We arrived Friday afternoon, just in time for the opening of registration, so little time was spent waiting in line. We were given a Map (1:50,000, UTM grid was marked) and a race passport. The race passport had all the rules, our Control Point or “CP” punch sheet, and a handy UTM protractor. We collected our shirts, and race bibs, and then set off to find a camp site. At dinner, we plotted our CP's on the map, eagerly read all the race book had to offer, and assisted another team in plotting their points on the map. We organized our gear for the two transitions we would have later that night in the parking lot of the local supermarket--putting together food bags and filling drink bladders. Several other teams followed our lead, and soon the parking lot looked like a refugee encampment, with boxes and gear scattered around any available light. We repacked the truck, and went back to our campsite to toss and turn in our sleeping bags, in anticipation of the race start.

Everyone was up, bright and cheery, at 5:30 Saturday morning. After a few bagels and bananas, we headed off to our race start, which we had to plot on the map. We began the race with a ten mile paddle on the Colorado. We decided to not rush the start, and began the race dead last. That way we could only improve on our standing. After a short adjustment period, to figure out how the inflatable kayaks handled, we set into a rhythm, and slowly started to gain on and pass other teams. We followed the current, but battled a headwind, through a beautiful red rock canyon. We met several other teams along the way, and enjoyed our paddle time.

We exited the river, punching our passport (CP 1) and portaging the kayaks up a short hill to the parking lot. Our support team had our transition area well organized: an outdoor carpet (easy changing and clean feet) with each gear box at the corners (Action Packers), and a food and drink station in the middle. This set up allowed each of us to get changed and grab gear in our own space, with no confusion. Our support crew stuffed oranges and grapes in our mouths, and read out our gear list to make sure we had what we needed for our 20 mile bike ride.

As we set out on our bikes, I ran over a piece of glass and received our only flat tire of the event. No worries, as I had it changed in 1 minute. We settled into a steady pace and patiently rode our bikes up the 2700 foot hill. We told fantastically funny jokes and stories to keep our minds off our legs and we slowly overtook more teams. The climb was gorgeous, with views of the Colorado River, Canyonlands, Slickrock, and the snow-covered La Sal's. Cloud cover and a steady wind kept us cool, while climbing on our bikes. Jason tested out our homemade tow system with Kim while Paula tried desperately to ride away from me, muttering something about my stupid jokes. At the top of the hill we took a quick stop at CP 2 to gather our climbing kit, then enjoyed a 7.5 mile downhill to the rappel.

We arrived at the rappel (CP 3) at the same time as about 12 other teams, but we had anticipated the bottleneck and had already prioritized our need to get to the ropes first--eating and drinking could come later. The rappel was fantastic, 250 feet off a red rock cliff into the canyon bottom (CP 4). Our team was assigned a rope, and we made quick work of the task at hand, even with closed eyes and white knuckles. Jason’s lips were covered in sand after his display of affection for Terra Firma. It was breath taking to look back up and see what we had just dropped off of. We refocused ourselves, however, from that excitement and started the five miles of trail running required to reach CP 5, and back to the top of the rappel and our bikes. Once again, our run took us through some beautiful country, which helped the time pass quickly. Back on the bikes, we focused on the climb back up to CP 6. We continued to show strong bike abilities and once again began overtaking many other teams. We spent just enough time at CP 6 to throw on a jacket before quickly beginning the exciting downhill ride to the finish line.

We arrived at the finish line, just as our support crew drove up in the truck, after 9 hrs and 17 minutes of racing. I think everyone, while glad we were finished, could easily have continued on around the clock. We finished in 20th position, and passed 90 teams from the time we started. I am very proud of our entire team (racers and support crew), as we accomplished what we set out to do. The navigation was pretty basic, and the race was just long enough to give everyone a sample of what it takes to stretch beyond perceived limits and work together as a team to accomplish the task at hand, Adventure Racing.

Organization is key, one team arrived at the rappel without their climbing kit. Our support crew made sure we always had what we needed. We could always take on the next leg with confidence. Thanks again to our support crew, we had plenty of food and fluids to fuel our team. Suzette and Melissa, made sure to read off the check list to us at each transition and even did the resupplying of some of our packs, and trading out hydration bladders. We had a fine display of long forgotten cheerleading skills, given by Suzette.

In the end, we did a fine job at it. I could have done better at explaining what was going to happen, how to get organized, and generally what to expect. But then again, the voyage of discovery, in my opinion, is what lured my teammates into this event in the first place.

Official race results can be found at www.gravityplay.com