed to the finish. We had gathered all the orienteering points for both sections, we smoked the course. A little over an hour later when we left, no other team had yet to finish. Two years in a row now for team CALLEVA to come away with a victory. This time we did it in 5 hours and 45 minutes, very impressive for us as a team. I look forward to being a part of next year's race and representing team CALLEVA in this great orienteering competition.

MARINA
... 2.15 am. The time to get up, to eat very early breakfast and to start the way to the Odyssey AR Rogain! Outside is below 40 F. Great Calleva team is waiting for us - Dima, Karen and Val. The first loop - is for Fedor, the second one - is for me to navigate. Huge mountain ridges are all around us. We run on trails and go uphill. The good news is that only half of the way is up and the second part is down. On my loop we found all CP in 3:45 and took the first unofficial place at my first Odyssey event!



DIMA
Last year Odyssey Rogain finished my injured knee. It survived one expedition and two 24 hours races, but Douthat Park hills killed it: it was very painful limping to the finish for the first place. This year Rogain became a big test before the 2010 season. Five minutes before the start we got coordinates of 10 CPs of the north-east quadrant. 6 minutes to plot and Calleva is the first team out… or better to say up. This section was designed by our friend and teammate Mark and had no flat areas: up, up and more up, down and up again. All CPs were on well defined features. That was different from North-West section where Ronny put 2 CPs "in the middle of nowhere". Bushwhacking in his section also was "more brutal", or I just got tired running after Marina that changed Fedor for the second loop. She was in great hurry to feed her 5 months old daughter Ariadna, or just had so much fun dancing on the way to the finish. We finished first, but probably unofficially, because Odyssey "provides no child care :-)" and we had to switch our navigators between first and second loops. My knee was strong and declared full recovery for the next season!

Thanks to Calleva Outdoor for the sponsorship for this event!
Official results are here.
Dima had his camera on the course, all photos are in Dima's Facebook (with funny comments) or in Picasa.

Nov 9, 2009

Odyssey AR Rogain.

We cleared the 8 hours course in less than 6 hours. Reports, results and photos are coming.

Nov 1, 2009

OUTSIDE Magazine about team Calleva and racing mom report.

The OUTSIDE magazine has just released November Issue. Contents of this issue include a special SURVIVAL section along with:
"Know When to Say When 
It's better to bail out than to pass away".
Very promising title about incredible adventures of team Calleva in Patagonia early this year. See the November Issue of OUTSIDE magazine on newsstands in your local outdoor store. The story is on page 85.






Now completely different experience. Do you know what this lady is doing on transition from bike to paddle? Yes, she is also checking the map :-)

Marina Iskhakova, captain and navigator of team Fight Club Girls during the last weekend EDGE adventure race by GOALS ARA. Her full report is published at RISK.RU in Russian. By the way the girls got 2nd place. Next weekend Marina will try to demonstrate her nursing and navigation skills with team Calleva on Odyssey AR-Ogain. See you there.

Oct 25, 2009

Team Calleva Halloween Party


That's not happening too often, but Halloween party was a good reason to get almost all local team members together. We even had some race planning discussion before entering The Forest:

Everybody survived the dark trails and the bravest ones even went for The Death Jump:

All photos from the party are here.

Oct 11, 2009

Third weekend, third race, third podium!

Dima and Shon raced Little-Big adventure race this Saturday in Black Hill park. Shon moved to the most competitive 11-12 years old category and our third place was determined by seconds. Weather was almost "perfect": strong gusting wind on paddling, wet rocky trail on biking and light rain on the run. We finished the 5.5 miles course in 47 minutes 14 seconds.

Click the image to see all photos from the race.

Oct 6, 2009

Calleva TRIs something new!

