The first Adventure Race I ever did was the Half Moon in September in 2002. It is a 12 hour race, and we finished that puppy before the time cutoff. I loved the mixture of different sports and the challenge of route finding. In 2003 I did the HMIS race again (and finished well, albeit with a separated shoulder), while my teammates from that race went on and did a second race a day later - the Valhalla Pure Challenge 6 hour sprint race. So this year I signed up for the same double; HMIS on Saturday, VPC on Sunday.

The HMIS race started with a pre-race meeting on Friday night in Cremona, at which we were given our maps and the check points for the first leg of the race. The race started in Water Valley at a dude ranch called Silver Creek Ranch, and generally headed north on a trek. My partner for this race was Rob Price, a runner from Canmore who had done the Sea to Summit adventure race, and a regular with the 5 Peaks trail races. Rob admits to being a decent runner and cyclist (in anyone from Canmore not a decent cyclist?) but he had some qualms about paddling. He also claimed little knowledge about navigation, although I doubted that claim as Rob works with mapping for a living.

After the pre-race meeting we headed over to the dude ranch where we were camping for the night. I played around for a little while organizing my stuff on a guess that we would transition from the trek to a mountain bike, and then paddle the Red Deer river to a finish in Sundre. I also tried to advise Marshall Slater (my support dude for Sunday's race) as to what was happening, but cell coverage was a bit spotty. Hoping Marshall had the plan, I headed to bed.

Saturday morning wasn't too cold, and the day started off looking like we might even see some sun. (although at 0500 hours that's a tough one to call) I got my kit together, Rob got his kit together, and eventually Tom Maier (a buddy of Rob's who was our support person) managed to find us so we could sort out support. About 5 minutes to 7 we wandered over to the start and joined the throng. Mike Melnick and Andrew Royle had secured a place right up at the front, and Jen and Wayne were also up there. I didn't spot James Schneider but rumour had it he was there somewhere.

At a couple of minutes after 7 the race started, and we headed out at an easy jog. The race instructions said to follow the path / road that we were on until we reached a ruined cabin, and the head from there to the first checkpoint, which was located right in the middle of the south end of a map feature labeled the "Charleton Muskeg".

We found the cabin easily enough, and choose the middle of three paths that headed north from there. It was a good path for a little while, but then degenerated into game trails and very very old and overgrown logging roads. Jen's team and one other team were near us as we headed north, but we split from them at some point and headed down to a clearing so we could better figure out where we were. Based on our guess at a location, we figured we were one drainage west from where we needed to be, and gradually headed up the hill

At the top of the hill we found a well defined road, and also found a team of 4 girls, who were able to confirm where we were on the map. We jogged past them and found the correct cutline to take us into the muskeg. Brian had (of course) put the control right out in the middle of the muskeg, so it was goodbye dry feet as we hopped through the knee deep water to CP1.

From CP1, the map showed a good cutline / road / cutline combination that would bypass the most of the muskeg and get us up to the north end where CP2 was. We found the first cutline ok, but the road wasn't as shown on the map, and took us well west of where we wanted to be, right to a bit of land we didn't have the leaseholder's permission to enter. However that did serve as a good reference point, and we were able to traverse back to the marsh and find CP2 without too much difficulty.

From CP2 to CP3/TA1 we had a good run, and found quite a quick route. At one point we met up with Jen and Wayne, they were still looking for CP2 but had gone about 2 km north of it. We confirmed Wayne's position on the map and headed north as Wayne and Jen headed back south to CP2.

The transition was uneventful, and we were heading off on the bike in the midst of about 8 teams, all of whom had left TA1 within 5 minutes. The bike started off on paved road for a couple of km, and then we headed of into a farmer's field and off into provincial grazing leases. As we left the fenced field two teams near us headed out on the path that was directly on the other side of the fence, but we managed to swerve west a bit and got onto the correct trail which took us straight into CP4. The riding here was a bit sketchy, with lots of muddy bits that the cows had gummed up, but we slogged a km north and managed to find a decent road that would take us to CP5. The road wasn't too bad, (it had some boggy bits) but I did almost manage to get hit by a cow that jumped out onto the road as I was headed past, and the mud was starting to pack up in my derailleur which dropped my speed. Two other teams joined us on this stretch, and we played leapfrog up to CP5.

