REV3 Epic- My first adventure race.

Race report by Robin Blendell



I know, 26hrs probably sounds crazy for my first adventure race but what the heck, go big or go home. This adventure started around the time I started trail running in Sept 2010 at an Odyssey Adventure's Trail Race. After that they sent me with emails about their other events: adventure races. As someone who likes to be outdoors and loves an adventure, I was intrigued. As I learned more about adventure racing, I was sure I wanted to do a race, but was nervous about my ability to navigate. So, I signed up to take an orienteering class last spring with my fiance with the hope of convincing him we could do an adventure race together. I really learned a lot in the class, but put the adventure racing goal on the back burner as I focused on run training. I ran my first 50k last June, then the TransRockies Run in August, 3 marathons in October and my first 50 miler in November and with a schedule like that there isn't much time for taking on a new sport. My run training continued this spring as I focus on the Laurel Highlands Ultra this June (and the Welcome to Watkins 5k, July 1st 2012, the day after I get married) as well as my first IM in NYC in August. Then, I met Dima after the Seneca Greenway 50k and marathon. It was a muddy, mess of a day in the woods, but a fun local 50k and while waiting to get picked up at the finish and chatting, I got roped into actually trying an adventure race.

Enough of the back story, onto the race! I was pretty nervous in the week leading up to REV3's Epic, I really had no idea what to expect. I feel strong in my running and have crewed enough 100mi runs to know what an overnight race looks like, I own a mountain bike that I pretend to ride, but I was headed out into the woods with 3 men I really didn't know! Adam, my finance, and I got to the cabin pretty late on Friday night and the rest of the team, Dima, Tamir and Nick, were pouring over maps and planning our route for the next day. I have run in these mountains, I know they are tough, but I've always on the trails and I was learning a lot from listening to them plan, I was feeling confident in my team and none of these guys seemed like an axe murderer, so I figured I was safe ;) . We got to bed at a reasonable hour, but 6am on race comes pretty early.

Paddling: I guess I don't know anything else, but a mass canoe start was pretty crazy. Our team got separated at the start as Dima and I got off to a good start. Tamir and Nick quickly caught up to us as we headed down river. There were 3 checkpoints and a challenge to complete. Checkpoint 1, no problem, a quick run up the hill and back down to get the blood flowing, checkpoint 2 was a mess as so many teams were still grouped together and most everyone bouldered up and followed the leaders to a misplotted checkpoint. I was starting to figure out what this race was all about! The challenge was interesting as we had to work together as a team.

We finished the paddling section and back to transition in good spirits and headed out on our bikes. Working hard as we headed into the woods, bushwacking with our bikes (a new experience for me) and we were able to clear the course and get back to transition in good time. It was forecasted to rain and be in the 40s, but so far the weather had been cooperating and I was eager to get out on my running legs and have some fun! So far, so good, we were making good time, hitting all the checkpoints, thanks to some good team effort and excellent navigating! We made it back from the trek just before 6pm, 3hours before our doomsday scenario. Tamir family was volunteering at the second challenge and Adam was waiting for us at the transition area to say hello. It was nice to be able to see some familiar faces, eat a frozen burrito, a package of beef jerky and a variety of other foods while packing up our gear and heading out for a long night in the woods.

As we headed out for the evening, we knew the rain was coming. We hit a few checkpoints as we made it to TA2, hoping to have enough time in the morning to come back, changed a flat in the rain (thank you guys!). But most notably, we went to a 2pointer 4k down the mountain, which can only mean one thing: Dima is going to help pull me 4k back up the mountain! I cannot thank my teammates enough for the amount of help and support I got with my biking and with taking responsibility for all the navigating. I can push these guys to run and pick up the hiking pace, but I my lack of training on the bike was pretty evident.

The night orienteering course was my favorite part. Not sure if this was because I feel most comfortable when I am treking and running, scrambling or that at night there is nothing to focus on but the race. The rest of the world falls away and you are lost in the goals of the race. This was the first overnight race I have done and which I have heard people talk about your headlamp playing tricks on your eyes in the shadows or the blood sugar lows just before sunrise, it is a totally new experience for me to actually experience them. I can't say it was a good feeling, but when sunrise comes, it brings an amazing burst of energy. We made it back to our bikes before 7am after clearing the o-course, but leaving one of the optional bike/trek points.

