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Contents 1 2008 Western Carolina Pictures 2 2008 Western Carolina Maps 3 2008 Western Carolina Website 4 2008 Western Carolina Results 5 2008 Western Carolina Reviews 5.1 Josh's Take 5.2 Jordan's Take 5.3 Enid's Take

2008 Western Carolina Pictures

Pictures
Jordan Josh Boulder	Josh Enid Live Burnout	Enid Across Zipline	Josh Across Zipline
Team at Finish Line

2008 Western Carolina Maps

2008 Western Carolina Website

2008 Western Carolina Website

2008 Western Carolina Results

Western Carolina Results

2008 Western Carolina Reviews

Josh's Take

The race was a modified rogaine format where within each leg of the race, we could get CPs in any order we chose; we could not get CPs that were part of another leg in the race. The order in which we did the legs was predetermined, but there was some flexibility. Further, during one leg of the race, the team was allowed to split up, similar to how Blue Ridge did their entire race this year. Canoes, paddles, and PFDs were included in the affordable race entry fee, but teams were allowed to bring their own paddles/PFDs if they liked. The canoes and the PFDs provided by the race were decent and good respectively. While the sheer amount of rogaine and modified rogaine courses are starting to get on my nerves a bit (I've only done ONE serial adventure race in the 15 I've done), I through the format of this race is the RIGHT way to do modified rogaine. And for that matter, this race was a tremendous test of disciplines given it's length. In 11 hours, the format/terrain tested:

• Lake paddling/portaging/swimming (if you chose)
• Road, double track, gravel, grass, single track biking
• Road, gravel, single track running/trekking
• Bushwhacking/Orienteering (not orienteering maps, but trek section that was mostly cutting through woods)
• Coasteering
• Ropes (zip line)
• Time management (cutoff)
• Split team logistics
• Rogaine strategy/route strategy
• Mid-race plotting (including using your UTM tool without a west grid line)

The race had a total of 9 legs! They went like this:

1. Run - To gather equipment for the paddle.
2. Paddle - To gather paddle CPs until you reach the CP that has the next trek leg's coordinates, unknown until you reach the CP
3. Trek/Paddle - Split your team to get the trek points and move the boat to ideal rendezvous
4. Paddle - Gather the remainder of the paddle CPs
5. Bike - Split the bike points anyway you like between this leg and the final bike leg
6. Trek - Trek CP coordinates are received at the start of the trek section; get as many as you want on foot, but then trek leg is closed
7. Ropes - At one of the trek CPs, but unknown where. Ropes were "off the clock"
8. Trek - Get the remainder of the trek CPs
9. Bike - Get the remainder of the bike CPs and return to Start/Finish

Having done a lot of races where there are only one of each leg, this race was a great change in pace--always going as hard as you can knowing that the next leg was coming and you'd get to rest a bit from the current one. As far as the navigational challenge, it was a good mix. Some CPs were obvious--others were more of a challenge and required using certain land features and compass to shoot bearings. No CPs were hidden, but some were in hiding.  :) Anyway, novice navigators would've done well to discern which CPs they wanted to attempt previous to the race. As an intermediate navigator, I found the course quite rewarding, and learned some valuable lessons.

• Start

We didn't have the Start/Finish coordinates (where we were) so when Steve Morrone, the race director, flipped a board mid-sentence that had race coordinates on it telling us where our equipment would be found, we immediately jumped down on the picnic table in front of us and begin plotting, only assuming where we currently were on the map. 4LPH4 1337 was the first team to finish plotting and so led the entire field (except the navigationally-cocksure team Checkpoint Zero) into the southern peninsula toward what we thought was equipment point 1.

• Trek - Equipment Point 1 - Canoes

We chose to head to this one first because it was closest and though we did not know which equipment points had what pieces of equipment, we figured it would be boneheaded if this one had the paddles or PFDs and EP3 had the canoes and we would have to run the whole thing twice. So we chose the safe route, but because we chose the wrong peninsula (a combination of the fact that we didn't have Start/Finish coordinates, the peninsulas roughly matched bearings, and the water level was low so they also were similar in profile), we spent 5-10 minutes wandering around looking for what we assumed but were unsure would be an obvious pile of equipment. We migrated to the next peninsula, found the point which I saw from a distance was a bunch of canoes. Turned around and headed to EP2.

