Team Santa Fe Adventure Racing


			News & Events March 2002

Adventure Racing Links.

United States Adventure Racing Association, www.usara.com.
Colorado Adventure Training, www.adventuretraining.com.
Mountain Quest, www.mountain-quest.com.

Upcoming TSF Events:

Mt. Taylor Winter Quadrathalon, Feb. Grants, NM.
Salomon WAR, March, SolVista, CO.
Balance Bar 24 Hour Adventure Race, May, Phoenix, AZ.
Santa Fe Century Road Ride, May, Santa Fe, NM.
Boston Marathon, April, Boston, MA.
Lance Armstrong Foundation Ride for the Roses, April, Austin, TX.
Ironman Utah, June, Utah.
Beast of the East Adventure Race, June, Virginia.
Primal Quest Adventure Race, July, Telluride, CO.
Off Road Iron-Man, June, Rifle, CO.
Leadville Trail 100 Mountain Bike Race, Aug. Leadville, CO.
More events to come!!

Salomon WAR (Winter Adventure Race)
www.mountain-quest.com
Sol Vista Colorado
March 2, 3 2002

Team: Santa Fe/Inside Lane
Carl Gable (Team Santa Fe)
Elise Harrington
John Freudenberger

15th Place, 3/2 10:36; 3/3 6:12 Total Time 16:48

How Cold Can It Be?
By Carl Gable

Salomon WAR is a two day staged race during daylight hours. You spend the night in a hotel. You want cold? This was cold. Saturday morning -22F at the start, Sunday morning it had warmed up to -19F at the start. This was the second year I raced in the Salomon WAR but the first time I had raced with my teammates Elise and John. The race consists of skiing, biking, running, snowshoeing and orienteering over a two-day time frame with cut offs each day. Yes we slept. The field of racers was very impressive including the three male winners of Eco-Challenge New Zealand on three separate teams, this years male and female winners of Mt. Taylor Quad, and the Swiss team Allianz-Salomon. Every one of the top ten finishing teams had an Eco-Challenge veteran.

While the cold was a factor, it was surprising that once you got going, it was easy to keep warm, even wearing just running shoes. However, stopping and standing still was not an option. Transitions were quick! No lingering. The blow by blow was a mass start onto XC ski tracks (aprox. 2h), mountain bike on snow packed road (aprox. 1h), snowshoe with 9 orienteering checkpoints (aprox. 4h), bike (1 h), ski/orienteering (aprox. 2h). We did not make the time cut-off and were given an automatic time for the final ski portion.

On Sunday it was a mass start straight up an unpacked hillside (ski or snowshoe) along a ridge down into a valley and up the other side (aprox. 2h), a ripping downhill on skis since we carried skis and snowshoes, a bike run with 2 bikes for 3 people (aprox. 1.5h) and snowshoe (aprox. 2h).

It was a well run race, with race directors (and Eco-Challenge teammates) Barry Siff and Liz Caldwell putting on a great spaghetti dinner at the Sol Vista lodge Sat. night and a gear raffle in which we each won a pair of light aluminum crampons. I'll be back for more next year.

Sponsor Equipment Used:

GoLite Pack
AXO Shoes
Hydropel
Sealskinz
ThorLo Socks
Suunto altimeter
GU
Gatorade Bars
Ortlieb map case.

Raffle Tickets
Contact us about our various raffle prizes!

Be sure to check out our ongoing feature - The Racer's Story.
This segment teammate, Slate Stern, trains for North Pole adventure

ADVENTURE RACING - Orienteering

Orienteering In adventure racing, just finding the finish line is part of the challenge.

To finish the course, teams will have to find their way across miles of glaciers and tundra and down icy rivers.

One mistake can take the team miles off course. And getting lost is not an option. There are no towns or villages along the course for refuge or directions.

There is only one road through part of the course, and helicopter access is limited. Being rescued is more of a challenge than finishing the race.

To learn more about Adventure Racing and Team Santa Fe, follow the tour arrows.