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October 2006 Team Santa Fe Activities
Races :
AdventureXstream Expedition Adventure Race
Moab, UT
October 5-8, 2006
http://www.gravityplay.com/axs
Team Santa Fe Bear Pair: Kim and Jan Bear 3rd Overall and 1st in Coed
Pairs. 1st Place in the AdventureXstream Series in the Coed Pair Category.
By Jan Bear
This was the last race of the AdventureXstream series for 2006. Kim and I were
holding on to first place in the series by a good margin but knew this race was
worth 225 points and really very important to us to win the series outright. Moab
is usually very nice this time of year with warm days and cool nights. We had
done this race the last two years and weather was bad so this year we thought
the weather should be good, it can't rain and snow three years in a row, can it?
Knowing the race was to start at 7PM Thursday evening we arrived in Moab the
night before the race start and stayed in town. We then went out to the race
headquarters at Red Cliffs Lodge the next morning under sunny skies. By race
check in that PM the skies had filled with clouds and light rain fell intermittently.
We picked up our maps and began to plot the course as well as pack for the
race. We were unsupported, thus all our gear had to be in our action packers to
be carted around by the race management during the event. We finished our
packing and preparation and got in a quick nap before the race began at 7PM on
mountain bikes. The first mountain bike leg took us on a combination of
pavement and old dirt jeep trails into the La Salle Mountains via Castle Valley. At
CP2 the end of the first bike leg we began a trek/orienteering section after
plotting the points for this section at CP2. There were 9 CP's and you could
strategize the approach, go in any order and only one was mandatory. However,
each CP missed would earn a 2 hour penalty. We began the trek in a
counterclockwise direction. We missed 2 CP's as the rain continued to fall
throughout the night. By about 5AM we were back at the bikes and now biked
back to the Red Cliffs Lodge via the same route arriving at the kayak transition by
6:30AM. By 7AM we were ready to get into the kayaks for the long paddle to
Gold Bar takeout which was a distance of about 25 miles. The rain continued to
fall throughout this section. Here we began a short trek to the rappel and as the
rain continued, we rappelled down in a small waterfall due to the heavy rain.
Then it was back to the kayak takeout to begin another mountain bike section up
Long Canyon to Gemini Bridge and then on to Golden Spike Jeep trail and
Poison Spider Mesa. As we headed up Long Canyon the rain continued; it had
washed out the road in several places and it became impassable in spots.
Rocks began to crash down onto to the road creating a very dangerous situation.
We made it to the top and continued to Gemini Bridges to the next check point.
From there we rode to the next checkpoint at the beginning of Gold Spike Jeep
trail; here we met Will Newcomer the race director who asked us about
conditions in Long Canyon. He decided to suspend the race before any other
teams headed up Long Canyon, I believe about 6 teams make the bike up the
canyon before the suspension. Will asked us to bike back to the Gold Bar kayak
takeout via the highway. This took us till about 6:30PM. Will had decided to
restart the race for the rest of the competitors at 7PM with the third mountain bike
section from Gold Bar back into the La Salle Mountains. The rain continued to
fall!! In fact it was raining very, very hard at times. At CP 18 in the La Salle
Mountains after going up Sand Flats Road to the Trans Mountain Loop Road the
volunteer manning CP 18 gave us the bad news, head back to Red Cliffs Lodge
the race is on hold due to wash outs of several roads and kayak put ins. Thus the
race ended due to bad weather at Red Cliffs Lodge for us at about 4 AM. We
were in 3rd place overall, 1st in Coed pairs. The Colorado River was up several
feet as the sun came up with lots of debris to include large trees and branches.
We were disappointed, but not too much, as we had a great race for 30 hours
with out sleep. The post race banquet was very nice and enjoyed by all. Will and
Jenny Newcomer did the best they could based on the weather conditions and of
course looking out for the racer's safety.
Jan and Kim at the starting line.
Thank you to Team Santa Fe Sponsors: Litespeed, BTI, Bike & Sport, ThorLo,
GoLite, Gaerne, PokerJunkie.com, Camelbak, Montrail, Leki, Niterider,
Dermatone, CW-X, Princeton Tec, SofSole, Shain, Polar, Hydropel, Outdoor
Research, Suunto, Polar HRM, Maxxis, E-Caps, Wingnut Gear, Potable Aqua
and Bolle.
