The Mother Lode Expedition Race is Underway
Rob Howard / 09.09.2011
The final World Series race before the World Championships in Tasmania is now underway in the USA, with 16 teams taking part in the Mother Lode race in the mountains of California. The 4 day race, staged by Gold Rush Adventure Racing is currently the only ARWS event in the U.S., and began from Bridgeport, setting teams off on a point-to-point course across the High Sierra with a Gold Rush theme and some historic connections.After a prologue in Bridgeport teams were given 11 map sheets, illustrating a varied and challenging course with lots of altitude changes. The disciplines are run, bike, swim, hike, bike, hike, ropes, hike, bike paddle and bike to reach the finish line in the town of Columbia.
The race features several well known US teams, including DART Nuun, Yogaslackers/Gearjunkies and Tecnu Extreme/StaphAseptic, who all recently took part in Raid the North Extreme, and are all no doubt racing, not just for the win, but for a place on the start line in Tasmania. However the joker in the pack may be the only visiting international team, Lupus Extreme, who are from Finland.
They started well, taking 3rd in the prologue and are chasing race leaders DART Nuun in the early stages of the race. Towards the end of the first day the teams arrive at the first transition at CP6 with Dart/Nuun in the a lead by 45 minutes having made some good navigational choices to keep them ahead of the Finns, who complained about so much bushwhacking. Yogaslackers/Gearjunkies and Tecnu Extreme/StaphAseptic were not far behind, having both run out of food and water on the long first trek.
So now the race is on across the High Sierra and onto the finish in Columbia, and then, for the winners, to Tasmania.
You can follow some news of the race at <a href="#" onClick="javascript:newsitewindow('http://www.untamedadventure.com/advzone/hq.aspx?a=107')" class="main">here</a> and on <a href="#" onClick="javascript:newsitewindow('http://www.facebook.com/goldrushar')" class="main">Facebook</a>.
