Utah, USA
25 June - 1 July, 2006
We arrived in the US a week prior to the race start, having left behind a very cold Kiwi winter and arrived in a very hot Utah summer. Our goal for the first 7days – to acclimatise enough to drag our bodies around a desert course without dying of heat stroke! Our first few days were spent avoiding the sun, lazing around in an air-conditioned room (not so good for the acclimatization) and going from shop to shop buying loads of race food and bike bits (like 28 spare tubes … just in case!).
Brent’s father Roy had come over with us as well, so we had an ‘un-official’ support crew, who proved to be invaluable before the race – driving us from shop to shop and back to our accommodation. I plan never to arrive at a race too long before it starts, you spend way too much money on things you really don’t need.
We cruised through the skills tests, even showing off our ability to Eskimo roll a double kayak – it was really hot so every chance to submerge ourselves in cool water was welcomed. At the registration we picked up our wag bags, ready to pack out our own waste whenever we felt the need above the tree line – there were not many trees in the desert!
At the pre-race briefing Don Mann, Race Director, proclaimed this the hardest race ever, warning us of the countless times we’d be calling for our Mummy’s, predicting times of great pain and suffering, and describing how wonderful the course was, with its endless series of ropes and spectacular scenery. I’m sure most of the athletes left the briefing feeling excited, yet very worried about their chances of making the finish line, and in some cases surviving! 
We received our maps and had 3 hours to mark up an 800km course and arrange our equipment and food for the race ahead. We learned at the briefing that we would only have access to our food box three times in the race which meant at times we’d need to carry three days worth of food with us. If you have ever seen an adventure racer eat during training, multiply this by about three to cover the extra amount required to fuel one while racing. We’re talking a lot of food!
We all jumped onto big old yellow school buses at midnight, trying to ignore our excitement and get some sleep prior to arriving at our destination and saddling up our 5th team member (a randomly chosen horse) ready for the first leg, a 37km trek across the desert. The rules stated we could have one person riding the horse, or our packs on the horse while we all trekked. Unfortunately our stubborn nag would not move unless she had a rider – so in less than optimal configuration the boys all ran with their heavy packs while Sonya, the most experienced jockey amongst us, rode. At one point our mare had a ‘mare and wouldn’t step down off a bank to follow a narrow track that wound down the side of a steep cliff. After 20mins of holding up about 90% of the field, and a few very close calls where leader and horse almost went over the edge of the cliff, we finally found an alternative route and moved on, a good 30mins behind the leaders.
Despite the warnings of heat stroke and dehydration all of the lead teams chose to run the 37km through the desert, and we decided to do the same in order to stay in touch. We were in 14th position off the horse, 1 hour 15mins behind the leaders.
The second leg was essentially a continuation of the desert run for Brent, Stu and myself, although we now had to keep up with Sonya! It was to be another 37km leg … if we’d stayed on course. Somehow we managed to pick the wrong valley to run up and spent more time than the top teams on this leg. We also ran out of fluid about 1 ½ hours short of the transition and were all becoming quite dehydrated by the time we arrived into transition. Despite our troubles we had still faired much better than some of the teams who set out ahead of us and we had picked up 5 places. Many of those that had completed the leg in front of us were looking a bit worse for wear. Resisting the temptation to “chase” and in consideration of our concerning state of dehydration we decided to rest for an hour before assembling the bikes and continuing on to leg 3, an 87 km mountain bike leg. 
We left at dusk and rode well throughout the night. Much of the course involved riding in soft, deep sand. It took quite some time to get used to this as the conditions were not something we’d encountered much in NZ. The ride was essentially uneventful except for the few hours we spent with Go-lite and the time that my new cleats (one of my essentially unnecessary pre-race purchases) proved too tight for me to unclip and I fell right into the middle of a prickly bush - home to thousands of angry, biting flies. We tried to flee the scene but were chased down and repeatedly bitten by these angry buggers for at least 2 kilometers.
The next transition required us to pack away our bikes and get our river boarding gear ready for the river swim. This was the only place in the course where a dark zone was enforced so we could not get on the river until the sun had come up. We lay down to sleep on the river bank for an hour. The top teams, who had pushed harder than us over the first 3 legs managed to bank more sleep than us here, and some other teams behind us managed to make it in time for the mass start at 6am.
Like deep sand riding, river boarding is not something we were too familiar with, preferring to go down rivers in kayaks or rafts. It seemed like nearly every other team knew that long diving flippers and extra thick, buoyant ‘river boards’ were faster to use than conventional ‘boogie boards’ and cut off surf fins and we were quickly left in the wake of the more experienced/better equipped teams. It was nice to get a wash one day into a long adventure race though and give the feet a bit of rest from trekking and riding.
