News 6/29/02

The Benchmark Appalachian Adventure Race
by Nathan Smith

On June 29th, the race day started around 6am when my partner Jim and I got our mandatory gear together. We were getting ready for the Benchmark Appalachian Adventure taking place in Cumberland, OH. The race consisted of three main disciplines: trekking/orienteering, mountain biking and canoeing.

The day started off with the trekking section slated to be "15 miles of lung burning hiking and trail running". And it was all that and more. For the first few hours Jim and I were essentially bushwhacking through trees, brush, and thorns in search of the first 7 trekking check points or CPs. After the very first CP, we were probably in the middle of the pack. Over the course of the first trekking section, we slowly crept up into the top ten.

Feeling confident about our performance thus far, we got ready for the next element, a demanding canoe/portage section. There were four lakes we had to paddle over with portaging between each. It turns out that we spent more time carrying the canoe rather than paddling it. Finished with the canoe section, it was time to continue on with the trekking.

At this point, we were out of water, a little tired, and still had a few more trekking points left to go. Fortunately, the first CP we hit after the canoe had a house letting people to restock their water from a hose. Feeling rejuvinated after finding water, we were off again. The next check point took about 2 hours to find, the lead teams had been looking for this CP for about 1/2 before we got there. Most teams assumed the check point was not there and decided to skip the CP. Jim and I happened to stumble upon the CP, punched our card, and headed out. It wasn't until after the race we found out that an irate farmer had moved the CP because it was too close to his property! The next few trekking CPs included a small rapelling section and a zip-line into a small lake. Very cool!!

*Finally* done with the trekking section, we hopped on our bikes and took off. We found out that we were in the top 5 overall with much of the race still left! Jim and I fell into a rhythm on the bike and managed to hit the last few bike CPs in first place overall. It was awesome to know that we were the first to hit a few CPs being first overall.

With two more bike CPs and a final trekking CP left, the day finally took its toll on my partner. We made the decision to rest for about 10-15 minutes to let him recover and get some food in him. Taking his pack, I helped him onto his bike and off we were to pick up the last few biking CPs.

The last CP was actually the very first CP of the day. On our way out to the CP, a soloist and four-person co-ed team were heading into the finish. Knowing we had first place in our division fueled our last little jaunt to the CP and then to the finish line.

Crossing the finish line in just under 12 hours, we found out we were third place overall (behind first by 10 minutes) and first in our division!

All in all, it was a long race. Fun, hot, draining....but still long.