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ARC Muskoka - Overnight Race (ARC stands for Adventure Racing
Canada)
Race Date: Sept. 13/14
Race Location: Camp Pinecrest, Torrance, Ontario

The Pictures

Here's some low res. pics that were sent to us by the professional photographer for the
24-36 hour race in the Muskokas the other weekend. Most of the pics are of
my team at the zip line (about 28 hours into the race). I've attached a picture of our team with
another team of racers that races under our Triharder umbrella (Triharder is
the name of our team). Sorry about the resolution. I will forward more
pics as I get them.

Race Summary

[The Race went]... through
backcountry Muskoka. I competed with 2 other guys and 1 girl in a 24-36
hour adventure race outside of Bala (in the Muskokas). We arrived at 9:00pm
on Friday night and went straight into the team / captain's meeting. At
10:00pm we left that and started unpacking gear and working over our maps.
We finished working on our maps and routes at about 2:00am Saturday morning
and retired to bed. 3 hours later at 5:00am we got up and started to eat
and get our gear ready for our support team and vehicle. At 7:00am the race
started and we were off on our bikes. We biked for about 2 hours to the
first transition area where our support crew, Shelly, and the rest of our
spectators greeted us. Spirits were high as we dropped the bikes, and set
out into the middle of nowhere with nothing but a compass bearing and the
knowledge that somewhere, in the middle of the bush, 8km's away, there was a
checkpoint poster stapled to a tree beside a lake! This was by far the most
harrowing trek I have ever endured. En route to the checkpoint we crossed
about 20 swamps, neck high in filthy smelly swampwater. We swam across 2
lakes, and passed through areas that were so dense that you couldn't see 2'
in front of you. In the end however, my good compass work, and our
captain's map reading, placed us within 50' from the checkpoint. Oh yeah,
that was like 6 hours later. We emerged soaked and muddy from the trek into
the 2nd transition area, once again to the familiar faces of our support
crew and spectators. After eating and changing, we outfitted the bikes with
night gear and departed the transition area, on the bikes, at about 4:00pm.
At that point, morale was high, but we had no idea of the biking ordeal
ahead of us. This was the toughest bike we had ever encountered. We set
out at 4:00pm and didn't roll in until about 12:30am (early, early Sunday
morning). The other 3 members of my team were falling down just walking,
let alone riding their bikes. We passed teams huddled under emergency
blankets on the side of the trail at 11:00pm. The terrain was brutal (many
areas that couldn't be ridden), and energy levels were low. I had a brutal
dehydration headache. However, we prevailed and pulled into the 3rd
transition area, tired, cold and mostly all sick. Shelly left the team
there at 1:00am questioning whether or not we would continue (after seeing
our captain puke his guts out). While the team slept, I took 7 Advil to
defeat my headache, and started to assemble some gear for the next leg. At
2:00am we picked up our canoes and embarked on a lengthy 6 or so hour
paddle. The paddle was mostly straightforward, with the exception of a
couple of portages and navigating a dam and waterfall. At about 8:30am
Sunday morning we pulled into the final transition area, again tired, but a
little renewed with the daybreak upon us. We rested, ate, and finally
embarked at about 9:20am, again on the bikes. After riding for about 30
minutes we approached a canyon, where we put on our climbing gear and
strapped ourselves and our bikes to a zip line and zipped across the canyon.
Past that we were on the bikes again for a couple more hours. We hit the
final checkpoint and started the 20km bike down mostly paved roads to the
finish. Our captain was so exhausted at this point, that he could barely
move his legs. To limit the length of this bike, we tied a line between his
bike and mine, and I towed him in for 20km's, to the finish line. Our
finishing time was around 30 hours and 40 minutes.

We will rank somewhere
around 10th to 12th place I think out of a field of 26 or so teams. Many
teams dropped out or were disqualified, so to even post a finish was
considered a huge victory for us.

Later Note of Results

Actually, we tied for 5th in our category (co-ed). Out of the 26 or so
teams that started, only 9 finished. Only 3 of those 9 actually did the
full course (c/w the bonus trekking and paddling sections that would have
added about 6 to 10 hours onto our time!).