We arrived in transition just as the lead teams left in their kayaks. This transition was a particularly slow one for us and we seemed destined to take an eternity, for no identifiable reason. We took an hour to get onto the water and the lead teams all took around 25mins. Unsupported transitions are not our strongest discipline, and something we really need to practice and master!
We were happy to spend time in the hottest part of the day in kayaks where we could cool off by splashing water on ourselves. We had a small portage to do a short way into the paddle, where we dragged our heavy plastic kayaks along a dirt road, before continuing on the 56km journey down the wide, slow moving, Green River.
We arrived into the next transition in the middle of the afternoon, on day two, in 11th place. The next leg was going to be another hot one (yes – there is a theme developing!) so we decided to try to sleep for 2 hours. This transition was also the first time we had access to our food box, so we made the most of this opportunity, spending a large amount of time eating. We managed to sleep in fits and starts, but generally we lay around near the transition finding sleep elusive in the heat, and getting further behind the leaders. We swam across the river in 14th place, but quickly gained our 11th place again by choosing a direct trek route across the desert, contrasting many teams that followed a winding track.
The 44km loop trek included a canyoneering segment, which essentially is trekking along the sandy floor of a winding crevasse, with sheer cliffs on each side. If you’ve ever walked in soft sand you’d know it’s slow going, hard on the legs and bad news on your feet as the sand inevitably makes it’s way into your shoes. The highlights of this leg included the sunset views we had from the top of a large rock hill protruding out of the desert, and the 200m rappel off this rock and down to the valley floor. Unfortunately my cheap leather gardening gloves didn’t last this long rappel and I spent a good proportion of the descent burning the skin on my hand as I tried to slow myself down.
We passed a number of teams who had stopped for a sleep along the track but unfortunately their sleep monsters were contagious. We’d been racing for 43 hours and had only managed some fitful periods of rest amounting to, at most, one hour of quality sleep since the race started. So at 3am we decided to lie down and sleep for … 45mins!
Getting up from a short period of sleep at 4am in an adventure race is a soul destroying experience, you don’t want to move, many parts of the body have stiffened up, there are aches and pains that have ‘turned up’ since you lay down, and generally ‘it sucks’! After a lot of moaning and groaning we were on our way again and looking forward to the first rays of sunlight. From the deepest low to the highest high, it’s amazing how the body and mind recovers with the first sliver of sun over the horizon …
Supplier Pipeline from Canada came running past us as we walked briskly back to the river and the conclusion of our first Canyoneering leg. We’d taken 15 ½ hours for this leg, 8th fastest – the fastest team, Nike Powerblast, completed the leg in 10 1/2 hours. At the time we didn’t really see how they went so much faster than us, but looking back now it was probably the sleep we took, the time I spent patching my burnt hand, and the biggest factor, the amount of running that they did while we walked! A valuable lesson dished out by the pros.
After swimming back across the river, we jumped back into our kayaks for the final kayak leg, a significant 72kms. Apart from the odd stop for sun cream, food and toilet breaks, we managed to keep moving well, passing a number of teams and posting the 3rd fastest kayak time.
Having checkpoints with names like Hell Roaring Canyon and Horsethief Point the next leg promised to be a doozey. We started this 53km canyoneering leg in the middle of the day and realized very quickly that the heat would suck us dry if we continued without a break. We found an overhanging bank and lay down for an hour with the goal of sleeping in the small amount of shade the bank offered. The extreme heat made sleep elusive so we effectively wasted the hour lazing about on the dirt. Back on the course we made steady progress up the canyon and out of it via a significant rope climb using our ascenders. We had a few dramas on this leg, Stu and Sonya both struggled with overheating and dehydration and we needed to rest quite a few times. Although we lost a number of positions and fell well behind the leaders on this leg, given the physical effects of the extreme heat it was a great effort to keep going at all!
We finally reached the river again where we plunged in before strolling dejectedly the final few kilometres to the transition, having taken 23 hours to complete the leg (the fastest time was a little over 15 hours). Reminding ourselves that there was a lot of racing left we refueled and picked up our kayak gear for the next leg, a short, but very steep trek out of the valley to the bike transition.
We transitioned well and were on our bikes right behind Salomon / Crested Butte who we spent some time with before separating at the bike traverse, where we did a spectacular rappel off a natural bridge and our bikes traversed down a zip line. The going was tough once down in the valley, with loads of deep sand and extra hot conditions. Beyond the sucking sand we headed back up on the famous slick rock mountain bike tracks of Golden Spike and Poison Spider. We caught up with Salomon / Crested Butte and rode with them for a number of hours before we decided to sleep for two hours in a soft bed of leaves about two thirds of the way through the ride.