CP5 was at the top of a small hill just west of the road, at the junction of two cutlines. The first was very steep and very overgrown, so we passes on that and headed down to the second. That one was steep and muddy, but had a trail. We ditched the bikes and headed up it, and one of the other teams followed us; the other was last seen trying to push their bikes up the first overgrown cutline. Ours was a better choice, and aside from loosing my shoe in the mud we bagged the control without incident. Back down to the bikes, and an easy ride up the road to the north would see us at TA2 shortly.

Wrong.

The easy ride down the hill lasted about 500 metres, and then we plowed though cow bog for another 4.5 km. The mud wasn't quite as bad as at Drumheller or the SAC race in the spring, but it could gum up your wheel in a heatbeat, (and endo you), or take out your derailer. (as happened to one guy on one of the other teams) At one point we headed down a very short sharp hill, but the cows had chewed up the trail into foot deep gumbo that was certain to eat my shoes, so I just took them off and went down in my bare feet.

All good things must come to an end, however, and eventually we found ourselves at TA2. The paddle looked fairly easy, although it started with a mile or so long portage to get down to the Red Deer river. After a brief stop, we grabbed our paddling kit, put the boat over our heads, and headed off.

Our support was allowed to help us get to the River, and Tom, Rob, and I took turns trading off so that two people were carrying the canoe while one person carried the paddles and misc. gear. That system worked well, and we passed two teams on the portage before we came to a big halt about 2.5 km down the road, having obviously missed the turn from the road down to the river. At about this time I also realized we had missed bringing along our bike helmets, which we were required to wear for the paddling section.

Tom headed back to the truck for the helmets, and Rob and I manhandled the boat back to the turn and down to the river. We got to the river about a minute ahead of Tom, but the mistakes were costly as about 5 teams passed us between TA2 and the river put in at CP7.

On with the helmets, boat into the water, Rob into the boat, I go to get into the boat, and "poof" we dump, right there at the CP. Oops. Should have told Rob about the downstream lean rule. Rob's pretty wet, I'm wet up to my waist (having only got one foot in the boat when we dumped) and it's not an auspicious start for the paddle.

We dump out the water, climb in again, and head off, this time without incident. There is one team about a km in front of us, and another 100 metres behind. One good route choice around an island later, and we're 400 metres behind the one team, with the guys behind us almost out of sight. We continue paddling, and have almost caught the one team when they dump in a nasty class II riffle. They make it to shore as we reach them, and shout that they're ok, so we head on down.

Then next map point is listed as a way point, not a check point, and we slow right down as I'm looking for a sign to identify it, (the check points all have 3' x 4' lamicoid signs or orienteering flags) but it turns out to be two people sitting on the river bank; luckily we talk to them as we go past and find out that they are the way point. After that we had a good paddle dodging a few sweepers and rocks, and reached the remaining check points and take-out without incident.

After the takeout we had a brief portage, and were done.

We had gone in to the race hoping to get top 5, and (I think) ended up 7th. Mike and Andrew were 3rd, and Jen and Wayne managed to come back past us on the portage to claim 5th. I still never saw James. But for my portaging error, I think we would have been 4th. All in all a good race, and I think Rob enjoyed the experience.

Then it was time to retrieve my kit and car from the start, visit the car wash to get the mud off my bike, and get prepared for the VPC race. Mike and I were partnered up for this one, while Jen and Wayne were adding in two additional bodies to do it as a team of 4. Registration for the race opens at 0615 hours in Red Deer, so after the HMIS awards are done I head right up to Red Deer and Wayne, Tony (Wayne & Jen's support guy) and I do the Wal-mart camping thing. (Jen choose a motel, and Mike headed back to Calgary where he would collect Marshall on his way out in the morning.)

Unlike the HMIS race, the VPC race attracts a more urban, less athletic crowd. One gal had taken the time that morning to put on full makeup, including about an inch of mascara. You are given maps with the checkpoints already printed on them, and the maps aren't quite of the same quality. (they were pieced together from several scanned maps) The course was going to be a bike, then an orienteering section, more bike, a paddle on Pine Lake to an off-water check point then paddle back to the start of Pine Lake and bike up to the finish.