Wanting to show off some mad swimming skills, but not wanting to complete the entire course a day after returning from Rome, Karen convinced Dima to sign up for the Brierman Half Ironman Lite relay.  Karen swam the .85 mile leg in Greenbrier lake.  Even with a wetsuit, her fingers, toes and face were numb in the cold water.  Karen came out of the water in 3rd place 30 seconds behind the 2 leaders.  First out of transition, Dima's took the extra long 45 mile bike leg next.  Dima's first road race went great, with just over 2 1/2 hours on the extremely hilly course.  In true adventure racer style Dima freaked out all the turn volunteers with his speedy descents and turns.  They kept shouting "slow down" as he careened by them! Dima held his own on Karen's cyclocross bike, especially compared to all the $5,000 bikes on the course.  Only 7 super fast triathletes were able to pass him.  For the run, Karen recruited George Corbi from Middleton.  George has blown through several triathlons this year and is running in the Marine Corp Marathon in a few weeks.  George scored the fastest 7 mile run leg of the race making up 2 places and securing a 1st place in the relay teams and 5th overall!  Awesome race for everyone!  Karen hopes that the team can do more races that have swims, Dima wants a road bike, and hopefully we can keep speedy George in the loop!

Official finishing was 3:51.54 only 20 minutes behind the leader.



The race was sponsored and supported by Calleva Outdoor Adventure.

Oct 4, 2009

Brierman Triathlon. Results and first photos.

It was HUGE!!! We are first in relay. Dima is thinking about road bike... to cover 73 kilometers of BIG hills in less than 150 minutes is really cool. Detailed report and more photos are coming. For now take this one from the podium:

Photo Debby Adler

Markoff's Haunted Forest starts... yesterday!

Actually it started Friday with 2000 patrons coming at the first day. Yesterday was the staff training. Don't miss your chance to get scared ... Team Calleva covers the belay on the Death Jump, a little warm up before two dark trails in the Haunted Forest. It's up to you to decide which trail makes you "to feel better"...

Click the image to see all training day photos.

Oct 2, 2009

Official Shag results and first Calleva Triathlon

NYARA published the final Shag results. Calleva/Red Fox is third in prime and tied 4th position with team NYARA in overall. Calleva/Red Fox official time is 11 hours and 5 minutes. Now we have to make the final decision about Nationals October 22-24 in Pilot Point, Texas.

This Sunday team Calleva will compete in unusual for us event: Brierman Triathlon in Greenbrier Park in Boonsboro, MD. We will race relay: Karen will swim about 1 mile, Dima will bike 45 miles (road bike !!!), and George will run about 8.5 miles.

Sep 27, 2009

National qualifier. This time no mistakes...

Official Shag results: Team Calleva/Red Fox is third in prime and fifth overall. Dmitri Kaganovich, Michelle Lindsay and Fedor Iskhakov cleared the course taken all possible 95 points in 11 hours and 15 minutes. We were in 15-20 minutes lead before the last swimming-paddling leg of the race. One of sit-on-top kayaks we got had a hole below water line, but we discovered it only a couple miles away from the transition. Two stops to remove the water and to try to fix the problem cost us 30 minutes and two positions in the final ranking. ATP and GOALS ARA passed us in the last 20 minutes of the race.
The race was very well organized and navigation was very interesting. Mountain bike was mostly on technical single trail like Gambrill park in Maryland, and paddling was in river with maze of narrow swampy channels. Dima was trying to drag the leaky kayak through one of these swamps and got two leeches sucking blood from his leg. Fedor made a wonderful navigation job that kept the team in the lead for 2/3 of the race. Michelle made this tough race real fun for the team. Marina and Ariadna were our support and waited us on the finish line.

The race was sponsored and supported by Calleva Outdoor Adventure.
All photos:
Shag 2009

Sep 20, 2009

Shag training.

Last year Shag race was so much fun that we can't afford skipping it this year. Unfortunately it's only 12 hours and we are going to miss night time fun. We also have to move fast to keep it in line with fast sprinting teams. Team Calleva is upgraded by Red Fox navigator Fedor, who proved his amazing skills on today's training. Michelle always brings luck and first place to Calleva and we hope for good result next Saturday.

Sep 13, 2009

Team Red Fox Russia in USA.

Legends of the Russian Adventure Racing sport Marina and Fedor Iskhakov are here in Maryland for the next 6 months. Don't get surprised, if for the next few races you see team Calleva/Red Fox in race rosters.

Dima hosted a welcome party for the team Red Fox and little Ariadna.

Aug 31, 2009

First day of school updates.