The remainder of the leg we did alone and rather slowly. The whole ride was a mammoth 96km and about 75% of it was on single track or four wheel drive tracks, taking us 17 hours, excluding the 2 hour sleep.
At the next transition we were made to sit out a 1 hour penalty for going off the designated course on the second leg, a “lifetime ago” back on day one. This was a bit of a kick in the teeth given that the course we took had been longer than the designated one and we’d felt quite punished enough already! Anyway, we made the most of our time in the ‘tent of shame’ and repaired blisters, ate, and tried to sleep. The time went pretty quickly and soon we were back on the course, all fired up and moving along really well.
This leg proved to be the most influential of the race. It involved 60km of trekking over mountains, reaching heights of 3,162m, as can be seen in the course elevation graph above. There was also a pretty controversial orienteering leg in the middle of it, which no team knew about until they arrived at one of the check points on the mountain.
The controversy arose for a couple of reasons … firstly, many of the lead teams were not given the choice to opt out of the orienteering, however later teams were. We found out about the option when an ESPN film crew asked us why we were doing it, as we were the first team to attempt the course in the dark. Surprised at what they’d told us we went back to the check point officials to find out the full story. They told us that the top teams were expected to complete the orienteering course in 3 to 4 hours, but if any team wanted to sit it out they could do so and take an 8 hour penalty. We are a pretty decent orienteering team so saw no point in taking the penalty and loosing as much as 4 hours. Unfortunately the checkpoints were extremely tough to find in the dark, and we took 7 ½ hours to find them all, including a very, very cold one hour lie down. (At this elevation the night is extremely cold.)
The second element of controversy occurred in relation to the penalty for not doing the orienteering leg. Another team that arrived about 30mins after us decided to take the 8 hour penalty and were made to stay in transition then and there to “sit” it out. Naturally they were just getting up after a huge sleep when we arrived back at the checkpoint having completed the course. They’d had 8 hours sleep and were refreshed and ready to power through the remainder of the course – which they did, passing 6 teams and finishing in 5th position.
The organisers realized there was a significant advantage to teams taking the penalty over those that completed the orienteering section and changed the rules to add the 8 hour penalty to final times rather than requiring teams to sleep out the penalty on course. This was a much fairer approach which unfortunately wasn’t applied from the start.
Despite taking 7 ½ hours to do the orienteering, we’d still gained a lot of time on a couple of other teams, Spyder and Nike Beaver Creek. Within a couple of hours of leaving the end of the orienteering stage we’d hauled these two teams in. At the next checkpoint however we all felt pretty tired so took another sleep and had to work our way past Nike Beaver Creek and Spyder one more time before the end of the race.
This trek was particularly tough, with loads of altitude gain, some very rough terrain, in the form of steep and long ascents, jagged loose rocks, traversing across dangerous slip faces, a small amount of snow and there was some difficult navigation for good measure. We slept at either end of this trek and 3 times during it, indicating just how tough it was. We took almost 38 hours, in comparison, the fastest team, GoLite/Timberland, who took a little over 28 hours for the 60km.
The next leg was my favorite of the race … a 67km mountain bike that was predominantly single or 4wd track, and apart from one killer 1000m climb, all down hill! We were the 4th fastest team on this leg and apart from a couple of bike issues it went really well. We were so excited at the end of this leg, to be so close to the finish, with only one significant leg to go and having ‘nailed’ this leg we did our fastest transition of the race! The penultimate leg was the most spectacular. We trekked across the desert under a relentless sun towards the Priest and Nuns, where an incredible ropes course awaited us. We ascended over 100m vertically up the first pillar of rock, rappelled down the other side of it, then ascended up the second pillar before hooking ourselves onto a Tyrolean traverse, taking us across 150m of space, way, way up in the sky, to the third pillar, which we then rappelled off. The sheer size and spectacle of this ropes course was awe inspiring, dramatic and absolutely unforgettable!
Once off the ropes we had a couple of hours of tricky descent and a final short paddle to the finish line. We were delighted to reach the river and all dove off our kayaks to cool off and celebrate the proximity of the finish line – writing this report, months after the race, still brings a smile to my face thinking about the smiles and cheers our team let out on this final leg – it was one of the biggest highs of my life!
We had conquered one of the toughest Adventure Races ever conceived and we’d conquered it with some style, competing with the best extreme endurance athletes in the world. Sonya, Wayne, Brent and Stu celebrate crossing the finish line in 8th place – and the fact that they could now throw away those stinky shirts!