• Trek - Equipment Point 2 - Paddles

EP2 was 30 meters from our campsite, which means they must have driven them out at when we huddled at the start of the race, since we would have to be blind not to have seen them. Jordan shouldered the 3 paddles we found here, which still had rubber bands around the ends and helped them stay together during the run.

• Trek - Equipment Point 3 - PFDs

We continued on to EP3 where we would see multiple teams, including CP0, Secret Squirrel, and a few others coming back down opposite of us. We'd managed to catch up significantly to the lead teams by taking alternate routes and cutting corners, that and our running speed was good.

• Trek - Equipment Point 1 - Put-in

Back to EP3, we managed to put on our PFDs while running and carrying maps/paddles. We pushed it knowing we'd be in canoes soon, and we managed to catch the teams trailing CP0. There were about 10 lead teams in the water around us as we headed for CP3.

• Canoe - C3

As we reached CP3, we were in the top 5. We beached the canoe and ran to the CP. As we left, we were in the top 3, paddling next to Secret Squirrel exchanging leads only when the waves and wind on the lake caused our steering to falter. We trailed CP0, about 4 minutes ahead, from whom we seemed to neither gain or loss ground. As we went around the Start's peninsula, we saw on our right ?Contours? in the water. They had portaged across a point we'd considered but found the distance to be the same between both paths. Given the waves, however, this turned out in their favor. Now there were 3 chase boats.

• Canoe - C4 - Horseshoe Island

We chose to beach the canoe on the south side of the horseshoe, as I suspected we'd get the trek legs at this point, but wasn't sure if we'd be receiving another map. Steve, at the pre-race meeting, mentioned the other teams could "canoe around the island" while retrieving the trek points. Since we'd have to go around the island anyway, I figured there was more time to save if the we did get an additional map and had to paddle southwest to some island. Steve was just trying to throw us off. We bushwhacked across the horseshoe, plotted the points very quickly, and headed off with Contours north to the trek leg.

• Team Trek - C8

We beached the boat and I punched C8 as Jordan and Enid paddled to C5. I'd rendezvous with them there, then we'd all go to CP5 (added eyes). That was the last I saw of Secret Squirrel, as we parted ways from there.

• Split Arrival/Team Trek - C5

We went up to CP5 and found it no problems. I had a quick discussion with my teammates on where we'd rendezvous (CP6), gave Jordan a bearing to get back to the boat by, and darted off into the woods for CP7.

• Single Trek - C7 - Misplot, corrected, and found it

I ran through the woods and coasteered along to make it to where I thought CP7 was. Here I realized after 5 minutes of searching for the checkpoint that I'd made an age old mistake with plotting on the far left of the map (when there isn't a grid line to anchor the UTM grid, you simply flip your grid over and plot the easterly coordinate as westernly, whereas I subtracted the easterly from 1000, flipped, and plotted as westerly). I quickly replotted and made my way down, cursing myself for hitting this obvious pitfall while I was hurriedly plotting the trek points. On my way down the hill I was on I saw Peter Jolles coming my way who assured me the CP was "over there" as I breezed by.

• Single Trek - C6 - Look for team

I moved as quickly as I could back to CP6, challenging myself to gain ground as quickly as possible, since I'd be back in the canoe afterwards. I reached CP6 and skimmed the peninsula for my team...nowhere to be found. I figured they may have bypassed the inlet and so I crossed over the peninsula to the east to see if they were there. I saw a couple of people but neither my team. I went back to CP6, thinking Jordan and Enid might not have made it yet, and ran south along the eastern peninsula to get to the point, from which I'd have a better vantage. Shouting back and forth at teams I saw, I reckoned they had overshot me, and so I continued east along the shore. I was beginning to worry. Finally, they caught sight of me and I made my way around the coast to get to them as soon as possible.

• Canoe - C2

At this point it got pretty confusing as different teams were going in different directions (apparently Secret Squirrel had already left and Peter Jolles from CP0 was running around a coastline) and so strategically it was time to start racing on our on. We made it around the island to the east and Jordan found CP2 as we waded into the woods a bit and we came back out to continue the paddle.

