E-Fix 2010 --Not your soloist's race! Part 2.

E-Fix is well known as the toughest 2 day race in the country. During the pre-race briefing Ronny explained that only the strongest teams have a chance to clear the course, if and maybe. The list of these "ifs" and "maybes" was pretty long and included perfect navigation, no medical issues, no mechanical problems, no sleep, no extreme weather conditions, perfect strategy and good luck. Ronny says basically this exact same thing every single race, and many times even the strongest teams can not get all possible CPs. The ranking of these races is determined first by the total number of mandatory CPs acquired, then by the number of optional CPs and then by the total race time. Of course you have to make all cutoffs to stay on the full course. My minimal goal for this race was to get all mandatory CPs and to make all cutoffs. At least it was all I wanted rolling into my second night of the race.

I started to feel tired and couldn't seem to move fast enough. I knew that other teams were closing on me and at the last CP before Camp Creek two teams, Tecnu Extreme and Raging Burrito caught up to me. As a result I got good news and bad news. The bad news--I was not first anymore, while the good news was that I can worry less about the navigation. I jumped into line after the very fast Tecnu Extreme and in 20 minutes or so arrived to TA7. I was wet, cold, tired, hungry and sick of the energy gels I forced myself to eat for the last 33 hours. I pulled out the Camp Creek map and started reading the instructions for this leg.

The instructions were very confusing and included several cutoffs for my present location. Following my simple rule of never leaving the TA without understanding all the rules I went back to Joy for an explanation. Apparently it was pretty simple, I had to be back at this transition by 2 am with all mandatory CPs. With Tecnu Extreme 5 minutes ahead I joined forces with my old friends from Raging Burrito. We started slow and spent at least 10 minutes looking for the first cemetery. I still hoped to get some optional CPs of this leg, but time ran faster than the distance we covered and after the second cemetery I realized that the only way to get all mandatory CPs was to run.

Usually I don't run 35 hours into a race, but this time I decided to make an exception. I covered 10 k in 50 minutes and spent another 5 minutes looking for the CP. It doesn't sound too fast, but it was at night, with the backpack, on a really bad trail that crossed three deep creeks. I had no time to look for better crossing options and one creek was chest deep for me. I was back to the transition 8 minutes before the cutoff, shaking from cold and excitement. Here I got coordinates for the next mandatory CP and started to plot the way back to the finish. 10 minutes later I was ready to leave when I realized that I was the only racer in the transition area. No other teams made the cutoff, and now I was not only first in time, but also the first in the overall ranking. Now all I had to do to win this race was to finish it! (Not as easy as that sounds)!

I went to Joy to check out and she told me to be very careful: "You are going to be the only racer in this forest. Be safe, no other teams are following you". The real meaning of her words became clear to me only when I got to the top of the Nelly Knob. The well marked park trails ended here and I started descend on a muddy, steep ATV trail. It was bad and absolutely unridable. I had to walk with my bike and carry it across big creeks. That was the only section of the race with snow on the ground. And for the first time during the race I had to deal with complicated navigation problems. This area between CP 45 and 46 was the key section of the race. The whole idea of the race was clear now: Ronny wanted only the strongest and most competitive teams to make the cutoff and enter this leg. He probably never intended for any soloist to try it. When I finally came out of the forest and found the flag of CP 46, I just wanted to call Ronny and tell him that I was OK. Fortunately CP 46 was the only CP of the race with sign-up sheet attached and I put my lone time of 06:19 in the top line of the sheet. All I wanted now was sunlight.

40+ hours from the start. I was wet, cold and out of food. I had a few more gels left, but nothing could force me to put them into my mouth. My backpack was almost empty. All the clothes I had were on me and were wet, but I felt good, waiting for sun to come up. At 8 am I sadly realized that today there will be no sun. Dark gray clouds covered the sky and strong winds brought a rainy smell. And to make things even worse, the wind was blowing from the south, the same direction as the crazy current I had to fight during this last leg of paddling to the finish. Surprisingly, I paddled very fast, faster than most teams and finished the race just under 47 hours. I was the overall winner and only 3 teams beat me in total (mandatory + optional) number of CPs. I was sleepy and tired, as I did not sleep or rest during the race (not to mention the race was 50 hours long!), but had no pain and no blisters. After a hot shower, one hour of sleep and absolutely amazing after-race food, I was brought back to life and I even jumped through the hall for my trophy during the award ceremony.

Odyssey made another epic event we will all remember. Calleva Outdoor Adventure provided me with full sponsorship for this race, Dave let me use his light canoe, my wife and two sons gave me a few days of vacation, my friends and teammates supported me before and during the race. Without all these people I wouldn't have made my little story a big success.

Photos credits MadRaceMedia.com and ImOnPoint. Youtube video clips were done by ImOnPoint.