From Sean with Triangle AR
Please share with everyone what your favorite part of the race was. Was it the night paddling by the glow of the cooling tower lights? Was it the bike trails? Was it the O-course?
If you have any stories about something funny that happened on the course, please share those too. I’ve heard that at least one team had fish jumping into their boat. Another racer had a deer jump across their front bike tire.
I know everyone’s dying to see the detailed results from the BAR. My goal is to get the passports and TA sheets dried out, keyed into a spreadsheet and posted for you by the end of the week. I’ll also post links to pictures taken by the volunteers as they become available.
Thanks again to everyone who raced and supported and volunteered!! What a great AR weekend!!
Our race made the front page new on the the Sunday N&O “Triangle & State” section: http://www.newsobserver.com/news/local_state/story/116494.html with more pictures: http://www.newsobserver.com/185/gallery/116009.html
Don
Just wanted to let everyone know that we were assisted in putting on this race by:
Frog Hollow Outdoors (boat rentals, boat and bike moves)
and
Ascent Adventure Consultants (ropes event)
Thanks guys!!
The 24 Hour teams will be out on their course for a while. A lot of people will be interested in how they’re doing, especially with two of the teams vying for the top spot in the 2009 Checkpoint Tracker Series. Their results in this race will determine the Series winner.
You can follow the points accumulation during the race on this Google spreadsheet.
We’ve divided the course into a number of sections, and have separated the CP’s onto multiple passport sheets which we’ll collect during the race. This should allow us to begin verifying points and posting the numbers online for you during the race. The first passport should start coming in around daybreak on Saturday, with results appearing online by mid-morning. Enjoy!
I hate to close registration, but we’re out of maps. You don’t really want to try the course without a map.
Thanks to everyone who signed up! We’ve got a great event planned for you!
Don and the Bushwhack crew
Bushwhack Adventures organized it’s first six races in the Uwharrie National Forest, so when we decided to hold a race in a different location, we couldn’t resist trying to keep the exact location secret for as long as we could. There are so many great trail systems and greenways and lakes and rivers in the Triangle area, we knew the location wouldn’t be obvious, even to the locals. We’ve enjoyed hearing our friends speculate and theorize on where it would be. We’ve thrown out some vague hints, and some red herrings, just to keep the guessing stirred up, but we never really gave any concrete clues. But the sun is starting to set at the end of this last weekend before the race, so it’s time to give you a solid piece of location information – the Check-In location.
Drum roll please ………. the Check-In location is on County Park Drive, 27562. This Googlemaps link will give you a marker at the entrance to the parking lot where Check-In will be located. Bushwhack Adventures tends to prefer non-urban race locations, so it’s not surprising that this spot doesn’t have a street address number that we could find. I couldn’t get Mapquest to zero in on this exact spot – it overshoots the parking lot by a few hundred meters. The Lat/Lon coordinates for this spot are: 35.625869,-78.924231
Now you know where Check-In will be located! This is also the remote Start location for the 12 and 24 hour races. If you’ve been reading all the info and comments on this website, you know that the race Finish/campground is not at the Check-In location. All teams will have to come to Check-In in order to find out where the Finish/campground is located. It is about 15 miles away (a 30 minute drive by car, or 12-24 hour trip by adventure race).
IMPORTANT note for 24 Hour teams: If you need to drop anything at the Finish/campground area before your race, you will need to arrive at Check-In early enough (we suggest by 4:30pm) to make the 1 hour round trip to the campground and back before your 6pm pre-race briefing starts. Don’t plan on leaving anything at the Check-In/Start area once you begin the race. Access to this area after the race ends on Saturday night will be locked until Sunday morning. It will be possible for your support teams to go to the campground after the race starts to drop off stuff, etc, but you don’t want them to be late meeting you at the TA’s!!
IMPORTANT note for 12 Hour teams: If you need to drop anything at the Finish/campground area before your race, you will need to arrive at Check-In early enough (we suggest by 4am) to make the 1 hour round trip to the campground and back before your 6am pre-race briefing starts. Don’t plan on leaving anything at the Check-In/Start area once you begin the race. Access to this area after the race ends on Saturday night will be locked until Sunday morning. It will be possible for your support teams to go to the campground after the race starts to drop off stuff, but it will be tight. You don’t want them to be late meeting you at the TA’s!!
Check-In will open at 2:30pm on Friday afternoon. We’ll plan on manning the park gate until 10pm for 12 and 8 hour teams. If you think you might arrive after 10pm Friday night, please email info@gobushwhack.com and let us know your arrival plans. Check-In re-opens Saturday morning at 4am. Check the Event Schedule for more time details.
Ok, we’re ready to tell you when we’ll announce the check-in location. We’ll post that info and email it to registered racers after 5pm on Sunday 9/20/09. We didn’t want you to have a weekend to go pre-race scouting. 😉 The whole idea behind most adventure races is that you deal with the unknown on the fly as you navigate through the course.