Val is back from South Dakota, telling amazing stories about PQ race. We will need more beer to listen them all!

Meanwhile we started scouting 2010 Calleva Race course. It's too much difference between August, when the race takes place, and any other time of year.

The season is not over yet and we have few more short races coming. Dima got good training in the last 7 days: 104 miles biking, 16 miles paddling, 4 mile river swim and 40 miles running. The last 24 miles of running were on the Green Way trail from Potomac to Clopper lake and back:

Aug 18, 2009

Val and Druce interview from PQ

Val, Druce and the rest of the team are doing great! They are solid on full course and ready to finish strong:

Aug 13, 2009

Primal Quest starts tomorrow

Just 18 hours to this big race. Val and Druce are in South Dakota with team FIVE TEN / NUMA. Mark jointed international Team Endurox R4 for this 10 days race through the Badlands (what’s a name!). Good luck guys, we will be watching you!

Unfortunately this year the PQ is less than half full. Only 32 teams are shown so far on the leaderboard. There are two reasons for such low turnout: the price tag and injuries that set back many racers. $10,000+ registration fees, plus race specific gears, transportation, accommodation… A very few teams can afford such expenses in present economical conditions.

Also we can declare 2009 the year of numerous injuries. Team Nike is out of PQ because of Mike Kloser mountain biking crash. Team Merrell/Zanfel Adventure lost Robyn Benincasa due to hip injuries. Many racers, non-racers and just friends of mine had knees, hips, ankles and even head injuries. I couldn’t avoid bad luck as well and even participated in a crutches party earlier this year:

Aug 10, 2009

Team work makes a good race.

The Second Annual is over. Today there are 90 people limping on their way to work. The race wasn't easy for anybody, especially for the team Calleva and Calleva staff that put almost 6 month of preparation into this event. Everything worked out very smooth. Dima directed the Expert course, while Karen took full responsibility for the Sport category together with her medical director duties. Vlad appeared at the most unpredictable locations of the race taken photos of the racers and checked that all flags and stickers are still in place. We managed to check-in all 40 teams in 45 minutes, thanks to our wonderful team of volunteers. We bused all racers to the start, we moved all boats to the beginning of the paddling leg, and we moved all bikes to and from transition areas. Total of 30 people spend 12 hours and more supporting this big event.
Thanks to all races for coming and taking this tough challenge. Thanks to all spectators for supporting our racers!

Jul 31, 2009

2009 Calleva Race is sold out.

40 teams, 90 racers are crazy enough to spend next Sunday in woods and swamps. We are all ready to go and hope to have good weather next weekend. Here is one secret image from the start area of the race.

Are you ready for THAT?

Jul 21, 2009

Racing news.

1) Mark and Sara are back from Sweden, where they compete in the Explore Sweden Monster Adventure Race 7 days, 1000 km. Read team YogaSlackers 18 pages race report here. It's absolutely unreal!

2) Jonathan Neely from GOALS ARA published a dramatic story about the team adventure in the Untamed New England Race week ago. Links to the videos from the race are on the Grant's blog.

3) This weekend Brian and Steven vetted the Calleva Race Course. Dima, Vlad, Karen, and Val did support and transitions. Report is here, photos are on the Calleva Race blog:

Jul 13, 2009

Back home

OK. We kind of DNF New England race, even in leader board we are on ALT D short course. Only 2 teams finish the full course of this brutal race, but even theses two were far away from clearing it.
Here is slideshow of our team's on-board camera combined with a few shots from CP0 website and official Untamed photo galery:

Pay attention to the white water conditions. We were one of very few teams to make it without swimming :-)

Jul 7, 2009

Going North!

Team Calleva (Dima, Karen and Vlad) packing up for the 3 day 250 mile Untamed New England adventure race starting Thursday. We managed to fit our bins into 30 lb limit and our next challenge is 12 hours drive to the beautiful Balsams Grand Resort Hotel.

The race has on-line coverage and every team will have satellite trekking device. To see our real time location follow this link. To cheer us up send us a trail mail.
This race we will care photo camera with us on the course and promise tons of photos after the race.
Our team is Calleva, our number is 41.

