Timber Doodle Adventure Race

Molly and Justin (MoBiz), guised as the Rainbow Unicorns, traveled to Dexter County Park in Wisconsin for the Timber Doodle Adventure Race on April 25. This 10-hour race, put on by the University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point Adventure Racing Club, was anything but your run-of-the-mill AR. The race's namesake, also known as the American Woodcock (Scolopax minor), live in brushy woods near rivers and streams and eat worms and insects that they catch by probing in the soil with their long bills. MoBiz embodied the life of a Timber Doodle during this AR - battling a dizzying series of bike/hike O-sections, gnarly marsh treks, several team challenges (including a river zipline), and unfavorable racing conditions (rainy and 40s) - to come away with a 1st place overall finish. If you see Molly, be sure to ask her about the blindfolded worm search - meep meep!

Racing Trifecta

On Saturday, April 18, three WEDALI teammates challenged themselves in different athletic endeavors. Here's a quick breakdown:

Scooter traveled east to race in Infiterra Sports' Spring Fury, a 10-hour adventure race in Michigan. Combining forces with a few Michigan natives, Scoot paired up with John as team Jeep and raced along side Darrin and Ed as team Chrysler. Jeep (Scooter and John) sprinted for a photo finish, holding off Frog Stompers by under a minute for the overall win in 7 hours, 51 minutes. Chrysler (Darrin & Ed) finished in 3rd place with a time of 7 hours, 55 minutes.

Molly traveled north to Sand Dunes State Forest to compete in the Minnesota Orienteering Club's Adventure Racing Tune-up, a short 4-hour sprint adventure race. Teaming up with Tom Puzak of 24Seven, Molly pulled off an impressive 2nd place finish overall, coming in less than 10 minutes behind the lead team.

Biz traveled south to compete in the Ragnarok 105, a 105-mile bike race on gravel and minimum maintenance roads around Red Wing, MN. Biking with four buddies (Chad, Grant, Dan, & Jesse), Justin was able to finish the punishing ride in 14th place (out of 65 riders) in a time of 7 hours, 13 minutes. Elevation gain for the ride topped 8000', an impressive amount considering the lack of "mountainous" topography in Minnesota.

LBL Challenge

Jason, Erl, Molly, and Biz competed in Bonk Hard Racing's Land Between the Lakes Challenge near Grand Rivers, Kentucky on April 4-5, 2009. This 24-hour adventure race featured a strong lineup of teams from the Midwest, along with some east coast visitors.

A few thoughts about the race:
1) The first trek and bike were crazy - like herding cats - with all the different route choices team's had. We often wondered how we passed (or got passed by) other teams.
2) The trekking section from Cravens to Demumbers was stellar - we gained ~15 minutes to catch back up with the lead teams.
3) Paddling alongside EMS - Erl & Jason crushed this part, and pulled MoBiz for a ride. We were all ready to get off the water after this 15-mile leg.
4) Rogaine-style (Score-O) sections of ARs are the best from a navigating perspective - lots of route choice, tricky nav, good times*.
5) The bike back from the rogaine section pushed us to the limits. Molly biked her heart out and we knew we had to push the whole time with EMS right on our tails. We took a not-so-stellar short cut later on, which created a bike-whacking section towards the end of the race - our navigation got us there in the end, but probably not the best route choice.
6) Finishing 1st!
7) Placing 6th!

*Good times indeed, until we found out the next morning at the awards ceremony that we had unintentionally skipped a CP on this section.

Finishing "1st" and placing 6th are two entirely different things, and our team was crushed to realize our mistake. Even though things may not have turned out the best for us in the end, we had an awesome time and wouldn't give up the experience for anything.... Bonk Hard Racing put together a fantastic course - scenic, challenging, and well organized. We'll be looking forward to racing in Kentucky again next year!