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Team Santa Fe Newsletter
August 2004
| Raid of the
North Extreme: Western Newfoundland |
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2004 World
Championship Adventure Race
Team Zimmer
www.far.on.ca
August 1-8, 200
Jan Bear, TSF, Kim Bear,
TSF, Keith Bushaw, Brad McLean
Forty three teams traveled to Corner Brook, Western Newfoundland to
race in the World Championships. This was Jan and Kim's second world
championship as well as second time to race in Newfoundland. Keith
had experience with expedition racing completing the Eco-Challenge and
Primal Quest. This would be Brad's first expedition race. The course
was 500 kilometers with the venues being trekking, ocean swimming and
kayaking, dory rowing, mountain biking, rope rappelling, and more
TREKKING.
To summarize this experience for Team Zimmer:
- The race course had our team spending a lot of time
on our FEET
- Our team worked very hard, got less than 10 hours of
sleep in 5 days, never got lost---yet we still placed 27th
- We felt like we should have finished Top 20 for as
hard as we raced!
- We ended up still liking and respecting each other at
the end of the race
The start line was at the Sandbanks Provincial Park in Burgeo; racers
were bussed down to this western coastal village for an 8 am start.
We would have 21 checkpoints. Within one hour of the start we had to
swim across an ocean channel twice. The tide had a brisk current
which made the swim challenging, the water was cold, and now our feet
were wet. This would be the case for the remainder of the race. The
first three checkpoints led us into remote wooded areas of North Bay.
We would experience tuckermore (impenetrable stunted pine trees),
vicious mosquitos, black flies, with moose and caribou appearing
randomly in beautiful settings. At times it was hard to appreciate
through the insect clouds. It took 2 days to arrive at checkpoint 4
where we decided to sleep as there was a dark zone in effect. We
arrived at 7 pm and the night zone would start at 9:30 pm.
(Hindsight: strategic error #1. This would set us up for night
navigation at the worst times as a result of this one error. Mental
note to us: always leave transition area if possible before dark
zone. It never pays off to stay. We had terrible sleep!)
At 5 am we left checkpoint 4 and ocean kayaked towards the north shore
docks of the community of La Poile and then to 2 other checkpoints off
the ocean. At a cabin checkpoint we were rewarded with coffee and
cookies. It was uneventful, until a fog rolled in within minutes and
made us blind. Jan navigated off his compass solely and we finally
located our next destination without mishap. Checkpoint 7 was an old
lighthouse in Rose Balance Harbor; the team mountain biked 15 miles to
the next trekking venue. This route led us over the Long Range
Mountains. We took all night to get back to our bikes at Checkpoint
11. From there, we biked to the next section only to find that the
winds had shut down the dory section. Dories are native to
Newfoundland and look like gigantic row boats. We were then directed
to bike to the next checkpoint. Along the way we stopped for Pizza.
We then rode all night long after a quick powernap at the next
checkpoint. This mountain biking venue had us struggling to try to
find a snowmobile trail. After searching for several hours, Brad
found the trail which was unrideable by bike because of the marsh and
mud. It finally turned into a road which led us into a lake. The
ascending section had been closed and instead another checkpoint was
set up directly up to the Bay of Islands' Blow-Me-Down Mountain.
Once again, we had to trek though water so we could have wet feet to
trek. We literally climbed directly up the mountain, with Keith doing
a great job of route finding for us. To a normal, sane person this
would be considered an impossible route. The top of the mountain was
true to its name...you could not hear each other talk because of the
velocity of the wind. It was still daylight and we knew we had to
make it to the rappel section. Our feet were showing the fatigue of
so much trekking with Kim and Brad being the most affected. We went
all night long with several power naps. The night made it very
difficult to tell the vegetation. The tuckermore was unbearable with
sore feet. As the sun rose, we were embedded in the tuckermore. We
backtracked to loop around this vegetation and finally found the next
rope section. From there we ocean kayaked to Goose Arm using our
sails for one leg which gave us a little rest. As we got into the
cove, the tide had gone out resulting in poor Jan and Keith having to
carry the boats almost 1/2 mile into the shore. (Kim and Brads feet
were in such poor condition, they couldn't help.) We left Goose Arm
after midnight and rolled across the finish line after a short paddle
across the Humber River at around 4 am. The finish line was at the
Marble mountain ski area just outside of Corner Brook. Then after a
day of sleep we went to the awards banquet and packed up the following
day and headed for home. We had a fantastic experience but
unfortunately did not finish as well as we would have liked.
Thank you to our sponsors: Zimmer/Baker, Golite, CamelBak, Montrail,
Bolle, Genesis Phar., Princeton Tec, CW-X, ThorLo, Suunto, Litespeed,
BTI, Schrade, AXO, LP Composites, Seal Line, Thermarest, Ortielb,
Terry, SofSole, Dermatone, Seal Skinz, Polar HRM, E-Caps, Leki, and
Shain Helmets.
Leadville Trail 100
Mountain Bike Race
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http://www.leadvilletrail100.com
Leadville, CO
August 14, 2004
Lisa Carr-Broome, George
Broome, Kim Bear, Jan Bear, Deb Werenko, Gary Johnson
It was a beautiful crisp morning for start of the
11th annual
Leadville Trail 100 Mountain Bike Race, otherwise known as the 'Race
Across the Sky.' Having not had rain in a week, the roads were dry
and dusty. The weather forecast promised more of the same with highs
in the mid 60's.
The Leadville Trail 100 Mountain Bike Race is a 105 mile, out and back
race that tops five mountain passes and has a twelve-hour time limit
in order to place as a finisher. Starting at an elevation of 10200
ft. in Leadville, the elevation varies between 9200ft. and tops out
at 12600 ft. at the Columbine Mine Aid Station/turn around point.