The bike started off up a gradual hill, and a bunch of teams bolted off out of the starting gate as fast as their legs could spin. Mike's hammering too, but I'm going a bit slower to give my legs a chance to warm up. Still I manage to pass most of the people by the top of the first hill, and by the time we reached our first navigation choice (left or right around a small pond) Mike and I are in second team to choose aroute. Most of the horde follows our lead, and we bounce over some pasture for a km or so, before riding into CP1 in good shape.

At CP1 we ditched our bikes, and headed out to get 3 orienteering controls. The vegetation is quite different from the map, and Mike and I found ourselves quite a bit north of where we wanted to be before we figured out where we were. After jogging a mile or so south, we again guessed at a location, and the finally successfully contoured up a hill to get the first control. Now we really know where we were, and we flew through the next two controls and back to the bikes, probably running at better than 10 kph through very dense bush.

Back at the bikes, we find out that Wayne has a 50 minute lead on us, but otherwise we are sitting in 5th with the next three teams only minutes in front of us. We hammer off down the road at 40+ kph, and manage to pass most of those teams within two or three km, before I go and bust the cage off of one of my pedals. Repairs only take two minutes, but we're back in 3rd by a couple of seconds coming into the next check point.

3rd going in, but 2nd out, and putting time on team #3. We're also gaining on Wayne and Co., but they've got a big lead for as short a race as this. Mike's setting a damn fast pace, and as the roads degenerate into road allowances and (muddy) cow trails, I know I'm slowing him down as I fight leg fatigue from yesterday and a problem derailer. CP3 to CP4 flies past, as do CP4 to CP5. After CP5 we hit a section of "riding" that is only quite a nasty cow track, and I'm starting to bonk. Mike helps out as best he can, and I chow down a bar and a gel to try and get my energy back up. Thankfully that section was only a half mile or so, and then we are back on gravel roads for the last bit of ride into Pine Lake.

We overshoot the put in at Pine Lake at bit and bushwack back, only to find that I've lost the race passport somewhere between CP5 and CP6, and the race director can't verify that we've completed the course properly to that point. After a brief to and fro we are allowed to continue, marking the next section on our map, and we head to the water.

We've got a following wind, and have a quick run down the lake. As we reach the far end we can still see Wayne & Co's boats - they are obviously having difficulty in finding CP7, as they started this segment 30 minutes before us and the paddle was only 20 minutes long. We go in to shore a bit further down the lake and head out to get CP7.

30 minutes later we are still looking. The control is supposed to be on the side of a big hill, just down from the top, hanging in a dead tree. We've got good sight lines to triangulate our position, but the control isn't there. By now, there are several teams in the area, and things are looking a bit dodgy. One of those teams had found our race passport though, so at least we don't have to go back out to find that.

We've checked the area where the control was supposed to be thoroughly, and so the only thing left is to try looking elsewhere and hope we can find it on a random guess. We start by scouring the slope right by the lake, and then try heading further south. Mike is scouting about 20 metres away from me when I spot it, and I get his attention as quietly as possible so as not to attract the horde upslope of us. We head back to the canoe in stealth mode, and manage to miss everyone.

Back on up the lake at full throttle, and back to the canoe transition. We retrieve our passport from the Race Director, (together with a 15 minute penalty) and blast the 1.2 km back to the finish. We've gained another 15 minutes on Wayne & Jen & Co, but have we got 15 minutes on the next two person team?

Food's being prepared (but isn't ready quite yet) so we grab what we can and head in to the massage area. According to Patti, my legs are quite "tight" as she works on them.

16 minutes later, the third place team arrives.

Prizes are done by a random draw system, with the fastest team drawing theirs first, through to the slowest, but what you get being determined by the number you draw. There are some mighty nice prizes including a couple of nice tents, but I just win some socks and a tee-shirt. Mike wins a sun visor. (which I'm sure he'll happily give away in a heartbeat)

Still no (major) injuries, no busted equipment, and a 7th and 2nd for the weekend, so it's a nice way to end the season. Now I guess I start training for IMCdA.