Team Calleva is sponsored by Calleva Outdoor Adventure. Thank you guys!

Jun 27, 2009

Impossible 30 pounds.

Today was the final Untamed New England race training. We worked out different rope techniques: chest ascender - hand ascender, two hand ascenders, prussic - ascender, and heavy-back-pack-on-rope technique.

Untamed will provide ascending gear and we want to be ready for any configuration. We decided not to take our gear, because... we can't fit it into allowed 30 lb weight limit. Yes, most of today's training was not about ropes. It was about gear. Unlike last year, transition gear bins are limited not by volume, but by weight. Only 30 pounds are allowed. We took our last year 24 gallon Untamed New England bins, and filled it out for 3 days race... 41 lb was the minimum weight. Suppose, we will start on bikes, so biking gear are out... still 37 lb. So far the problem remains open and we hope the race director will increase the limit. Grant, please!

Jun 20, 2009

Patagonian race presentation at Calleva.

This Friday team Calleva presented the slideshow about Patagonian Expedition Race. 150 people of the Calleva staff took a 30 minutes trip through the most remote adventure of the world.

The first part of the show is online now. Click the link and then F11 to see the full screen.

This small screen is also active, thanks to Google.

Jun 9, 2009

Rain, rain, every day...

Val is trying to get ready for PQ in 2 months. South Dakota is a very dry place, 200 oz of water are mandatory on some PQ trekking sections. Here in Maryland  for the last two weeks we had continues rain with short brake for the weekend. Trails remain wet and water fills our shoes. 8 miles of trail run and 8 miles of biking was a good warm up for the next month races.

By the way, this trail will be a part of the Calleva Race this year. Any idea where is it?

Jun 5, 2009

Calleva Race fills up fast.

More than 2 month before the race and we are almost half full! It's nice to see last year racers comming back, new athlets are also welcome.

Register earlier to reserve your spot. Team roster is available online now.
The photo is from the 2008 Calleva race by Vladimir Bukalo Photograpy.

Jun 1, 2009

WW results and NE training

Karen finished Odyssey Wild and Wonderful 25th overall and 5th in solo (first and only female solo). Missing CP6 cut off by 20 minutes was the story:
"The last bike leg took considerably longer than they told us it would. And it went through a very poorly mapped/marked area. I still don't understand where I took a wrong turn. Anyway. I felt great through the whole race. I wasn't tired until I missed the cutoff, I was upset for that. I am not really sore now, no blisters, feet are great, and my navigation was good. I felt very strong through out, so no matter where I placed, I had a great race."

We continue training for Untamed New England race. This weekend was about paddling and boat logistics:


Yep, there is a kayak inside this canoe and we are far away from water. After last year Untamed Virginia we have to be ready for any surprises. By the way, the race is 10 hours longer now: 70 hours...

May 21, 2009

Wild and Wonderful this weekend

Karen will represent Calleva Adventure Racing on this weekend Odyssey Wild and Wonderful Race. Like last year she will be the only female solo to start the race. Way to go, Karen! The online coverage will be provided by the Checkpoint Tracker. Send your Shout Outs to support Karen.

Meanwhile, Dima is very busy taking care of this little guy:


Leon Isaac Kaganovich was born on May 7th and, according to speed he jumped out of his mom, he will be racer, no doubts about that. Now we have to make him smart as well.

Our next big event as a team will be 3 days Untamed New England Race in 1.5 month. We train hard to get ready. In the last 4 (working) days Dima had a wonderful commute: 105 miles of biking, 12 miles of paddling and 10 miles of running.

May 5, 2009

Muddy Buddy


Dima and Karen raced funny Muddy Buddy Race this Sunday. We didn't win costume contest, but finished third in our division (out of 86 teams) and 58th overall (out of 1200+ teams). Our names are located on page 53 of results. We would have finished a little better, but my ballerina dress got a little heavy after the first river crossing and totally trashed after the muddy swim.

Apr 27, 2009

Perfect commute. AR style.

posted by Dima.

