Front Royal VA April 16th and 17th
This was the first big Adventure Race for the company REV3 adventures and with the event being so close to home on some familiar training ground, Dima and I decided to join forces and take the Epic on.
The race had a 26 hour cut off with over 100 miles of mountain biking, trekking and orienteering. Over the course of the week leading into the race the area received alot of rain and due to the Shenandoah river rising the race officials decided to cancel the paddle due to safety concerns. At first we were all disappointed but by the end of the day on Saturday I think every racer was happy there was no paddle. The river was raging, and with the wind, pouring rain, thunder and lighting all day even the most experienced racer and paddlers would have been in trouble.
So off we went early Saturday morning in a light drizzle with a promise of a wet and nasty day. We started off with a short trek prologue to get our first passport. Once we got back to the transition area we made a strategic decision to do the mandatory challenge immediately so we could get it out of the way and focus on the rest of the race. The challenge required alot of teammate work and we had to get ourselves and 3 huge barrels across a plot of land without either of us touching the ground. We quickly figured out the best strategy and within minutes we were on the other side. We later leaned that we had the fastest overall time for the challenge out of all the Epic race teams.
From here it was off on the bikes for a 50 mile ride on roads and fire roads in and around the beautiful Fort Valley Area. We had 3 great climbs and downhills to checkpoints and we were able to get through the leg before alot of the roads flooded due to torrential downpours. The ride was very wet but we stayed warm and got to the river transition area in a little under 5 hours. Due the paddle being cancelled and with no fast and easy way to the original paddle takeout 30 miles down river, we were transported by bus back to the paddle takeout, our cars and the TA. The ride back was a nice little rest with a chance to eat, get warm and dry out a bit.
Once back at the TA we had to head out on foot to grab 2 CP's. This trek took a little over an hour and on our way back the sky really opened up and we got our first real downpour of the day. We were soaking wet by the time we got back to the TA. We then got our next passport and points/map for the next section of the race, the Orienteering Course. We plotted the 20 or so points in Dima's car while it absolutely poured outside. We decided to let the rain pass us and started out on the O course. The O course was very long and challenging and overall very well laid out. We had 5 mandatory points we had to get with the rest being optional. We went for every point and other than not finding one we were able to get them all and got back into the TA at around 3am. We spent alot of time and energy on the O course but quickly transitioned, and left for the last leg of the race, a 10 mile mountain bike section on some of the same trails and terrain we did the O Course on. I was very familiar with the park and trail system and we were able to hit all 4 mandatory points in a relatively fast time. We had a great climb up Allen Mountain for one point and an awesome technical downhill in the dark on the way back down. Thanks to Dima's awesome bright lights for a smooth descent. By far my favorite part of the race!!!
We rolled into the finish at 6:00am, 22 hours later. We came in 6th overall out of 40 some teams and more importantly we won our two person CO-ED division.
We won some great swag (the best I have ever seen at a race) and after a nice shower, and a quick nap we enjoyed the breakfast provided by the race.
Overall it was a great race and thanks to my awesome teammate Dima on a great race and some stellar navigating on the O Course.
We will certainly be back next year.
See you on the trail!
Michelle
Posts
