Adventure Racing

     Mark Montague, Tim Dunkum and I set out for Covington, VA on Saturday evening knowing that for November 8th the weather was going to be perfect.  Bright sunshine and low 70s was predicted and the weather didn’t let us down.  Half way through the race, sitting down at Tuscarora Overlook and admiring the view was one of the highlights – perfect day in the mountains of Virginia.
     
    We left The Pinehurst Motel (maybe one star!) early Sunday AM, hit McDonalds for some biscuits, and were in Douthat by about 7AM.  The 24-hour racers had been going since 4PM Saturday but 20 teams were ready to start the 8-hour race by 8AM.  Ronny Angell divided our race into two zones, so half of us were given UTMs for ten CPs in Zone 3, and the others given ten different UTMs for Zone 4.  We started in Zone 4, quickly plotted our points, knew we had to be back by 11:30, and were the second or third team to head out.  True to Odyssey standards we went straight up immediately.  

    Tim and Mark initially gave me a hard time about bike shorts and short sleeves, but the tune changed as we soon started sweating even in the early morning temperatures.  We did a counter-clockwise attack to Zone 4 in the northeast corner of the park and spent the initial part of the race leap-frogging with crazy Dima and Team Calleva.  They eventually gapped us through excellent navigation and unbeatable running but we did keep seeing them throughout the first half.  They would eventually win the whole event.  We probably did about 2000 feet of elevation gain, about 6 miles of distance, and were done with Zone 4 by about 11AM.  There had been serious steepness, thick mountain laurel, beautiful trail running, and perfect weather so far.  Both Tim and I had some “hot spots” starting from all the steep climbing but they luckily didn’t slow us down.  Something got in my right eye and it was pretty irritating the rest of the race.  Larry, the great EMS guy, flushed it out at the end of the race and all was well by Monday.
 
    We transitioned quickly at the TA, plotted the Zone 3 UTMs, re-fueled, re-hydrated, and were out by 11:25.  Zone 3 proved to be a different kind of race.  We again planned a counter-clockwise attack in the northwest corner of the park but travel was a lot easier along well worn trails.  We tackled a couple of points going up the Salt Stump Trail on our way to a high point at about 3000 ft elevation.   Distances were longer than our previous Zone but we could run if we’d had the energy.  We were now on the Middle Mountain Trail and heading south along the ridge.  This took us to Tuscarora Overlook with its beautiful view and then back northeast down the Blue Suck and Pine Tree Trail for three more points.  
    
Now it was decision time.  We had two more points to find and time was getting tight.  We decided to go for the point to our south. It had more value but was on a broad spur with few easy landmarks to use as nearby “fences.”  We actually found it fairly easily by attacking it from the west off the Locust Gap Trail.  It was further in than we estimated but when in doubt, keep going.  Then it was down, down, down to the finish.  We got a little nervous as we descended a reentrant and ran into another hill, but finding a stream and knowing that water always flows downhill we ran down it and eventually found the road.  
    
A very ugly “jog” brought us north along 629 to the TA at the Douthat Lake beachfront.  We’d gotten all but one point and finished with 15 minutes to spare.  As is customary of adventure races, there was little fanfare, just showers, ibuprofen, some food, and a lot of tired people waiting for results.  Second place overall and first in division was a nice end to the day.  We were really third behind Dima’s winning effort but their team had babysitting issues (long story) which disqualified them.  Mark kindly drove us home. 
It had been a good day with good teammates.  Lots of good talk, mainly from Mark, kept us walking, running, climbing, and happy: best way to spend a gorgeous Sunday in this beautiful state.  What a great sport!   
    
 Phil Dawson-Richmond ASR