Gold Rush 2008

Geoff, David and Jared drove over on July 19, 2008 to Oakdale, CA (past Modesto) to participate in the Gold Rush Summer Challenge put on by Team Karma every year. We raced under one of our original team names - Saturday's Warriors. The race consisted of equal parts foot, bike and paddle. Joining us was Emily, team manager, and 1yr old Annie who were our crew and helped move bikes and the canoe between transition areas.

Team Jacooboo won the race in a time of 5:59:35 which closely matched the 'Six Hour Adventure Race' billing. They were followed in swift succession by 6 chasing teams. We had the lead entering the water but were ill prepared for the challenges that arose on the river and ended up finishing third, about 30 minutes behind the winners.

Teams began with an orienteering section of 7 miles on the rocky terrain of Red Hills where we returned in the lead and quickly transitioned to the bikes. We were able to run, rather than trek, the foot section and Geoff "Mr. Navigator" did a great job of locating the quickest route by the landmarks instead of using a compass. The terrain was very hilly with lots of sage brush and little cover from the sun (luckily it was early in the morning). We skipped a lot of the trails and just did the cross country thing. It took a little under 2 hours to finish, but I have never consumed that much water in a run before.

The fast 24 mile bike leg took teams downhill to begin with but the second half of the ride was on very dusty, washboard dirt roads that seemed to go on forever. The sun was scorching by this time and pounded the bodies mercilessly. Jared had a slow leak that we had to stop and repair, and then David crashed again on the bike in a soft dirt section. Geoff seemed the less impacted by the conditions but everyone was glad to hit pavement again and switch over to the paddle (at least initially we were glad).

Jackaboo still trailed us by a few minutes at the river. We quickly consumed the Gatorade that Emily graciously provided and grabbed our canoe to carry down to the river. We had three racers and decided not to rent two kayaks but put the team in the one canoe that the race organizers let us borrow for cheap. Unfortunately only one of really had any canoeing experience and although its sounds easy we were pathetic. Next year we are renting kayaks. We started off with a high center of gravity and several dunkings before getting the boat balanced and even moving downstream. Even then, the greater displacement of the heavily loaded canoe worked against us on the unusually shallow river and we were passed by Jacooboo in the first 10 minutes and then BAARBD/RacingWithGiants near the finish of the 8 mile paddling section. Our adventures included a few crashes, dodging of tree branches, lots of pushing, complete submerges, a ruined cell phone and unreadable passport. It was funny at the beginning but became frustrating to watch the sit-on-top kayaks easily cruise past us. Still the water felt great and the barbeque afterwards hit the spot. A very fun race.