• Canoe - C1

Paddling to CP1, we had a team chasing us (I believe Contours) and so we got the CP as efficiently as possible, with Jordan making the punch and Enid and I bailing and turning around the canoe for departure.

• TA1 from Canoe to Bike

Exhausted from the run and paddle, it was time to carry the heavy canoe to the bike transition. I manned up on the front of it and was very eager to hit the bike. Contours came in shortly after. We were surprised to find CP0 in the TA still after our rendezvous mishap, and even managed to transition quickly enough to leave with them. I ate a honey bun on the road ride while studying the next section of the map.

• Bike - C9

We split from CP0 north to CP9 and as they continued to directly to the trek section. We found CP9 fairly quickly and we were all feeling good on the bike.

• Bike - C10

We continued north on our way to CP10 until the road ended at the stream crossing. There may have been an old bridge here, but not sure. Opposite of us the road all but disappeared. We dropped our bikes and crossed the stream, following it by bushwhacking until we reached the CP. There were several controlled fires in the area burning out all the underbrush and as we were heading back through the ashes we found Enid's lungs weren't used to the smoke and ash. I had heard some teams that followed the ridge instead of the river had some difficulty finding this one because there weren't many navigational indicators from on top of the ridge.

• Bike - C12

Getting to CP12 proved to be a challenge in compass work, as the roads in this area were less obvious. We spend 10-30 minutes going down different forks of ?688-2? before we found the correct one and made it to CP12. We left it and headed north for another section of road biking.

• Bike - C11

We overshot CP11 by 300 meter and backtracked to it, searching the woods here for 10 minutes. Jordan walked back up the road 20 meters and spotted the CP--his orange and white was good this race.

• Bike - C17 - Couldn't find it

We headed back down from the northernmost checkpoint on the course to the single track section that Enid was pretty excited about the night before. After the first stream crossing, we shot a bearing and marched up the overgrown hill looking for CP17. Then we marched down. Then we marched up to the top. Then we followed the tongue down. Then Jordan used his altimeter to walk the contour. Then I walked down to the eastern reentrent, shot a bearing from there, marched back up. At this point 30 minutes had passed and though there was no duplicative terrain nearby, I wasn't sure we were at the right place.

• Bike - C20 - Disoriented from C17 and multiple stream crossings, bypassed it.

For the next 20 minute ride south over about 1km, I was stopping every so often to try to try to reorient myself and figure out where we were on the trail since our last known point we never found. Exacerbating the situation was that there were tons of water crossings and bridges to follow--which was the terrain feature I was using to try to get to CP17. After no luck and a lot of time spent trying to find where we were, we decided to write off C17, C20 (and the others we were planning on visiting on our way south), and head to the trek section. The clock was ticking. We rode steadily and at one point during the ride I was lashed with something across my knee that burned for 15 or so minutes. I thought it was fire ants or a bee sting or briers or something but couldn't find any evidence.

• TA2 from Bike to Trek

We entered the TA as Secret Squirrel was heading out. They were...frazzled. I'd been out of water for the last single track portion of the ride and it was time to replenish. I downed 2 Gatorades that race staff provided us and refilled my bladder.

• Trek - C22

We ran to CP22 at a fairly good pace. Jordan strapped on Enid's pack and we covered good ground. I was sloshing.

• Trek - C23

I started to falter on our way to CP23. Signs of dehydration were kicking in but the Gatorades I'd sunk at the TA hadn't. It was the hottest part of the day and we were on the sweatiest leg of the race and I was trying to rehydrate; it was just a suffer and wait game. I tried to keep my wits about me and keep pace with Jordan and Enid.