I know quite a bit racer working 9 hours a day Monday to Friday. Yep, we have to work hard to pay all these registration fees and to buy expensive gear for races. I also spend 9 hours a day in the lab. I like what I am doing, and when results are good and keep going, I can stay overnight to collect them all. But eventually I have to go home and return next morning. And that’s the problem…

I live 14 miles straight line from my work. Straight line of North-South diagonal of Washington DC, the city of traffic jams, bridges across Potomac and Anacostia rivers, president cortège, wise-president cortège, secretary of state cortège… You cannot drive your car through there and my commute is 30-35 miles each way around the nation capital. The drive takes about 45 minutes in perfect conditions, but perfect conditions do not exist around the capital beltway. That’s why 2 years ago I switched to biking.

I still cannot go straight line because of the rivers, but 16 miles of trails and sidewalks is no so bad and take me about 55-60 minutes. I ride year around, including rainy days, snow and frizzing rain. I learned how to ride my bike in any conditions and have no more crashes during real AR events. But recently I started a new chapter in my commute, turning it into mini adventure races (two per day). Here how it works:

Stage 1: Biking on Capital Crescent trail from Bethesda to Georgetown – 7 miles.

Stage 2: Transition from bike to paddle at the Jack’s boathouse. Thank to Anna, the owner, for nice service of keeping my sea kayak there.

Stage 3: Paddling from Georgetown to BAFB (military base across the national airport) – 6 miles.

Stage 4: Transition from paddling to running at coast guards station (thanks to guards for letting me in).

Stage 5: Running to the lab – 1 mile.


Now my commute is a perfect straight line. And it takes me 90 to 110 minutes depending on wind direction and my spirit to work hard. I am still not doing it every day, alternating with bike only commuting, but as weather gets better, I will try it more often.

By the way, it’s a good training. Try it.

Apr 10, 2009

Web updates and snakes from the race course.

We updated the Race Results and the Team section in the top menu. It's almost one year to the new Calleva team. We will skip big races for the next few months, but there are few short races in our plans. 
Last weekend field work was highlighted by this beautiful snake


Three other sisters of this beauty absorbed sun light just feet from the trail. Hopefully they will go deeper into the swamp in August.

Mar 30, 2009

Weekend training.


The weather was almost perfect. The top of Sugar Loaf mountain was foggy enough to take a wrong trail. 30 k of biking and 10 k of running was more like swimming. That's typical AR conditions, get used to it... 

Mar 11, 2009

Calleva Race registration open!

The process started. This year the whole Calleva team is involved in preparations. 

We are working on two parallel courses for advanced and new racers. To see all details and to register, please go to the race website: http://callevarace.blogspot.com/

Mar 3, 2009

Blog maintenance.


This blog was never designed for such traffic and for long posts. I also like to make experiments. So, if tomorrow you see totally new design under the same address, don’t worry, it’s just my other experiment with Google. On the picture is the snapshot of two days visitors’ locations without the US west coast (don’t know where it’s gone).

Feb 27, 2009

Media about team Calleva and Patagonian race.

U.S. Team Calleva members (L-R) Sara Percy, Druce Finlay, Valentin Chapa and Mark Lattanzi sit together at the opening ceremony of the Wenger Patagonian Expedition Race in Punta Arenas February 9, 2009. The annual event, regarded as the wildest and toughest adventure race in the world, was won this year by Helly Hansen Prunesco in six days after an epic 600kms course of mountain biking, kayaking and spectacular wilderness trekking, and some of the worst weather conditions in its history. Calleva lost their way after deciding to take a short cut because they had run out of food and had to feed off the land to stay alive. Picture taken February 9, 2009.

PUNTA ARENAS, Chile (Reuters) - Four American adventurers had to live on berries during three days lost in the wilderness, a Briton and the French defending champion suffered hypothermia, the Canadian team fell into an icy river with their equipment and a Spaniard got attacked by mosquitoes.

Feb 26, 2009

Detailed race report of the 2009 Patagonian Expedition Race

Here's my more detailed race report of the 2009 Patagonia Expedition Race.  There aren't any pictures as Patagonia ate my race camera.  :-( 

I am collecting some pics from the other teams and some of the race photographers and I'll post them when I can.

