A big thanks to Victor and Carlos for suggesting this race venue and helping so much with checking the course with Steve and Barrie. Thanks also for working race day and the rum to warm us up.
Baja, Mexico. Most people think of Baja as hot, sandy, desert. But March 18 was cold, muddy, and spots of rain at Santa Veronica (elevation ~3000 ft). We were actually fortunate that the couple of showers which happened during the race were brief 10 minute downpours and it did not constantly rain the entire day. The showers were sleet and ice, so conditions were frigid cold for the 21 contestants, racing on 8 different teams.
Pre-race had warned people to be prepared for the cool weather so everyone had some warm gear. The weather forecast showed rain, so again, everyone was prepared with wet-weather gear. But that did not take away from the cold wind. Fortunately the race was a short one, with the first finishers taking a short course and completing it in 2 hours. The “die-hards” who refused to leave the course until they found the elusive last bike CP, were out there almost 5 hours. Most contestants were done in 3 hours.
The race started at 12 noon with a “chariot” section. Teams of 3, 4 or 5 people (solos and 2-person teams joined others for this short section), had to push, pull or otherwise propel one team-member on a bicycle (with the chain detached) about 1 Km. The terrain was rolling sand, which was packed by the earlier rains, so this section of the race took everyone just 10 to 12 minutes.
Section 2 was the run section which was presented as an orienteering rogain format. There were 16 CP’s hidden in an approximate 1 square mile area. Teams had a maximum of 40 minutes to gather as many CP’s as possible with 4 of the CP’s having triple scoring value. The topographic features on the map were a few small hills, some valleys and dry rivers and one marked trail amongst many used by motor cycles and ATV’s. The area was covered in cactus, manzanita, a few oak trees, and lots of head-high vegetation so finding all 16 CP’s in the allotted time was considered difficult. The top running team located 10 CP’s, 3 of which were triple point CP’s. Most teams located just 6 or 7.
All the contestants seemed to enjoy the challenge of keeping track of time as well as locating CP’s and it made for a fun race when the last team coming off the running course were able to see the first contestants head out on the bike section mere minutes ahead of them.
The bike section was considered short at just 15 Km. The first CP was relatively easy to locate as a photo was shown at the start of a distinctive rock formation (where the CP was located) which could be seen most of the way while biking to it. A couple of teams went to that CP and back as the first rain clouds of the race were rolling in and the dark skies let everyone know it would be a big rain. Most teams continued to CP2, which was relatively easy to head for on the map. There was a distinctive peak beyond the CP, so just aim for the peak. However, the motorcycle / ATV trails were confusing and a few wrong turns had less experienced teams take a little off-course excursion on trails headed the wrong way. By the time teams got to CP2, they were doused with cold hail at least once.
The quickest way out-of-the-rain was to go directly back to the finish line which took everyone close to the final bike CP. The last bike CP was purposely difficult to locate for those not paying close attention to the trails on the map. There was one required turnoff onto a single-track, and when the trail later came to a “T” the racers could go either way and 100 m later they would join back up and at that point be able to see the CP ribbon. But racers were given no knowledge about the T intersection, other than closely looking at a 1:50,000 map and seeing that the left took them into the creek area while the road on the map stayed more right. As it was confusing for just 100m the course was purposely set this way.
Most racers blasted back toward the finish. When they realized they were past CP3, (they had not taken the single track) they were so cold they just kept heading for warm clothes. Which left us with 7 teams completing the course in a little over three hours and 1 team still out there.
The last team on the course are new to Adventure Racing with Mini #1 their first race and Mini #2 their second. They work well as a team and are fast. They were last seen in the area of CP3 so we had an idea of where they might be. Half an hour after we expected them we began to second guess what might have happened. An hour after we expected them and everyone was shivering at the finish, we began to worry about what extra gear they had and how cold they might be, so a couple of racers returned to the course looking for them. 15 minutes after that we had 4 groups out looking for them and about 80 minutes after we expected them to finish they were located going in circles in the vicinity of CP3, not about to give up until it was located. From their perspective they were not “lost”, just having a challenging time locating the last CP. With some warm clothes loaned to them, and a little help at locating the single-track, they finished the race almost 3 hours after the first finisher. But they were the only team to locate the elusive last CP! “Never say never” is probably their new motto.
Thanks to everyone for running and working the event.
We are also thinking of a longer 6-8 hour race next year in the area we just visited in Mexico. There are lots of trails to be explored and if we selected May it should not be too hot or too cold. If you would be interested in that please let us know, as if there is not the interest we do not want to take the time scoping a course.
Have a good racing season
Barrie
