Sunday, October 14, 2007

Can you say mud? ARC Barrie race report

After a balmy start to the fall that has seen Ontario recording all time temperature highs, it appears that Mother Nature finally ran out of sunshine and warm weather, just in time for the last ARC race of the season. Weather conditions were less than ideal for Funderstorm as they initiated a new teammate, Wanda, into the FS fold. It was a bad sign that it started raining about 2 hours before the race start, and even more smarting that it didn't stop raining until just after the race ended. During the race - rain - all day. Now rain during an adventure race isn't such a bad thing if it is nice and warm; in fact, rain can be a welcome reprieve during summer races. But when it is oh, around 6c, rain is less appreciated. In fact, this combination of precipitation and less than ideal temperatures caused around half of the teams entered into the Enduro race to drop out of the race midway through the course. Was Funderstorm one of these fairweather groups of racers? I don't think so...
The race started on foot from the homebase location at Horseshoe Valley Resort. After a short run to a marshalling point (to ensure racers didn't trample the golf course) all teams had to collect five trekking CPs scattered throughout Copeland Forest before returning to the base/TA for a biking section. Funderstorm found themselves off to a rough start when they realized that Copeland Forest is full of ridges, making CP1, located on a ridge, trickier to locate than expected. After searching many, many ridges, the elusive CP was finally located (and punched in the head for being difficult) and the next few CPs proved less sneaky to find. That was until CP4, located on the west shore of a small lake. While searching for this CP, SnackyPants unwittingly made her team trudge through an unnecessary kilometre of swamp in the wrong direction. Sorry guys. She hopes that at the very least the temper tantrum that ensued provided good entertainment.

The girls were soaked about 10 minutes into the race, and realized that changing into anything dry was futile, so they opted for a quick transition for what could be best described as a push a bike / slip 'n slide section. For around 8km, the girls slipped and slid up and down the singletrack trails in Copeland Forest. By about the third kilometre, there was far more pushing than riding, as the day long deluge had turned the trails into inches of muck. Many laughs were had as tumble after tumble ocurred trying to stay upright. Toots-in-Tights took the prize with a record 17 falls, all entirely graceful and one managing to score a 9.8 from the Russian judge. This section could only be described as humorous.

Since ARC wisely decided against a paddle section in this race, after the bike, teams ran across the road to the main location of Horseshoe Valley Resort and into the forest for a 1000 ft zipline. Although muddy, wet, and a little less lithe at this point, the girls thoroughly enjoyed this special section of the race. A quick run back to the finish followed where the girls were greeted with pizza and a refreshing (albeit cold) shower.

Unaware that many of their competitors had opted not to complete the race, Funderstorm had pushed (relatively) hard throughout the course in an attempt to stay ahead of the other all female teams. It was a nice surprise to find out that not only had they won the all-female category but that they had been one of few teams to suck it up and finish the race.

Both SP and T/T were very impressed with Wanda, who joined the girls at the last minute and who was promised that the biking "wouldn't be technical." Wanda showed great tenacity throughout the race and was officially awarded the Funderstorm spirit award, an honour likened in street cred to an Emmy.

Next week: Funderstorm goes international at the GRAAR Fall Adventure Challenge. This race, which sold out weeks before event, features the largest all-female category that the girls have yet to contend with. Will Funderstorm race to victory two weeks in a row? With a lineup of excellent prizes, they are sure to be bringing their "A" game to Augusta, Michigan.




No comments: