During our pre-race texts we all positioned to claim the anchor position:
"Dude, I only ran twice since last race, you'll have to pull me"
"Hah joke is on you I haven't run either"
"I'm sick as hell and not running either, sounds like we're primed to win!"
"Uh guys, I'm at the Dr's office trying to get meds for Montezuma's revenge... just got back from Cabo and haven't run for 3 weeks... so I will be the anchor."
An auspicious prelude to the Turkey Burn AR race, this year being held on the UCF Campus. We also did a lot of theorizing what might be in store for the race. I personally thought we'd be looking on multiple parking garage floors for the CP's. Other team members were scouting for water features for the canoe portion. We arrived with a wide open mind ready for anything, not certain how an 'urban' adventure race might be run.
Being a Sport level 4 hour race, we knew that the bulk of the CP's would not be too difficult, and that the race would hinge on good speed and smart decisions. This was especially true this race, looking at the results a large portion of racers completed the course making it a very competitive field.
An oversize course map with the UCF Campus got us started. Our UCF alumnus quickly took to labeling key landmarks, streets and building names to ensure we didn't lose our orientation. Having a former student was key in knowing exactly where we were and best routes to get places.
Luck of the draw gave us the Bike-Run-Boat order, not our favorite, and we would start in the fourth wave at 12:03.
The bike portion was entirely on the campus, and we were able to stick mainly to the roads to get the best overall speed, even in some cases where shorter routes were available by trails. Some of the CP's like 18 near the retaining ponds would be audibles, based on ground condition... whether to head back to the road or just slug it out on softer ground. These kind of in-race decisions can sometimes make or break the race.
The bike portion was straightforward, and we were able to quickly clear this portion in a tidy 30 minutes. Now off to the run.
We hadn't run much, and we felt it, using CP's as an excuse to catch our breaths. We did another straightforward clearing, although the CP's locations were a bit more difficult to optimize. Our run completed in 35 minutes.
At this point we returned to the Main TA to head out to the boat portion. It was stated that the canoes were in short supply with the ongoing Elite race, and that if needed they would credit waiting time. But this made it very hard to gauge our progress, as both the bike and run were fairly quick, and the unknown of waiting times for other teams meant we didn't know how hard boat would be, or where other teams were. It's not unusual to be in the dark, and frankly we go as fast as we can regardless. But that waiting time through in some added uncertainty!
The biking to the Boat TA was windy of course, and made for a long trek out. Some things we know about our team:
1) Boat is our most inconsistent discipline
2) We either win or lose on boat
The water levels were a big low, and made for some interesting obstacles in the way. It was strange looking up ten feet to see the top of the river bank. That's a lot of elevation change for Florida. Again, apart from the difficult maneuvering (especially with oncoming canoes!) the CP's were largely on the creek, and as long as you kept the clues in mind the locating of the CP's was logical.
A quick ride back against the wind and into the Main TA and we completed the course in good time, placing second to the Rum Runners, 5 minutes off first place pace with 02:36:57.
Our hats go off to Team Zackless, who placed third on their first-ever AR. Congrats guys, we're sure that Zack regrets not getting a medal!
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