Lightning Strikes 8 Hours

Team:  Off the Front Racing
Teammates:  Todd Dohogne and Zdenek Palecek

With USARA Nationals being in Brown County, Indiana this year, my team and I were eager to attend an adventure race which would be a qualifier for Nationals. In order to qualify, you have to be top 3 at that race However, the rules state if a team qualified in a previous qualifying race then, the spot rolls down to next top team. Not all adventure races are qualifiers for USARA Nationals. There have only been a few qualifying races so far this year so we would have to probably place top 3 in the next race.

I found a USARA National qualifying race in Mt. Carroll, IL., Lightning Strikes. This is a 8 hour adventure race consisting of MTN biking, running/bushwhacking, paddling, and rope sections with ascending, rappelling, and traversing, all using map and compass in Northwest Illinois. There were some competitive teams registered and I was sure we would all be fighting to win top 3 to qualify for Nationals.

Race Headquarters

We arrived in Mt Carroll, IL and there was still snow on the ground. Some of the exposed areas were muddy and sloppy. Race Headquarters and lodging were Camp Benson. This is normally an adventure camp for kids in the summer where they learn how to navigate, paddle, ascend/rappel/traverse on rope sections, team build, caving, and much more. Our race fees help provide scholarships for kids who want to attend camp but, maybe can't afford to go.They will never turn a kid down who wants to attend camp but, can't afford it. We also had the opportunity to buy a cool sweatshirt and 100% of the cost went towards the kids scholarships too. Being an advocate for kids being outside, I had to buy one!

While on our way to register,  we ran into Robyn Benincassa, who is known to be the top female adventure racer in the world. She raced with top teams such as, Team Nike, Eco-Internet, and Zanfell, in some of the toughest 7-10 day adventure races in the world- Eco-Challenge and Primal Quest.  She was also a national level endurance kayaker and currently holds the Guinness World Record for distance on flat water in 24 hours. I was quick to pick her brain about the paddling section in the race, river level, and boat types. She informed us the race director had
to remove the paddling section due to water levels, frozen sections, and cold temperatures. Bummer!





 Our race fees included meals and lodging at the camp in these cool cabins which can sleep up to 16 people. The cabins are equip with electricity, heat, and bunk beds. We knew we would be sharing the cabin with other teams and I was a little worried about us getting sleep or us keeping up other teams. More on this later. We also got a bag when we registered which had a ton of cool schwag to include a nice first aid kit and gators. I think this is the most I've ever received in a schwag bag at any race.









After we  registered, we had the opportunity to practice the ropes sections before the race. These were the permanent courses for the camp and would not be the actual rope sections for the race. We decided to take this time to fine tune our climbing gear and practice. We also
found this really cool human luge where you go through a long tube system on a sled. We decided to have a little fun before the race.

Traversing across the river

 Pre-Race

The pre-race meeting opened up with Robyn Benincassa sharing her previous experience and knowledge on how to be successful as a team and at adventure racing. She is no longer adventure racing due to multiple hip surgeries but, has now started Project Athena Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping women who've endured medical setbacks achieve their athletic dreams. Robyn is also a keynote speaker across the nation for team building events and has a new book out, "How Winning Works." http://www.robynbenincasa.com/ Her talk was so inspirational, motivating, and perfect to hear the night before a race.

 When she was done speaking, the race director handed out some of the maps and checkpoints to plot around 9:00 PM. We quickly headed back to the cabin to plot what we had on a fold up table I brought. The other teams in our cabin chose to plot at the main lodge either on the floor or on the metal chairs since all the dinner tables were put away to accommodate the racers for the meeting.

Since this race was important to us we took a lot of time with the maps
with double checking and map rolling road sections so we could be quick during the race. The other teams came back to our cabin and quickly crawled into bed while we were still plotting and gathering our gear. This meant we were still talking, make sounds, and lights were on! I felt really bad about this but, we were there to race and needed to do well.

The Race

When we awoke, with approximately 4 hours of sleep, the ground was covered with a new thin layer of snow and the ground froze underneath it. It was slick out there. We arrived at race headquarters for the pre-race briefing and 20 minutes before the start, we received our passport and a new map which had pre-plotted checkpoints 1-3 and 18-22.