As for me, I am healing quickly though my feet are still a bit swollen and my fingers and toes still tingle on the ends.
My appetite has returned in full force and I've put back on the 15 pounds that I lost!

Cheers!
Mark

Feb 25, 2009

Patagonian race... The highlights from Mark.


I am back home from Patagonia - tired but very happy.

Thanks to everyone who followed Team Calleva online and kept us in their
thoughts as we struggled during the last stage of the race.

Patagonia vastly exceeded my imagination of what it would be. The legendary
wind was ever-present. We saw a 200 foot waterfall coming off a cliff and
never reach the ground. The wind turned the water into mist about halfway
down the cliff. The forests were dense and moss-covered - pinks and
purples, black and white and an assortments of greens. Sometimes the moss
was several feet thick. They were also a variety of textures from hard (the
bright green ones with the small white five-petaled flowers) to the huge
puffy red ones that sunk up to a foot when stepped upon only to rebound as
if no one had passed. I imagined the Mirkwood of Middle Earth to be like
this. I half-expected Tom Bombadil to appear in one of the stands of trees.
The river valleys were mazes of bogs, ponds, small lakes and muddy
expanses. Some of the bog holes were easily over 6 feet deep (i know I fell
in one while portaging our kayak). The craggy peaks and cliffs seemed to
rise up from everywhere.

Here are some highlights of the trip/race... (I'll be sending out a detailed
race report in the coming days.):

  • We kayaked with humpback whales in the Straits of Magellan.



  • We startled a huge sea lion on a remote beach (and vice versa).



  • We communed with a green-eyed fox one morning just before dawn.



  • We laughed at the antics of penguins on shore and in the water.



  • We dug tunnels through underbrush so dense, it appeared to be an
    impenetrable living wall of leaves, trunks and thorns.



  • We camped above a glacier one night and listened to four inches of snow
    accumulate outside the tent.



  • We paddled our kayaks across open water and up a fjord defying the
    Patagonian wind - if only briefly.



  • We kayaked down a glacial stream from an iceberg-filled lake to the Strait
    of Magellan.



  • We biked 80 kilometers into the Patagonia wind. It seemed to take forever.



  • We walked for days and days and every time we felt we had seen all their was
    to see, Patagonia came up with a new sort of terrain or puzzle for us to
    solve.



  • I ever-scanned the skies for an albatross to no avail. I though I saw one,
    but he was too far away to be sure.



  • And lastly, we got our first helicopter ride (medivac from the finish to the
    hospital). 3 days with no food and one day with no water and hypothermia
    sets in pretty fast.



  • More soon,
    Mark

    Feb 24, 2009

    Team Calleva in Patagonia... First story.

    It seems team Calleva was destined to have a staggering amount of adversity, and through it the adventure of a lifetime.

    Every time we used our tent we were rained on and it was very cold, except once when it sleeted on us.

    It started off with me heading to Patagonia sick as a dog and getting team Captain Mark Lattanzi sick for the first 5 days of the race.

    Sec. 1: The Paddle
    Up in Torres Del Paines, the world famous rock climbers getaway, Grey Glacier forms Grey Lake which are the head waters to the beautiful Grey River where the paddle started. 20 miles downstream in merges the Rio Serrano (aptly named and a beautiful clear green serrano chili pepper color), the 2 rivers mix and a fantastic color is the result, Patagonia has met our expectations as one of the most pristine and unimaginably beautiful places on earth. Throughout the race I kept calling it the "land of the lost". We headed downstream towards a large ocean bay and ended up getting ferried by the race org. due to 100-140 km winds out on the bay.


    Sec. 2: The Bike
    Wenger the makers of the Swiss Army knife were wonderful sponsors and payed the local tavern for a mass buffet after the ferry so teams could head off with a fresh start, a very nice touch. We then mounted our bikes and cranked out an absolutely marvelous 60 miler......it was just sweet riding and as the night set in the full moon was fun to use for a while instead of lights. As navigation became imperative we busted out the lights, Val and I riding with AYUP and in the process lighting up the entire road. We finished strong.

