We did it.

Well, we did it! We arrived on Saturday morning at around 10am, and got checked in. Everything was very well organized, and we received our race kit at noon. Race meeting at 2pm. GPS unit at 3:30. Countdown, and we're off! We actually ran to our canoes, and then our team (team 31) led the pack to the water. Our first canoe was a couple hours, on the glimmering Ottawa River, on a beautiful sunny Saturday afternoon. Our first transition was from canoe to bike. As we pulled the canoe out of the water we were met with 'paparazzi' cameramen trying to get close-up - a little distracting, but maybe we're in the big leagues? Anyway Elfrieda and the support gang were there waiting for us, and we made the transition easily. We set off on the bike. Two or three monster hills later, we hit the first check point, where we clipped our tag. At this point we had a decision - go west along the hydro line, which we knew for sure would eventually hit a road, or go back and see if we could find a trail heading north. We went for the former, which proved to be the wrong decision. But we stuck with it, and 4 hours later, after taking our bikes through the thickest underbrush I have ever seen, we came out on the road. At this point, we were out of the running for the race – most of the other teams had finished that section 2 hours earlier. Thanks to the GPS tracker, the organizers knew exactly where we were, and at 2:30 am, they met us at the road junction just as we came out. Thankfully, they were willing to let us keep racing, as we wanted to continue to test our skill. So, after a fun ride in a Landrover (They sponsored the race, b/c there is a Landrover Experience facility near Montebello) we were dropped off to start the canoe portion. We finished the canoe section in record time, as the sun rose on a red sky. The rain started just as we pulled up to the dock. Another transition, this time to hiking gear, and we were off again. We had a zip line across a river, which was nice and fun - a little nerve-wracking in the rain, but fine. Other teams were there with us, and everyone was still go go go. We then hiked around for another 6 hours. It rained, but we hiked to the top of a beautiful lookout. We picked up 1 of the 4 checkpoints on this section. The others proved too challenging for us to find. We decided to pack it in at about 1:30 and it took another half hour or so to find our way out. We were met by our still-happy support crew, and we did one final transition, to the bike. We biked the last 16 km from the park back down to the Montebello hotel, on a spectacularly sunny Sunday afternoon. We rode through the finish gate at about 3:51, just 10 minutes shy of the full 24 hours! After a hot shower and a very nice buffet dinner put on by the incomparable Fairmont folks, we headed back to Ottawa. I was in bed by 9pm.

So - would I do it again? Yes.

I learned a lot, (mostly that I still have a lot to learn) but I would, and will, do it again. In fact I met up with some folks from the race at a local orienteering meet two days later, and we swapped stories. We had our problems, but it was clear that everybody else had problems too! Other teams had people drop out, people pass out(!), and also got very lost. Many teams missed checkpoints. So if there's one thing to learn, it's to keep going. And work on your skill level.

I spoke with two people who found a couple of the checkpoints we couldn't find, and they said they did it strictly on orienteering principles: get to a known point, set a bearing very carefully, and walk the distance, also very carefully. They popped out about 20 ft from the checkpoint. So I know it can be done.

So I will post some more photos, but you can also go to www.totalphoto.ca and plug in our team number 31. You get about 100 photos!

Special thanks to our support team for toughing it out. Blake, Elfrieda and Darryl, THANK YOU. We didn't know what we were getting you into, and you guys did an amazing job.

Thanks also to all our supporters! We know a lot of us have been touched by cancer, so this was a meaningful experience for us all. We estimate we have raised near $1600 – Thank you!

I'll keep this blog up, as a virtual record. If we do anything more in the adventure racing front, we'll post it here.

Take care, and ADVENTURE ON!

Tracy
Just Add Water