|
|
May 2007 Team Santa Fe Activities
AdventureXstream 12 Hour Adventure Race
Buena Visa, CO
May 12 2007
http://www.gravityplay.com/axs
Carl Gable, Joel Krypel, Elberta Seybold, Kevin Ormerod, 13:03:09,
7th/18 4 person coed
YouTube Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpXk3Z9vDQQ
By Carl Gable
This was my first race in the AdventureXstream series. Jan and Kim have been
doing them for years and speak highly of them and Buena Vista is a great
location to race. This was also the first time racing with Elberta and Kevin and
that went great too. Overall it was a well designed course although, as with many
adventure races, the time spent on the course was dominated by the bike
sections taking about half the total time. Also, it seemed that the course times
were slower than the organizers expected. The awards were scheduled for
3:30PM and the first place team did not cross the finish line until about 5PM.
The race started with a short run prior to the white water put-in. This served to
spread out the field a bit prior to boating. The boating took about an hour and had
enough white water to keep it interesting and fun without much peril. The bike leg
is not going to be something I'll be heading back to Buena Vista to repeat. The
route looked nice on the map but it ended up having a lot of deep sand that was
hike-a-bike. Even the downhill in the sand was squirrelly. The navigation was all
straight forward and we covered the route without any missed steps. The
orienteering course was really well done. I think a lot of the field was surprised at
the number of checkpoints, twenty five. The penalty for missed points was only
10 minutes so we made a strategic decision to skip five points that seemed like
they would take about 10 minutes each to snag. Overall, the orienteering all went
smoothly. Getting back on the bikes felt good but Joel had begun to have some
mechanical problems just before we got to the O section. His freewheel was not
freewheeling so he had to pedal all the time, even on the fast down hills. He got
some good leg spins heading to the ropes course. About a mile before the ropes
course Kevin took a major spill. He was flying along on the railroad grade behind
Elle and looked over his shoulder to see where Joel and I were. Just when he
looked over his shoulder, Elle hit the brakes. When he looked forward he saw
Elle and slammed on the brakes. Unfortunately he had his left hand on the bars
so he hit the front brake hard and went down hard. A couple of guys from another
team that are fire fighters were considerate enough to stop and make sure we
were doing OK. Kevin was hurting but he managed to get back in the saddle. The
ropes section was really backed up when we arrived and the race organization
did not really have a plan for dealing with it. People were told they could skip the
ropes but they could not be clear on what the consequence of skipping the ropes
would be. We opted to wait. In the end it took us 1:45 from arrival to departure at
the ropes. Without the wait I expect we could have been through in about 40
minutes. Oh well, that's adventure racing.
Overall, the race went well. I'd do it again. Kevin is still nursing his injuries. It
looks like a torn ACL and separated shoulder. He can still bike ok, but he is pretty
much out of commission for foot travel. Big bummer.
AdventureXstream 12 Hour Adventure Race
Buena Visa, CO
May 12 2007
http://www.gravityplay.com/axs
Jan and Kim Bear, 11:04:37, 1st/11 Coed Pairs, 8th/60 total teams
By Jan Bear
The Buena Vista race was new to Kim and I as this was the first time
AdventureXstream put on a race there. The course was fun yet challenging and
certainly took longer than expected to finish. Kim and I were pleasantly pleased
that we finished first as that was unexpected with the strong field present. As
Carl stated in his write up the sand on the mountain bike stage was no fun. Kim
and I did make a couple small navigation errors but the orienteering course
helped us gain the points necessary to win. After the race we headed to our
motel for a well deserved meal.
Thank you to Team Santa Fe Sponsors: Litespeed, BTI, Bike & Sport, ThorLo,
GoLite, PokerJunkie.com, Camelbak, 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.
Jemez Mountain Runs, 50 mile, 50K, 20K
Los Alamos NM
May 19 2007
http://www.highaltitudeathletics.org/JemezMt.htm
Carl Gable, 50km, 17/46, 07:35:10
Barb Dutrow, 50km, 4/15, 08:09:34
By Carl Gable
The community of ultra-runners in Los Alamos put on this run for the second time
and it was again a huge success. The organizers really showed that this run was
put on by runners for runners. The course for all events were changed for the
better. The 50M run even went into the Valles Caldera National Preserve. A rare
opportunity indeed. Except for a very short distance at the start, the entire course
followed single track and dirt roads. The course has plenty of climbing, 11,311
vertical feet in the 50 mile course, 7,781 vertical feet in the 50K.
Barb Dutrow crossing the finish line.
Barb showed her usual pluck and lined up for the start of the 50K with plenty of
long runs under her belt, but her only hill training was on the stadium stairs of the
LSU football field. That didn't seem to be too much of a problem since she was
the second female to the top of the first major climb, Caballo Mt, 10496 feet.
However later in the run she was slowed down because she stubbed her toe on
a rock. Later X-rays showed she broke her big toe.
The race was big success. There were runners from eighteen states and
Canada. Last year the 50 mile had 21 men and 1 woman, this year there were 41
men and 11 woman. Similarly, the 50K had 17 men and 9 woman last year, this
year there were 46 men and 15 woman. The 20K went from 49 entries last year
to 122 this year with more women than men running.
Thanks to CW-X for providing Pro Shorts and LiteFit top, a perfect combo for the
run. Also Thorlo socks, Sof Sole, Dermatone, Polar, and Hydropel.
|
