race report - part 4 of 4
Finally, the last bit of the race story from last weekend. I certainly know how to drag it out, don't I?
We were woken a number of times from our sleep under the shuffle board tables in the lodge at Crooked River Lodge to get weather reports. Still raining, but tornado warning lifted. Still raining apparently meant 4"/hour, so we decided to sleep a little longer. Then came the report that the rain had stopped. We woke up and headed out pretty quickly since our stuff was all ready to go. We left at the same time as Nike, but we got separated pretty quickly in the dark as the landscape looked different now that there was water everywhere. On the second or third CP, we met up with both teams that had spent the night out in the storm. They were both looking pretty rough. We were very glad we had spent the night in a dry place.
The trek was relatively uneventful. There was a lost checkpoint that caused some delay, but effected all four lead teams. We all ended up in the same meadow searching for a CP. STAR had spent an hour on it earlier in the night, but hadn't found it. Eventually, by just scouring the meadow, it was found laying among some cactus. STAR discussed what to do, and decided to tell everyone about it since it was misplaced. That was the last CP needed for both STAR and Tom's team. They headed back to TA while we and Nike continued the leg. We managed to put at least 1.5 hours on Nike over the rest of the leg by just moving steadily. It was a long leg, but most of the travel was on (sloppy) roads. We were wondering if it would be the last leg, since they certainly couldn't send us out on bikes under those conditions and we'd already been on a long trek. When we came into TA though, we found out there was one more trek to go.
STAR had left TA about 1.5 hours before we arrived, and Tom's team was still in TA after having had a nap. We did a quick transition and left about 15 minutes after Tom's team and less than two hours behind STAR. The checkpoints were relatively spread out, giving us quite a bit of distance to cover, but also allowing us the time to catch at least Tom's team. We had gotten more rest through the race than they had, so we were hoping that we could travel faster than they could.
We didn't help our cause when we had trouble with a point, overshooting an old road that would have taken us up the mesa where the point was. We lost some time to Tom's team, but saw STAR long the way, so we now had them in our sights too. We realized we would have time to get all the checkpoints (it wasn't clear at the start) if we ran between the last few, which were widely (many kilometers) spaced along a gas pipeline and an adjacent fence. I handed off my pack to Charlie (and later Pete) since I'm the slowest runner and we started to run. We ended up running the last 2.5 hours of the course, but although we hoped we'd catch a team on the final run into the Lodge, we didn't see anyone on the course. When we crossed the finish line, we found out that Tom's team had finished about 10 minutes before us, and that STAR had only gotten a few of the CPs on that leg and then packed it in. The lack of sleep and the storm the previous night had caught up with them. We also found out that Nike was at least 3 hours behind us.
We knew we had more time credits than Tom's team since we had been ahead of them at the two spots where we had been officially held (both on the first night of the race). We wouldn't find out the final placing until the awards ceremony. Before that we had time to shower (ahhh, nothing like that shower) and eat a free all-you-can-eat texas bbq dinner. So, in a food coma, the results were announced. We were totally shocked when we found out that we had won by less than 15 minutes.
The Haskell race is super fun - a small field but it was really competitive this year. The course is great, it's got a small family reunion feel to it, and you won't find a harder, but more fun, race around. Some one commented to me the next day that now that we've won it, we don't have to do it any more. But I love that race, and I'll keep doing it as long as they keep putting it on.
We were woken a number of times from our sleep under the shuffle board tables in the lodge at Crooked River Lodge to get weather reports. Still raining, but tornado warning lifted. Still raining apparently meant 4"/hour, so we decided to sleep a little longer. Then came the report that the rain had stopped. We woke up and headed out pretty quickly since our stuff was all ready to go. We left at the same time as Nike, but we got separated pretty quickly in the dark as the landscape looked different now that there was water everywhere. On the second or third CP, we met up with both teams that had spent the night out in the storm. They were both looking pretty rough. We were very glad we had spent the night in a dry place.
The trek was relatively uneventful. There was a lost checkpoint that caused some delay, but effected all four lead teams. We all ended up in the same meadow searching for a CP. STAR had spent an hour on it earlier in the night, but hadn't found it. Eventually, by just scouring the meadow, it was found laying among some cactus. STAR discussed what to do, and decided to tell everyone about it since it was misplaced. That was the last CP needed for both STAR and Tom's team. They headed back to TA while we and Nike continued the leg. We managed to put at least 1.5 hours on Nike over the rest of the leg by just moving steadily. It was a long leg, but most of the travel was on (sloppy) roads. We were wondering if it would be the last leg, since they certainly couldn't send us out on bikes under those conditions and we'd already been on a long trek. When we came into TA though, we found out there was one more trek to go.
STAR had left TA about 1.5 hours before we arrived, and Tom's team was still in TA after having had a nap. We did a quick transition and left about 15 minutes after Tom's team and less than two hours behind STAR. The checkpoints were relatively spread out, giving us quite a bit of distance to cover, but also allowing us the time to catch at least Tom's team. We had gotten more rest through the race than they had, so we were hoping that we could travel faster than they could.
We didn't help our cause when we had trouble with a point, overshooting an old road that would have taken us up the mesa where the point was. We lost some time to Tom's team, but saw STAR long the way, so we now had them in our sights too. We realized we would have time to get all the checkpoints (it wasn't clear at the start) if we ran between the last few, which were widely (many kilometers) spaced along a gas pipeline and an adjacent fence. I handed off my pack to Charlie (and later Pete) since I'm the slowest runner and we started to run. We ended up running the last 2.5 hours of the course, but although we hoped we'd catch a team on the final run into the Lodge, we didn't see anyone on the course. When we crossed the finish line, we found out that Tom's team had finished about 10 minutes before us, and that STAR had only gotten a few of the CPs on that leg and then packed it in. The lack of sleep and the storm the previous night had caught up with them. We also found out that Nike was at least 3 hours behind us.
We knew we had more time credits than Tom's team since we had been ahead of them at the two spots where we had been officially held (both on the first night of the race). We wouldn't find out the final placing until the awards ceremony. Before that we had time to shower (ahhh, nothing like that shower) and eat a free all-you-can-eat texas bbq dinner. So, in a food coma, the results were announced. We were totally shocked when we found out that we had won by less than 15 minutes.
The Haskell race is super fun - a small field but it was really competitive this year. The course is great, it's got a small family reunion feel to it, and you won't find a harder, but more fun, race around. Some one commented to me the next day that now that we've won it, we don't have to do it any more. But I love that race, and I'll keep doing it as long as they keep putting it on.
posted by little b @ 9:24 a.m.
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