Trek 1:  (cps 1-3, 1.0 mile, 0:14 min )
              

All the 4 hour and 8 hour teams gathered at the start line and the race begun at 6:00 AM. It was still a little dusky out but, not dark enough to need a headlamp. The first orienteering section which consisted of 3 pre-plotted checkpoints (cps) which could be done in any order. Teams scattered from the start in all directions. We chose to run a trail out to the furthest cp first. Once in the woods, the ground and rocks were slick due to the snow and overnight freeze. Yep, I took a good fall running down some rocks. We nailed the 3 cps and hustled into the transition area in 2nd place overall behind team Rev3.  Then, team Rib Mountain slipped in there and choose to use platform pedals so their transition was quick with not needing to change shoes and both those teams were out of the TA before us.


Bike 1:  (cps 4-6, 10.49 miles, 0:54 min)

After a quick transition, we took off on our bikes to collect the next set of cps, 4 and 5. We had 2 competitive teams in front of us and we weren't sure who was on our tail. Our plan was to utilize the bike tow on all the road sections but, the road conditions were not good. The temps were in the 30s with a thin layer of snow and hidden icy spots.  We tried to stay in a pace line as much as possible and visibility was difficult due to snow pelting our eyes from the sky and road. We picked up the 2 cps and headed to the steep road that dumped us into Mississippi Palisades State Park. We saw a couple sets of bikes laying there when we arrived. We quickly transitioned back into our running shoes and pulled out our maps we plotted the previous night.

Trek 2:  (cps7-15, 3.5 miles, 1hr 9min, elevation 700-940ft)

Zdenek took a quick look at the orienteering map which had 9 cps we plotted the night before. As soon as we stepped foot in the woods we were already heading up a steep re-entrant. The terrain was really hilly in Palisades Park. We worked together really well in this section. Zdenek was dead on with each checkpoint and Todd was efficient punching the passport. After grabbing all nine cps, we had a quick steep downhill run on the road back to where we left our bikes. Once again, we changed into our biking shoes and headed back to Camp Benson on our bikes.

Bike 2:  (cps 16-18, 12.9 miles, 1hr 11min)

With warming temperatures, the roads became more wet and slushy. We were told there were still two teams in front of us and we assumed it was still the co-ed teams, Team Rev2 and Rib Mountain. We were getting closer to the finish and tried to hammer out the last bike section hoping to gain a little time. We picked up the 2 cps on the road section and flew into transition area 18. Here we dropped the bikes and quickly put on our climbing harnesses and gear.

Ropes Course: (cp 19-22, )

We headed off running to the first ropes section which was ascending. We had to find the quickest way to get to the bottom so we chose to run the trail a little and found a section that wasn't as steep to scramble

down.  There were 3 ropes set up but, only one rope per team. We decided ahead of time we would send Todd up first so he could scout the area for the next cp. I went up second. I felt I was ascending pretty fast until I got to a ledge near the top. I couldn't get my ascenders to slide along the rock. I kept trying and my arms became very tired and shaky. I realized I had to push off the rocks with my feet and do a little jump to push my ascenders past the ledge. That did the trick and I was able to ascend over. Zdenek quickly ascended behind me.

Next, we had a quick zip line off a steep ledge that required a running start. This brought us to the bottom with a nice snowy slide on our butts. We ran across the flats and scrambled back up a hill to attack the next cp in a rocky ledge. Once we got it, we realized we could of stayed low to save time. We knew we had to get to the rappel next but, there was a wide creek with some pretty cold water in front of us. We knew the race director said we would not have to paddle or cross any water "intentionally" for the race anymore due to the conditions. This seemed to stick in our heads and could not figure out how we were suppose to get across. The night before they had fixed ropes across the same creek that folks were traversing across to practice. We figured this must be somewhere since we weren't going to have to cross water anymore. We went up and down the creek for awhile. I finally told the boys "screw it. We are going to jump in." We found a spot we thought was safer and jumped in. The water was about thigh high and boys helped me get across. Wow..that was some cold water!


Once we  got to the rappel, we realized we really were suppose to jump in the water and there was no static line crossing the river to traverse. The rappel was high and fun. Once we all got down we headed to the "human luge." Since we practiced the night before, not knowing we would use it in the race, we knew exactly where it was and what to do. We shot down the tubes with a big grin on our face and headed towards the finish line. We ran across the line with arms in the air. We were told we finished 3rd in division, 3rd overall, and going to Nationals. Yeah..goal achieved!!