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RACES
AdventureXstream
Moab 12 Hour Adventure Race
Moab, UT, March 25th, 2006
http://www.gravityplay.com/axs/Results/moab2person06.htm
Jan and Kim Bear, 3rd Place in Coed Pairs division
and 5th place Pairs Overall
Tina Sommer, Support
By Jan Bear
Kim and I decided to return to Moab and the AdventureXstream to try
to win the series for a second year in a row; Moab was event number one.
We arranged with one of Kim's nursing students; Tina Sommer to be our support
crew which worked out conveniently as she happened to be visiting a friend
in Moab. We knew this year it was going to be difficult to defend our title
as we are a year older and the competition is younger and younger. After
looking through the entrant list we noticed that we were the oldest pair.
We left Santa Fe Friday at 9AM and arrived in Moab around 4 PM then
went to the race check-in at about 5PM, we met a few friends and then back
to the hotel to plot and get ready for the race. This year's course was
to be different than the last couple of years. After check in, we met Tina
to go over her duties. The staggered start this year allowed us to sleep
until 6AM what a bonus. Tina came to the hotel and we drove out to the start
at Sandy Beach, about 12 miles up river from Moab. We hung out and watched
the solos and 4 person teams go off; then it was our turn. We got a good
start and were in about the 7th position as we headed downriver. The paddle
was a little faster as there were some small class II rapids just after the
start. The paddle was 12 miles and we got out of the boats at the Moab boat
ramp on the north side of the Colorado River in 2 hours and 9 minutes. This
was our first time paddling since last years AdventureXstream Expedition
Race. The transition was quick and we were off to mountain bike up the old
highway trail to the Gemini Bridges trail head. This was followed by another
quick stop, refuel with Tina and we were now off to Gemini Bridges for a
great rappel followed by a 6 mile run. We jogged the whole distance. We
made it back to our bikes for a total split time of rappel and run being
1 hour and 20 minutes. It was then back to the bikes for a sprint of about
20 miles to the finish line. It had been hot and E-caps helped the cramping
subside as we re-hydrated climbing back out of Gemini Bridges. Our finishing
time was 6 hours 51 minutes and 2 seconds, placing 3rd for the Coed Pairs
and 5th place pair overall out of 62 starting pairs and 9th place overall
of all the 96 starting teams. It was a great event for the first adventure
race of the season however we were a little disappointed that we could not
have finished a little better as the time between 1st and 3rd was only 21/2
minutes.
Thank you to our great Team Santa Fe sponsors for making this event
a great success; Montrail, ThorLo, Lowe Alpine, Leki, Bolle, Litespeed,
CW-X, GoLite, BTI, Shain, Suunto, CamelBak, Polar, Hydropel, Dermatone,
Sof-Sole, Maxis, New Mexico Bike and Sport, Niterider, Princeton Tec, Wenger
NA, Wolf Whitewater and E-Caps.
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