From the Goals Adventure Racing Website, the RESULTS and PICS are UP from the April 20 Adventure Race. And here's THEIR race report -- nice write-up!
The Savage Adventure Race Kicks Off the 2008 GOALS ARA Season
GOALS Adventure Racing Association kicked off it's 5 year anniversary season with The Savage Adventure Race. The event, held in Brandywine Creek State Park, DE, was a new location for this 6 hour sprint race. In keeping with the spirit of adventure racing and Earth Day, this race directly benefited the environment, by raising funds for the Friends of the Brandywine Creek
State Park.
105 teams took to the starting line, as team representatives wound their way down and up a narrow trail to get their passports from an awaiting volunteer. Tension filled the air, as teams scampered to see if they would bike, canoe, run, or complete team challenges first. The teams would then rotate sequences. Teams that went to the team challenges first encountered a razor scooter course, knot tying challenge, and team stretcher carry. Most teams were quick to get through these, and were on their way to foot, bike or canoe. We knew it would be a tough race course when teams came running back from the initial opening activity with bloodied legs from the terrain. The "rolling" hills of northern Delaware were also deceptive, in that there was a lot more elevation change in the course than many teams anticipated.
A missing CP flag (stolen ,blown away, tampered with?...the mystery continues) on the canoe section, left the opening canoe teams on a hunt for the non-existent. Volunteers were soon notified, and word got to the rest of the race course as they came to that section. Time credits that first handful of teams for their search efforts. The wind proved to be an additional challenge to the paddle section on the Brandywine River, leaving many teams struggling to paddle the loop upstream, then down again. This added to many teams race times, especially the 2 person teams, making the course longer in time than originally anticipated. That's the beauty of adventure racing...you never know what Mother Nature will throw at you. Storms threatened the skies in the afternoon, but fortunately only a few teams were affected by the inpempending thunderstorms. Mother Nature once again!
The bike section proved to be more challenging than many teams anticipated with lots of ups and downs and ups and downs. Along the bike section, teams encountered volunteers who stopped them to take the Adventure Jeopardy Challenge. Teams had answer questions from a choice of categories, in order to advance in the course.
The winning over all team was a Masters Male Team of 2,Team Trail Creek Outfitters, with a finish time of 4:21:40. Team GOALS ARA (Coed 3) followed with a time of 4:23:26. Team Satori (Male 3) came in 3rd over all with a finish time of 4:32:07. All teams should be congratulated, it was by no means an easy race course.
From teams with wigs to teams with kids, it was great to see so many returning racers, and so many new faces. We hope that the new faces have caught the adventure racing bug!
A special thanks goes out to all the volunteers and the park who made this race possible. Thank you to Trail Creek Outfitters, The North Face, Fuel Belt, Hammer Nutrition, REI, and Trail Runner Magazine for their prizes.
The top 10 finishers in the coed/3 division are on their way to eligiblity to compete in the GOALS ARA Championship in the fall. Championship race is open to coed/3 teams who place in top 10 in any 2 GOALS ARA 2008 season races.
GOALS Adventure Racing Association kicked off it's 5 year anniversary season with The Savage Adventure Race. The event, held in Brandywine Creek State Park, DE, was a new location for this 6 hour sprint race. In keeping with the spirit of adventure racing and Earth Day, this race directly benefited the environment, by raising funds for the Friends of the Brandywine Creek
State Park.105 teams took to the starting line, as team representatives wound their way down and up a narrow trail to get their passports from an awaiting volunteer. Tension filled the air, as teams scampered to see if they would bike, canoe, run, or complete team challenges first. The teams would then rotate sequences. Teams that went to the team challenges first encountered a razor scooter course, knot tying challenge, and team stretcher carry. Most teams were quick to get through these, and were on their way to foot, bike or canoe. We knew it would be a tough race course when teams came running back from the initial opening activity with bloodied legs from the terrain. The "rolling" hills of northern Delaware were also deceptive, in that there was a lot more elevation change in the course than many teams anticipated.
A missing CP flag (stolen ,blown away, tampered with?...the mystery continues) on the canoe section, left the opening canoe teams on a hunt for the non-existent. Volunteers were soon notified, and word got to the rest of the race course as they came to that section. Time credits that first handful of teams for their search efforts. The wind proved to be an additional challenge to the paddle section on the Brandywine River, leaving many teams struggling to paddle the loop upstream, then down again. This added to many teams race times, especially the 2 person teams, making the course longer in time than originally anticipated. That's the beauty of adventure racing...you never know what Mother Nature will throw at you. Storms threatened the skies in the afternoon, but fortunately only a few teams were affected by the inpempending thunderstorms. Mother Nature once again!
The bike section proved to be more challenging than many teams anticipated with lots of ups and downs and ups and downs. Along the bike section, teams encountered volunteers who stopped them to take the Adventure Jeopardy Challenge. Teams had answer questions from a choice of categories, in order to advance in the course.
The winning over all team was a Masters Male Team of 2,Team Trail Creek Outfitters, with a finish time of 4:21:40. Team GOALS ARA (Coed 3) followed with a time of 4:23:26. Team Satori (Male 3) came in 3rd over all with a finish time of 4:32:07. All teams should be congratulated, it was by no means an easy race course.
From teams with wigs to teams with kids, it was great to see so many returning racers, and so many new faces. We hope that the new faces have caught the adventure racing bug!
A special thanks goes out to all the volunteers and the park who made this race possible. Thank you to Trail Creek Outfitters, The North Face, Fuel Belt, Hammer Nutrition, REI, and Trail Runner Magazine for their prizes.
The top 10 finishers in the coed/3 division are on their way to eligiblity to compete in the GOALS ARA Championship in the fall. Championship race is open to coed/3 teams who place in top 10 in any 2 GOALS ARA 2008 season races.
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