• Trek - C21 - Misplot and didn't find it

On the way to CP21, Jordan monstrously hooked me to the towline while carrying 2 packs. I ran as much as I could, knowing that we'd be trekking soon and I could recover. I tried to concentrate on the map, but it was difficult. My legs kept trying to cramp. I focused on dealing maintaining despite the dehydration--the opposite of the full breakdown I experienced at the 2007 YMCA C4AR. A full kilometer south of where we were supposed to be, we used a hunter's trail to drop down into the flats by the river. I expected to shoot a bearing where the river bent south and head up to the CP. At that time, I discovered what made my legs burn so bad on the single track--we found ourselves in a field of stinging nettle, with 200 meters of it to get to our point. We made our way through it, Jordan leading the way with bare legs, all the while getting pricked by the venomous plants and the burs that stuck to one's clothes. The tights Enid and I were wearing didn't help, and with every step more pricks and the pain would intensify. Our other option, to climb a pretty steep hill to the west, was one we wanted to avoid both because of the hill and the fact that it would make the CP harder to find, so we continued on. At about 100 meters we all were mentally at our wits end. Our legs were on fire and we had to get out of it. Jordan almost fell after stepping on a dead log, at which point he said, "I'm not falling down in this crap." We agreed the pain and risk was too great. We made our way for the hill, and accepted our pain sentence for the next 15 minutes. Searching from the top of the hill, we couldn't find CP21. We went up and back and didn't want to give it up because we'd been through so much trying to get it and our burning legs were a reminder of that. I checked where the point was plotted, but I was a bit out of it (I can't remember if I checked the grid placement or just the placement within the grid). We didn't realize our folly--that the point was actually 1km to the north, and we gave up searching. We continued on, trying to make our way back out of the woods, and quite sure we were out of contention at this point.

• Trek - C24

We made it back to the road, and ran down to the end of the road where CP24 was. A little bit of bushwhacking along the river would bring us to CP25.

• Trek - C25 - Zipline

We crossed a deep-cut stream to climb up a steep tongue to the top of a hill, ending up on top of CP25. We had to slide down to it. The crew there then assisted us on a zip line as each of us flew across the broad stream we'd been hiking along. The ride was a little over a 100 feet and was a lot of fun. We regrouped and continued on.

• Trek - C26

From there it was a single track hike trail to CP25. We hiked this, arriving at CP26 uneventfully and my wits and strength were finally coming back to me. I was feeling more optimistic about the bike.

• TA2 from Trek to Bike

We ran from CP26 to the trek, chasing down a team ahead of us to the TA. We filled up some more water and it was decision time. We burnt a lot of our time on the course and had 1 hour to get back. There were 9.5 miles between us and the finish line of relatively flat single track, jeep trail, gravel double track, and paved roads if we took the most direct route. We could add on 2 more miles if we chose to get CP19. I was feeling good, but given my previous condition and the already tough task at the end of an 11 hour race, we decided to take the direct route. We transitioned and headed out.

• Bike - C16

Once off of the single track, we began aggressively peddling to catch the team ahead of us that had come off of the trek immediately ahead of us also. We caught them and 3 other teams at C16, but were also the last to leave the CP by 200 meters or so.

• Finish

From here we dug deep, Jordan was feeling good and Enid is a very strong cyclist, and because there were 4 teams ahead of us so close and we didn't know how we'd end up placing with all the CPs we didn't get, it was go time. We dropped the hammer and after 2 miles managed to pass 3 of the teams. Ahead of us still was a 2-person male team that was doing the same, and we did all we could just to keep pace with them. Jordan was like a yippy dog nipping at their heels while I barely looked up during the ride--having difficulty even lifting my head. I just kept pressing, knowing that the end was coming and that it was paved road from here. About a mile outside the park the wheels started coming off and I was having to stay in much easier gears to keep moving a good pace. The team we'd been trailing broke away from us, which sucked, but I was relieved to look back and see nobody in sight. We continued moving forward looking for our permitted path across the main road, which started on Mims Church Rd. We knew this to be at the entrance to the race car dirt track there, but when we reached it the road sign didn't say anything. As a result my teammates convinced me to continue on (I wasn't in any shape to make a decision where a DQ was on the line) and so we decided to err on the side of caution. We made the same decision the team that broke us on the bike made (as well as Trail and Error, who we got within visual distance of during the last bit of peddling) and we continued north for another kilometer to realize that that was the road, and so we turned around. Jordan switched bikes with me so he could tow me, and in doing so my hamstring flared up, cramping. We got on the bikes and road back south, with 10 minutes left between us and what we thought was the cutoff time for the team. We crossed over, road into the campsite. After our blunder, we were now catching some of the teams we previously passed, and giving everything we had to not get DQed. After arriving at the finish, we were a minute past what I calculated to be the cutoff time, so I was a bit worried about our time.