    Sec. 3: The Trek
    Things started off well with our team being only 1 hour behind the leaders after 2 sections, when we headed off into the first trek.....(Let me just say Patagonian mountains have a very daunting look to them, especially when imminent weather is at hand). Night was approaching and we had been getting rained on for 12 hours as we crossed the bogs/wetlands and headed towards the first mountain crossing. The crest of the mountains was very craggy, limiting where a team could find passage, and we had no visibility due to heavy rain clouds and the rapidly approaching night.......perhaps we would have braved it if Mark wasn't sick as a dog. We hunkered down for 10 hours and waited for light, everyone being mildly disappointed knowing that it was lost time. We continued on the next morning making great time and to our surprise finishing the trek in 5th with team 4 still in the TA.

    Sec. 4: The Bike
    As we headed off on the bikes at 11:00 pm we thought it would be a nasty ride with 4 days of rain turning the local roads into a mud fest, however to our surprise the mud was not thick and as we headed out of the mountains it disappeared altogether, we continued making our way to a ferry crossing and a 2 hour nap ( waiting for the ferriers to wake up). Let me just mention now that this race had the best mountain biking and some of the most scenic riding I've experienced in an Expedition Race......no hike-a-bike and wonderful roads. We pushed hard on the rest of this ride which was battling the roaring 40's for 30 miles on an ocean road, trying to get to the next TA by 4:00 pm which we thought was a kayak dark zone. It turns out there was only one launching per day at 7:00 am so the Navy could send safety boats along with the paddlers who had to cross the Straights of Magellan. We reorganized our gear, ate heartily, and caught up on some rest.

    Sec. 5: The Paddle and Portage (90 km sec.)
    Teams had to cross the Straights of Magellan then paddle up a very scenic fjord (the most scenic paddling I have ever seen) and make their way to a 17 km portage, which was really 7 km of portaging then 10 km of lakes and fast moving rivers in between the lakes. Val and I had the bad luck first as we made our way precariously down a fast moving section full of brambles we got dumped and lost 2 headlamps, 1/2 a paddle, a fleece, and some food. The situation cost us 1 hour and we headed out again a little rattled (the conditions were life threatening). After crossing another small lake it was Mark and Sara's turn for a little adventure and they were dumped in an even more dangerous position with no possible way of getting the boat pulled out and portaged beyond the danger zone. Val and I lashed our boat to some trees and headed over to aid in the rescue which included using our 50 ft. tow line and all team members staging along the brambles to ease the Necky Amaruk through the rapids and dangerous brambles. It cost us another hour and we reached the final 10 km ocean section just in time for another Dark Zone.....up with the tent and 10 more hours lost that put us in a position of fighting the clock for the next few days.

    Sec. 6: The Epic Trek
    We pull in early with our boats and had only expectations of a smart clean TA. We needed a little recovery time to dry out gear, get well fed and plan out the supplies for a 125 km trek through extremely dense forests and wetlands. Since we arrived late with the previous days bad luck we were hours behind where we wanted to be and heading out on this trek early in the morning would have been extremely beneficial, we didn't head out until noon.
    We headed out at a warm up pace and within hours were pushing hard again (this team was very fit and with better luck could easily have gotten 3rd) when we reached a high saddle where we could see the next mountain crossing and plan our route. We knew it was hours away and didn't want to sleep again so we agreed to go for it.....a bad idea as we entered the mountains at night into a full on snow storm with zero visibility and dangerous cliffs everywhere. We had to pitch the tent again and wait for light.....it would have made a great film shot for a tent company as we were placed on a little tiny ledge of rock surrounded by steep snowfields and jagged cliff bans, throughout the night we snuggled and made hot soup to survive the cold. In the morning none of us could believe the position we had unwittingly camped in.
    That night we veered off course and had to take the long way around to get back on, which was hell. When we were 7 km from being back on course we had to go up a river valley and could see the original canyon where we should have come out. The bush was so thick it took us 12 hours to do the 7 km.....just a little aggravating, and let me mention we were going like animals to get through that stuff and get back on course.
    The next 2 days were our best, everything went well, we made great time, at night when Mark was breaking trail I would let him use my AYUP headlamp and he would say "Wow, I gotta get me one of these!" The entire team loved the fact that I had brought the AYUP headlamp kit, whenever we needed light for spotting or even just wanted a lot of light to pick the better of two bushwacks the AYUP lights reigned supreme! And to my surprise I got 12 hours of light out of a 6 hour battery! Although hours 6-12 were not as bright, they were still brighter than my black diamond headlamp.
    Because of adversity on the first portion of this trek we were waaay behind and ran out of food and still had 40 km to go. We did a major river crossing and inspected the map. The recommended route was much longer than a mountain option that the team agreed would be a good shortcut due to the absence of food.
    The plan was simple, get above the bush on the ridges and drop down onto the Cross at the End of the World. I guess it wasn't meant to be. Horrendous weather dropped in on us and we bailed from the mountains at high speed down a canyon that proved to be truly epic, from here we should have been able to coasteer over to the Cross trailhead.......ummmm no! For 2 days we tried to coasteer but would become hypothermic almost instantly because of the freezing water and cold conditions upon leaving the water. 3 times we tried to go back up and over the mountains but would get cliffed out.....Let me mention this was a brave team that would not just turn around and we would spend hours trying to contour around the cliffs through the thickest jungle/bush you've ever seen. When all seemed lost we finally cracked through to the trail and found some of the remaining personnel who helicoptered us to the hospital and then rushed us to the closing ceremonies for a well earned meal and a bottle of wine.