The check-in location will also be the remote start location for the 24 and 12 hour teams. The campground / finish area for all courses is somewhere else. We’ll tell you where that is when you arrive for check-in. It’s about a 35 minute drive one-way between the check-in and campground/finish.
IMPORTANT: Access to vehicles left at the check-in/remote start area will not be available after the race ends on Saturday night. You’ll have to wait until Sunday morning to get to these vehicles. We’re making every effort to not have any vehicles stuck like this.
24 Hour Teams
The remote start presents an extra logistics challenge for 24 hour teams. If you will need to drop a vehicle at the finish area or want to set up camp before the race, you’ll need to arrive at check-in between 3:30 and 4pm. This will give you time to make the round trip to the finish area and get back to the remote start before the 6pm briefing starts. It would be smart to do most of your gear testing and organization before you head to the race (I know, easier said than done).
Any 24 hour teams that are using the paid shuttle service will need to make this round trip as well, leaving their vehicle(s) at the finish. All gear needed during the race, including bikes and boats, will need to be dropped at the remote start location at check-in. They will need to drive their vehicle(s) to the finish area and race staff will shuttle the driver(s) back to the remote start location.
The simplest option for 24 hour teams would be to arrive at check-in with just the vehicles and gear that will go with your team through the course.
12 Hour Teams
If your 12 hour team plans to camp Friday night, you can arrive at the check-in location any time between 2:30 and 10pm Friday night. The volunteers there will give you directions to the campground/finish.
If your 12 hour team will arrive Saturday morning and wants to set up camp before the race you will also need to plan time for this extra trip to the finish and back. You would need to arrive at the check-in location around 4am on Saturday. You’ll need the extra time to make the round trip and get shuttled back before the briefing at 6am.
The same is true for any 12 hour teams that are using the paid support option. You will need to leave your vehicle(s) at the finish. Plan to arrive at the check-in location by 4am. You’ll need the extra time to make the round trip and get shuttled back before the briefing at 6am.
The simplest option for 12 hour teams would be to arrive at check-in with just the vehicles and gear that will go with your team through the course.
8 Hour Teams
If your 8 hour team plans to camp Friday night, you can arrive at the check-in location any time between 2:30 and 10pm Friday night. The volunteers there will give you directions to the campground/finish.
If your 8 hour team will arrive Saturday morning and wants to set up camp before the race you should also plan time for this 35 minute trip to their start/finish area from the check-in. All 8 hour teams bringing their own boats will have to drop their boats at another location that is only a 5-10 minute drive away from the start, and is within the campground property.
Race staff will move all boats and bikes for the 8 hour teams. The start and finish areas for the 8 hour teams are the same, so there is no need for vehicle shuttling.
Whew.
Complicated enough? You should be on the organizing side of all this. When it all works out and comes to an end, we should have everyone and their gear all together at the finish area, ready to enjoy a shower and relax to the sounds of a live band as we enjoy a great post-race meal!
We’re less than 3 weeks away from the Bushwhack Adventure Race now!! Is your team prepared?
Have you checked all of your race gear to make sure it is in good working order? You don’t want to start a race with nearly-worn-out brakes, or a bald tire, or a shifter that isn’t shifting right. You don’t want to set out with a leaky camelbak and have your hydration fluids wet your back instead of your throat, or a leaky boat and have your camelbak and your throat get wet.
Have you practiced paddling with your boatmates so that you’re all familiar with paddling in sync? There are no bonus points awarded for paddling in circles, as amusing as that is to those who are watching.
Has your team paddled together on flat and moving water? Does the person who will be in the front of the boat know not to just yell “Rock!” or “Oh @*#$!”, but to give a direction to steer towards?
Have you practiced changing a flat tire, or replacing a link in a chain, or adjusting brakes?
Have you practiced plotting UTM points on a gridded map? Bushwhack Adventures gives UTM coordinates that describe a 1m by 1m square, although we usually round them up to the nearest 5m or 10m number. Bushwhack also uses Mytopo maps, which have UTM grids (refer to the blue numbers on the map margin and blue gridlines, as in the example below):
Have you practiced navigating with a topo map or an orienteering map?
If you’re doing the 24 hour race, have you practiced all of the above at night?
If you’re doing the 24 hour race, do you have enough lights and/or batteries to let you hike, bike, or paddle for up to 12 hours in the dark?
There will be four TA’s where 12 and 24 hour teams meet their support crews. Support crews can only communicate and provide support to their teams at these locations. The 8 hour teams do not have support crews and will be on their own for the full 8 hours. The 12 hour teams could have up to 6.5 hours between TA’s. The 24 hour teams could have up to 8.5 hours between TA’s. (If you’re really slow or make bad nav decisions, these unsupported periods could be even longer!)
My living room floor is covered with orienteering flags again. We’re going to be hanging nearly 50 controls this time, and the manned CP’s and TA’s will be sign-in’s, not punches, so you know we’re setting lots of course out there for you to have fun on! I hope you’re getting as excited as we are!!
Don and Bushwhack Adventures gang
Bushwhack Adventure Race 2009 
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