It turns out that we actually were on the 11 hour course for 10 hours and 59 minutes. We made the cutoff! Unfortunately for us, the cutoff was actually at 6pm, regardless of the 7:11am start time. Fortunately for us, the penalty for missing cutoff was not DQ, but rather 1 CP per 15 minutes past the cutoff. The 18 CPs we had acquired became 17, and we secured 3rd place in our division.

Summary:

Gripes First:

We would've benefited from start/finish coordinates.  Not sure if leaving them out was by design
or not.  The other thing was there was a lot of confusion about the cutoff time.  It seemed like at the prerace
meeting that it was an 11 hour cutoff when it was actually a 6pm cutoff.  Since the race started at 7:11, many
teams (not just ours) were planning on the 11 hour cutoff came in late.  We (and other teams) assumed the entire
race that the penalty for missed cutoff was DQ.

Neutral:

Steve mitigated the cutoff confusion by not DQing teams that arrived after cutoff.  Again, not sure if 
this was the original plan.  They received a 1 CP penalty for every 15 minutes past cutoff.  I don't think 
anywhere on the course it was possible to get 2 CPs in any 15 minute slot, so it didn't play into strategy if 
teams knew this was the penalty.  However, it also deemphasized time management, which is an important part 
of rogaine/modified rogaine races.

Positive:
 
Probably one of the best sprints I've done.  Steve Morrone gave an example for how to do a modified rogaine course.
I loved all the legs and disciplines of the course--it's amazing how many were squeezed in.  The navigation was
would challenge a gradient of orienteering abilities.  The weather and lake were beautiful.  The fact that we 
could camp out the night before was awesome (the park says primitive camping but it's actually full-amenities), 
and the campsites were right on the lake.  A great race, a USARA qualifier.  GO DO THIS RACE!

Jordan's Take

In a nutshell WCAR had great camping, beautiful weather, great location.

The start on the canoe (after finding all our gear) was seriously hairy. The wind plus heavier than normal boat activity on the lake (Thanks Bass Masters) caused the lake to be seriously choppy. We toughed out the paddle with only minor interpersonal frustrations.

Biking to the Northernmost points was fun, and got us away from the pack, allowing us to concentrate on the task at hand. We relatively quickly picked up those points and headed South on the one crazy single track of the course. We wasted quite a bit of time searching for a point which we never found and finally decided to give it up and continue on. At this point we were a bit discouraged at this point. The single track only showed on river crossing according to the map, but somehow there were quite a few.

We transitioned well to the treking section, although both Enid and Josh were experiencing a bit of dehydration. We toughed this out as a team, and got the points we needed. We did spend a bit of time on a point which we had mis-plotted South of the river. Back across the zip line, we trek/ran back to the bikes.

At this point we were seriously short on time. The "cut-off" time was looming and we were still 9 miles from the finish. We paddled as hard as we could and got back in the nick of time.

All in all, it was a fun race. Josh did great on the nav, and Enid is definitely one tough cookie.

Enid's Take

Thanks for a fun race. We learned a lot of things last weekend.... about people in SC, non-smoking laws (still have not gotten there yet), happy herring, no store is open after dark. You guys will eat just about anything. I will not eat pork. no matter in which form it manifests itself, (bacon, sausages, pulled pork, pork skins), I don't know my left from my right, I can see with someone else's contact prescription, however, not as good as if I would have put the correct ones on. I don't like the sun. We are all opposed to hand outs by the Government. Field mice are cute. Squirrels, not so cute. There is a strange plant that grows out there that hurts like hell if you touch it. We bike and trek through it!!!!!! I don't mind snakes but prefer not to step on one. We had a reason to celebrate but no beer. We can hold our own when paddling against check point zero!!!! and ....did I mentioned, you guys were great! Jordan, thanks for carrying my pack. Josh, thanks for insisting that we paddle to the island to get that point.

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