Adventure Racing: A Test for The Mind and Body

Lee Graves
Richmond Times--Dispatch

Bill Swann and teammate Jeremy Kuhlen weren't exactly in uncharted territory.

Their map and compass calculations in a Fredericksburg adventure race, however, definitely took them off the beaten path.

"We took a six- to eight-minute detour up a cruel hill only to realize we had arrived at the rear entrance to a shopping center," Swann said.

Getting sidetracked didn't cost them the race. They went on to win the overall championship in the Rappahannock Adventure Triathlon by a comfortable margin.

But it just goes to show that they don't call it adventure racing for nothing.

"Races have been won by the courses chosen and lost by the courses not chosen," said Swann, president of the Richmond YeRen Adventure Sports and Racing Team.

Using a map and compass is one of the cerebral challenges in a sport that revels in testing the muscles, as well as the minds, of off-road athletes.

"Adventure racing is more challenging than triathlons," said Christine Bone, an ultramarathoner and triathlete. "You don't know what you're getting into. It's an adventure."

Bone, an intelligence officer with the Army, was among three dozen athletes at Pocahontas State Park last month for a nighttime navigation clinic. She and Scott Olson, a Special Forces officer, came from Fort Bragg, North Carolina, to link up with members of NVRacing, a team based in Northern Virginia.

As temperatures neared three digits and the humidity pressed close like a steaming towel, racers readied kayaks, canoes, mountain bikes and trail-running shoes for a 10- to 12-hour stint in the park in Chesterfield County.

For Bone and Olson, the event provided an opportunity to stay sharp for next spring's Primal Quest. The televised expedition race spans six to 10 days and offers the biggest cash pot and the toughest challenge in the sport.

For Swann and Kuhlen, the Pocahontas jaunt was preparation for one of Virginia's gold-star events, Storm the Eastern Shore, slated for Sept. 29 and 30 in Cape Charles.

The Storm combines paddling, biking and trekking over roughly 100 miles in 24 to 30 hours. As with most adventure races, no GPS devices are allowed, and racers cannot use well-traveled roads or other civilized surfaces.

Other events throw in different tests--rock climbing, rappelling, whitewater paddling. Most stress teamwork, particularly in coed groups, and the longer events add sleep deprivation to the endurance equation.

"That's the cool thing about adventure racing--finding out your limits and who you truly are," Swann said. "Once all the layers are peeled away, that's the way truth presents itself."

Sometimes the truth hurts. Feet can become so blistered that racers are reduced to crawling on their hands and knees. "Your pain is our pleasure," reads the logo of Odyssey Adventure Racing, an event organizer based in Salem.

And sometimes, the truth is deadly. In 2004, for example, veteran Australian racer Nigel Aylott was killed in a rock slide at Primal Quest, and the race was cancelled the following year.

That event has bounced back signaling a resurgence in the sport said Don Mann, a resident of Williamsburg and CEO of Primal Quest.

Mann started Odyssey in the mid-1990s and brought endurance events such as the Beast of the East to the region. For a time, Odyssey was the only adventure race organizer in the country, Mann said.

"Other ones started popping up, and now there are hundreds of them," he said.

One of those is Untamed Adventures. Formed by Grant Killian, longtime race director of the Storm, the group put on Untamed Virginia this summer, attracting 48 teams and nearly 170 racers to a 30-hour event based in Charlottesville.

Killian sees the sport maturing as it comes out of a lull that followed an initial boom.

"Now, you're seeing a more sustainable kind of growth," Killian said. "In North Carolina, Virginia and Maryland, there's a really strong representation that you might not see in some other states."

Ronny Angell, who took over Odyssey from Mann in 2005, also sees growth. In addition to the sprints and 24-hour races Odyssey holds, Angell plans to expand the annual Endorphin Fix in April to a three-day event.

That's good news for teams like Richmond YeRen ASR. Sponsored primarily by the YeRen Outdoor Adventure store in downtown Richmond, the team has about 40 members and an inclusive mission.

"The primary goal is to race," Swann said. "But even though we like to get to the podium, that's not what it's about. It's about getting people out there."

Just being outdoors and enjoying nature is a big motivator for Swann and others, such as Chris Caul.

Caul grew up hunting and fishing around Covington. Now, he and his family live in Goochland County, a springboard for his job designing courses and coordinating logistics for Primal Quest. An avid mountain biker, Caul got into adventure racing through an Odyssey event at Sherando Lake.

"I was hook, line and sinker after that," he said.

What is adventure racing?

Adventure racing is a hybrid sport that is the offspring of triathlons, backpacking, exploration and adventure travel.

While its roots go back centuries, modern adventure racing evolved from endurance tests such as the Iron Man triathlon and gained popularity through events such as Raid Gauloises, the Eco- Challenge and Primal Quest.

Distances and endurance levels vary, from sprints lasting six hours or less to expedition races spanning days.

Basically, teams navigate from a starting line through various checkpoints in a wilderness setting to a finish line. Teams must stay together, and there are no timeouts to rest.

Coed teams play a large role, so the sport has a sizable female following.

Trail running, mountain biking, paddling and orienteering with a map and compass are common requirements. Some courses require ropes skills, others white-water or ocean navigation. Bushwhacking (covering ground without trails) and trekking (carrying a backpack or other equipment) also are elements.

Some races are broken into stages, and the winning team has the lowest combined time through the various elements. Some simply measure start to finish times. A "Rogaine" event measures points that teams accumulate by reaching various checkpoints, in any sequence, in a set period.

The sport rewards teamwork, fitness, a love of the outdoors and a quirky pleasure taken from overcoming--or enduring--adversity.