Not knowing how long it was going to take to get back to the start and how my biking legs would hold up we were able to get several additional checkpoints on bike. While Dima felt we had enough time to go for another 2 point CP at the top of Signal Knob and make it back in time, I wasn't quite sure. As a team we decided to skip it and head back. Unfortunately, we made it back with more than an hour and a half to spare, so we probably had time, but learning those lessons, that's what a first experience is all about.

Calleva finished 6th in prime division and 7th overall (out of 66)!



Race results are here.
More race photos are here.

Adrenaline Rush race report

Written by Greg
Photos Vladimir Bukalo



Well, this was my first race of the season, the 12 hour Adrenaline Rush out at Shenandoah River State Park near Front Royal Virginia. We brought two teams, 5 members in all; Dima, Val, myself (Calleva1) and Tamir and Alexandra (Calleva2). My trepidation was high since I was running with Dima and Val, two very experienced racers. Tamir and Alex ran as a duo and stayed with us for the start of the race and then joined up again at the end to great effect. There was 73 racers split into 34 teams. The race was laid out as Prologue(short run), O-course, mountain biking, paddling, road biking, and O-course. We had maps to everything but the last orrienteering section which we would get after the 2nd biking section.

The Prologue was a simple kilometer road run up and down a steep-ish hill. The first O-course was about 10km if you cleared all 13 ckeckpoints. Lots of steep ridges and plenty of bushwacking. We lost Tamir and Alex after a few checkpoints. We got on bikes after clearing the O-course and right off the mark encountered one of numerous large hills . I thought my biking was strong with commuting to work once or twice a week but Montgomery county has nothing on these hills. The mountain biking was great. Steep inclines, some of which I had to walk, and descents on wide hardpack through the forest, twisty and real fast. Dima had told me of tales bushwacking through the forest with mountain bikes and indeed we did. It was only about 500 meters but it was well placed and probably saved us 20 minutes. Nice one! This is how it is done.

The paddling section was next and fairly uneventful. We loaded up 3 in a canoe. It was about 12 km flatwater with one short 10 meter portage around a low bridge. We brought kayaking paddles and knocked it out in about an hour and 15 minutes passing one boat. The field of racers had spread out significantly by this point. The potable water resources were not that well placed. We were completely out of water by the end of the paddling. If it had been hotter, we would have been in trouble. Val was drinking out of the Shenandoah river. He didn't seem to suffer for it. There was a bathroom with water not too far from the paddling take-out so we were alright and I filled up another 2.5 liters. We ran back to the bikes about 3km.

At his point we had to make a strategic decision. We had about a 2.5 hr bike ride ahead of us, all on the road, and my hill legs were not that strong. There were only 3 checkpoints to get in this section. The last O-course had 22 ckeckpoints. It was about 3:15pm. We had been running, trekking, biking and paddling for 7 hours. Too tell the truth, I was getting a bit worn out. We decided to skip the 3 road biking checkpoints to give us more time on the final trek. Tamir and Alex were coming along the trail on foot as we were heading back to get the last map. We told them our plan and they caught up with us to do the last O-course together. Dima picked up the final map and noted there were no trails marked on it, unlike the first O-course map in the same area. I give credit for the race organizers for coming up with this little trick. We headed for the obvious first pick of checkpoints. Dima suggested we mark the new checkpoints on the first map. We did. It took about 10-15min but really paid off.

Tamir and Alex showed up at this point and after discussion we all headed out. The next hour and a couple of CPs were a little blurry for me as I was pretty tired and the ridges didn't get out of our way. I ran the flats and downhill and walked the hills keeping my eyes mostly on the trail and whoever's feet were in front of me. We made a direct attack on a non-visible checkpoint down a reentrant and up a steep ridge. When we crested the ridge the flag was sitting on our direct line. It doesn't get better navigating, Dima. We took a brief break to reassess our plan. After some discussion among our team, we came up with what I think was the most efficient laid out course for the next 17 CPs. A brilliant group effort. I got my second wind and was able to act as Val's second as rabbit in taking a few flags. Dima and Tamir both had maps and we made good work of knocking out all the high ground CPs. We descended a steep incline with fortunately no cliffs. A regular WV sleigh ride though I did not give in to such reckless abandon or at least mostly not. With a steady trudge of a jog through the last checkpoints we all arrive at the finish at 10hrs, 50min. Tamir and Alex scored with 41 CPs. Dima, Val and I, 44 CPs.