Big Tesuque Run
Aspen Vista Trail Santa Fe National Forest
October 7 2006
http://www.santafestriders.org
Barb Dutrow, 1:58, 1/50+ F, 58 overall
Carl Gable, 1:38, 7/40+ M, 29 overall
By Barb Dutrow
Fall brings the 12 mile mountain trail run through aspens to the top of Tesuque
Peak. This high altitude out and back course begins at 10,000 ft elevation
to summit at 12,000 ft. then a downhill return. This is Carl's sixth time in
recent years, while Barb flew in from sea level after training on stadium stairs
at -10 ft. of elevation.
The Big Tesuque run began under gray, threatening skies, with a full field of
participants at the starting line. Aspens were past their peak, but the wet fall
made for a well-conditioned trail of packed dirt and (unfortunately) rocks. The
field quickly spread out, so running one's pace was possible. Carl took off and
reached the summit in 1:06, 36th place overall; Barb followed in the distance
reaching the summit in 1:13, 59th place. Carl ran strong downhill, picking off
six runners along the way, finishing in 1:06 for 29th place. Barb felt strong
downhill having passed seven runners, when about a half-mile from the finish,
she tripped on a hidden rock and went for a serious trail surf - splayed out on
her left side. Despite the layers of clothing, abrasions to the knees,
hip, chest, and worst of all elbow made for a painful finish. When she jumped up
(2 men passed her), she held her arm and limped to the finish in 1:58; still
sufficient for first in her age group. A quick check and clean off by the EMS
noted a large amount of swelling near the elbow and the suggestion of an X-ray,
hence an emergency room visit (thankfully, not broken but making this the most
expensive race in recent years).
About 3 miles from the summit, rain began and the fog settled in (and pain)
which made for an abbreviated post-race party despite the most superb food of
breakfast burritos, hot chai, coffee, water, and drinks.
Thanks for our sponsors: CW-X, Polar Heartrate Systems, Thorlo socks,
Hydropel, and Montrail.
Duke City Marathon
Albuquerque, NM
October 22 2006
http://www.dukecitymarathon.com
Carl Gable, 3:26:38, 25/245 overall, 6/31 M45-49
By Carl Gable
It has been quite a few years since I have run a road marathon and nearly
all of my training is trail running so I knew it would be a challenge to
try running a faster pace on pavement. I ran with Bill Carey with the goal
of coming in under 3:30 in order to make a Boston Marathon qualifying time.
This was Bill's first ever marathon and we planned to stay together. Overall
it was a great day for the marathon, just above freezing at the 7AM start
but that meant that it never got hot. The plan was to keep the pace at
just under eight minutes per mile pace. The race went like clockwork and
we finished together feeling strong and happy that the run went according
to plan.
New Mexico Orienteers Fall 4 Hour Rogaine
Albuquerque, NM
October 28, 2006
http://www.nmorienteers.org
Team Santa Fe 1, Kim Bear, Helen Morrel, Janette Brasher, Claire Miller, 6th
W40+
Team Santa Fe 2, Jan Bear, Carl Gable, Bill Carey 2nd Place M40+
By Jan Bear
What a great event and great weather. We received our maps about 9:30AM and
planned our route. The race course was set up perfectly and our approach was
to run the course in a general counterclockwise direction attempting to get all the
CP's. During the first two hours we were right on the money with finding the CP's
but as time continued we got a little slower and at times took a few minutes to
find some of the CP's. This resulted in us missing 4 CP's. In retrospect looking at
the late penalties we should have continued for another 10 minutes to probably
get two more CP's. It was a great day to be out hiking in the woods!
Claire, Kim, Helen and Janette.
Thank you to Team Santa Fe Sponsors: Litespeed, BTI, Bike & Sport, ThorLo,
GoLite, Gaerne, PokerJunkie.com, Camelbak, Montrail, Leki, Niterider,
Dermatone, CW-X, Princeton Tec, SofSole, Shain, Polar, Hydropel, Outdoor
Research, Suunto, Polar HRM, Maxxis, E-Caps, Wingnut Gear, Potable Aqua
and Bolle.
Training Events
New Mexico Orienteers
Albuquerque, NM
October 21, 2006
Course Setting
By Jan Bear
On the Saturday before the NM Orienteers Rogaine I was asked to help set
some of the CP's. Thus I spent about two hours placing 7 CP's using a GPS. It
was fun to begin to learn how to use a GPS as in all the races I do it is a
forbidden instrument.
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