Hard to Top this One

Of the three adventure races myself and my teammates have done, this one was definitely the most challenging. We started with a paddle through the luminescent waters (Which wasn't as spectacular as I was hoping. Still cool though). With no moon to light the way, and 4 glow sticks and a soda bottle to find, it was a daunting task. Don't ask me how, but somehow we flew threw the boating leg with the second fastest ti me in the event.

Next was on to the bike, or as I refer to it, hell. Off road biking through ruts and sugar sand with logs spewed across the trails is hard enough during the daylight. It was near impossible to do in the pitch black of night, especially when your bike light breaks 10 minutes in to it. Luckily for me, I have amazing teammates that plowed through the trails much easier then I.

Finally we tackled the trekking leg and with relative ease, thanks to our two extreme runners on the team. With 25 minutes to spare, we checked in to the final check point have cleared the entire course. We felt like we did well, but it is hard to judge how well compared to others.

Just around sunrise, the awards ceremony began. Once the third place team was announce having only cleared 14 of the 15 control points, we knew we were either first of second. When the second place team was announce as also clearing 14 of 15, we knew we had first locked up. Sure enough, our names were called and the four of us went up to accept our medals. That also meant that we were the only team to clear the course and get all 15 control points. (after some research, we found out that we are the only team EVER, to clear the sport course).

(You can view the full race results here.)

It was an amazing race, not just because of the result, but the because of the unique beauty that can only be found in the middle of the night in the wilderness, and of course my awesome team. I have more to say about that, but it will have to wait. I have slept 2 hours since 6:00 AM Saturday morning, and my body is getting ready to shut down.