Michelle Faucher and Andy Bacon, the race directors, put on a pretty good first race. Dima provided some nice constructive criticism to make it better next year. Team Odyssey placed first overall beating us by about 2.5 hrs(if you include the cycling) and clearing all the checkpoints. How the heck! I need some serious training. Still, Calleva1 placed 1st in our division, 8th overall and Calleva2 placed 2nd by division and 12th overall. I consider it a win for both teams, 1st and 2nd is not too bad! Tamir no doubt is wishing he would have taken the time to get one more checkpoint to get 1st in their division. Very close and he was redeemed by Alexandra who won the pushup contest against Vanessa, the gal from the Double Trouble coed 2 person team, who got first. Val's rejoinder to Alex, "just one more", no doubt got her that tube of Zanfel as a consolation prize.
Congratulations to all! Let's do some hill work!

Soggy Bottom 2012

Writen by Tamir



Team Calleva ventured out into the swamplands of Virginia on the third annual Soggy Bottom Boys Rogaine and Adventure Race Challenge. The team, composed of Vlad, Nick, Steph and Tamir, headed out strong and finished strong. This was the first time several of the team members had raced together but all members clicked, with well placed insults, puns, songs and bad jokes fueling progress. Vlad was asked questions about Russia, how to say things in Russian, what he liked about Russia...until all realized that he is from the Ukraine. (Stupid Americans...we don't even know the name of the King of Canada!) Anyway...Vlad was well humored and was the core strength of our team. As holder of the Passport he made all the final treks to the checkpoints while the rest of us napped. We lost Nick for about 45 minutes when he decided to "check out" something. (We are now all assigned periods of time to watch him and make sure he doesn't wander away.) He redeemed himself though with stellar night orienteering...("just follow the moon"). Steph won the eagle eye award for spotting checkpoints when all of the men were searching in completely the wrong direction. Tamir decided to be a hero and venture into the swamp (inevitably for little to no reason but to ruin several pairs of socks and taunt water mocassins.) Actually, the only snake seen was tiny and cute. Couldn't say the same for the competition though...tiny...some, cute...hardly. Steph had to be held back from throttling several ill tempered competitors (unnamed for now) when they exhibited a lack of humor. In his excitement to see Dima at the transition area Vlad performed a full frontal flip (on his bike) in some form of eastern European braggadoccio - to which Dima showed great delight. Vlad promises to teach all of us how to do the trick. (Nick tried it earlier in the day but it was a disgraceful attempt- no flair.)



All in all a great race day. The team did reasonably well (for a first effort) and finished as the second place coed team and in the top 4 or 5 teams overall. (Depending on the color of your glasses.) Thankfully we all avoided cracked heads...which Tamir's 2000 Jeep Cherokee unfortunately did not. At least we know what a cracked head sounds like now. The Jeep is only $1400 and a return trip to the swamplands away from getting home. The $1400 is probably worth the price though for the introduction of Steph, Nick and Tamir to an incredible southern VA tow truck/repair shop owner, Chase, of Butler's Towing and Recovery. Chase came to our rescue at 10:30 at night, had the Jeep towed to his shop, took us to a hotel 45 minutes away and got one of his mechanics into the shop early on Sunday morning to try to fix the Jeep so we could get home for family commitments. His stories were incredible, mostly not repeatable online for fear of his being arrested, and almost worth the money spent. A full team of N. VA parents, wives, boyfriends, and children were called into action to perform Team Calleva (yellow submarine unit) extraction. Nick's wife ventured into the swamp in the dead of day and rescued us from the Virginia Diner where we spent 5 hours in wait. (And unfortunately drank our 2 beer limit within the first 30 minutes.) Kudos to Nick and Steph for not strangling Tamir.

On to the next adventure!...