The total climbing elevation gain is 10233 ft. and the descent is
7939 ft. over roads that are paved, gravel, dirt and rutted that
offer spectacular views of the surrounding Rocky Mountains. It is an
extremely well supported event by the people of Leadville and the
volunteers.
The starting line of this year's race consisted of 680 riders with 426
finishing under 12 hours. Times for Team Santa Fe participants are:
| Gary Johnson |
9:06:44 |
#58/426 4th in M5
age group |
| Deb Werenko |
10:10:16 |
#166/426 3rd in F4
age group |
| Kim Bear |
10:45:12 |
#233/426 7th in F4
age group |
| Jan Bear |
10:45:12 |
#234/426 88th in M4
age group |
| Lisa Carr-Broome |
11:07:16 |
#304/426 9th in F4
age group |
| George Broome |
DNF due to a hip
injury |
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We want to thank all of our team sponsors for their continued support;
Litespeed, Tomac, CW-X, Bolle, Suunto, SixSixOne, SofSole, ThorLo,
Hydropel, Camelbak, Terry, E-Caps Endurolytes, Golite, Shain Helmets,
BTI and Polar.
| Leadville Trail 100
Ultramarathon |
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http://www.leadvilletrail100.com
August 21-22, 2004
Leadville, CO
Barb Dutrow 29:29:26 F4 09
152/195
Carl Gable 29:53:28 M4 74
193/195
What a race for our first 100 miler! The Leadville 100 is apparently
one of the most difficult 100 milers, primarily because of the high
elevation (nearly all of the course is above 10,000') coupled with the
stringent time cutoffs (at each aid station, 30 hours total).
The race begins in downtown Leadville, CO at 4:00am. Even at this
hour, the entire town takes part, you are not alone. Restaurants open
at 2:30am to feed you breakfast, and folks wander out of their houses
bleary-eyed to cheer you on. Although rain poured down for the two
days prior, race start was clear and cool (about 40F), perfect for
running. Once the gun went off, a stream of folks raced down through
Leadville, and out to Turquoise Lake. One of my favorite scenes were
the neighborhood folks standing by the roadside at 4:05am; ladies in
terry cloth bathrobes and fuzzy slippers drinking coffee and yelling
as we trotted by! Then when we got to the lake, running in a train
single file, you could look ahead and behind at the row of 500
flashlights in the night!
Carl and I have such similar paces that we stayed together almost the
entire course. We basically paced each other. Thankfully when one of
us was a bit off, the other was on. We blasted through the first aid
station at May Queen after grabbing food and water, stopped to change
socks at Fish Hatchery, then onto Halfmoon and Twin Lakes. At Twin
Lakes we changed shoes/clothes for the climb up Hope Pass at 12,600'.
A glance toward the Pass revealed nothing but clouds, rain had been
coming and going, so we prepared accordingly. During the climb up
Hope, rain and hail hit...and we met the lead pack coming back.
Humbling. Hot soup at the Hopeless aid station before the summit
provided needed warmth and energy. Once at the pass it was a run
down. Trails were extremely muddy - but slip sliding away worked
fine. The sun rose and temperatures warmed considerably. At the
Winfield turnaround (halfway - 50 miles), crowds of pacers waiting for
their runners, and runners hanging out made for a mess. Volunteers
performed a pseudo-medical check-in but weighted us with our
Camelbaks! I came in 10 lbs heavier! Not. Carl tried to work on a
blister, but bandages wouldn't stick. It was only one hour prior to
the cutoff, so we grabbed headlamps and made a quick exit.
Climbing back up the mud on Hope Pass made it more difficult.
However, it was heartbreaking to see all the folks coming down that
would not make the cutoff. More rain and hail came, but we were fine.
We arrived at Twin Lakes 40 min. ahead of the cutoff, changed shoes,
clothes into warm nightwear and blasted off. We made it to Halfmoon
with 50 min. to spare - so we were picking up time. However, after
Halfmoon, about 30 miles from finish on the return, Carl developed a
sore leg/foot and stopped running. He could only walk on all of the
flat and downhill sections. I got nervous about time but we remained
ahead of the cutoff. He had organized a pacer, Bill Roth, to join him
at Fish Hatchery (23 miles to finish), which was nice - he talked a
lot and gave us nice distractions. By May Queen (13.5 miles), I was
really nervous about cutoffs, but stayed with him for another hour.
Then with only 3 more hours, and 10 miles, I summoned the courage to
ask if I could take off. I wasn't sure that he could limp in before
the final cutoff and didn't want to wait until it was too late for me
to make up the needed time. He said OK, Bill stayed with him. In the
last ca. 9 miles I made up about 30 min. to finish in 29:29 for 152
overall of 195, 9th in my age group. Carl did make the finish in
29:53! He was 193/195 and 74th in his age group. When I saw him
coming up the street in Leadville, I ran back to meet him after I
finished! I felt fine and had energy to spare at the end. Carl
visited the ER to make sure his leg was not fractured; it was not but
he developed painful anterior tibial tendonitis.
The scenery was gorgeous, wildflowers still blooming, weather
unsettled - rain, hail, cold, which probably contributed to the lower
than average finishers rate this year; only 41% of the nearly 500
folks finished. Incredibly efficient volunteers at the aid stations
expedited your brief stop, filled water bottles, brought abundant food
and juicy fruit. Finishing this race brought a new sense of awe for
other TSF members Kim and Jan Bear's accomplishments last year - doing
all of the Leadville events.
Thanks to our sponsors for keeping us dry, our feet padded, our timing
correct and our path forward lit: CW-X, Thorlo, Princeton Tec, Polar
Heart rate Systems, Hydropel, CamelBak, Hammer Products, Boulder Bar,
Go-Lite and SofSole.
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