I couldn't write this report without the final race results. This looks like the final results and it's amazing to see team number 12 at 12th position in prime division rankings. Only half of the teams officially finish the course and I am really happy to see Calleva closer to the top of that half.
I didn't want to miss this epic adventure and started preparation well in advance. Hard DNFs of two previous Untamed Adventures taught me two lessons: 1) I cannot navigate this race. 2) Everybody on the team must have real expedition experience. I got offers from a few teams to race Untamed, but neither of them was satisfying all my picky conditions. A day before the race was sold out I registered the perfect team Calleva with Marcy, Druce and Val.
This race was epic in all disciplines: the craziest whitewater in big and small rafts, the most technical mountain biking, the longest trek, the hardest navigation, and absolutely impossible bushwhacking. Both biking and hiking were approximately the same length of 120 kilometers and I am not sure which one was faster. At least half of the course we had to carry super heavy backpacks with pack-rafts, paddles, PFDs and all other gear and supplies. That should explain relatively short distance of 200+ miles for 4 days race. My favorite part of the race was traverse through the Carrabassett Range. This crawling changed my definition of bushwhacking.
Cannot write much longer now, Calleva Race is in exactly 3 weeks and all my "free" time is taken by the race preparations. May be in the future I'll write more detailed race report, but for now just check amazing photos that Vlad took during the race:Vladimir Bukalo Photography.
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