    Those last couple of days were hard and I'm sure we made a few bad decisions because of a lack of good rest and food. I learned that everyone on this team has true strength and internal fortitude and would not quit no matter how hard or how bad the situation had become. Instead of turning on each other we just kept getting stronger as a team and kept going for it, knowing that we had to make it. Team Calleva you are true champions that I'm humbled and honored to have raced with.

    P.S. Although out of food we had NUUN, and boy oh boy those were sweet to have. We ended up eating them whole like candies and I'm fairly certain they worked better than ever as the only source of nutrition for 3 days.....we never cramped.

    The Patagonia Expedition was the most adventerous course I've done and I will go back. I highly recommend it for any adventure racer seeking a good race.

    Druce Finlay
    Kayak Lake Mead

    Feb 20, 2009

    Good news (almost).

    The team is OK! No injuries and they will make it on time for tomorrow flight.
    Now the part of story I know:
    They've been evacuated by the military Chilean helicopter from the mountains close to the finish area. It happened just today. Druce and Sara are totally fine, Val and Mark were taken to the hospital in Punta Arenas with hypothermia, but should be released in one hour.
    They are coming to the Dulles airport (IAD) 11:51pm Sunday, flight COPA-488 from Panama City. I will be there to pick them up. 
    I hope next post will be a story they will write themselves.

    More good news, thanks to Jen for the link:


    Feb 19, 2009

    Waiting...

    There are no tracking updates since yesterday 17:52. British, French and Canadian teams finished at 02/16 22:36, 02/17 17:24 and 02/18 07:16 correspondently. Calleva is expected to finish... now. No other teams continue the race.
    The team spent one more night in mountains:

    It would be easier to go around through the valley, to the east coast, where is the trail to Cabo Froward. Instead, they decided to shortcut through the mountains. Yes, I know, I have a better navigation tool with my computer here. I will publish one more post as soon as get any final news.

    Feb 18, 2009

    They are going to make it !!!

    As of today 11:33 am team Calleva is just 10 miles from the finish line. For the last 75 hours they've been trekking through the most southern continental mountains of Patagonia. I hope they will finish tonight. Follow the team approaches the finish line at life tracking.

    There is nice slide show at the race website.

    Feb 17, 2009

    Winners, Photos and no news from Calleva...

    English team Helly Hansen-Prunesco crossed the finish line at Cape Froward on February 16, 22:36. French team Easy Implant was in second and it's unclear, if they've finished or still on the course.
    Canadians lost their tracking device before PC4, last signal from Calleva was today at 08:55. There are no other teams in the race, only these 4 left.
    SleepMonsters got first photos uploaded. I will put here only this one of Sara:  
    Believe me, this kayak is VERY heavy !!! Come on guys! Push it hard, tomorrow is the last full day!