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DART Wins Wicked Urban Race

Cyril Jay-Rayon (Team DART) / 13.06.2005

This past weekend, DART won the 4 person coed division at the Wicked Adventure Racing urban race, Oregon’s premier sprint (6-12 hours) adventure racing series.

The urban race attracted 37 teams eager to test their abilities in an urban environment. The race included metrogaining (orienteering in downtown Portland), kayaking on the Willamette, mountain biking in Forest Park, and rappelling off a 10 story downtown parking garage. The DART team was comprised of Jennifer VanGorder, Glenn Rogers, Cyril Jay-Rayon and Ryan VanGorder.

”Although we don’t typically like racing in an urban environment, we were surprised how much we enjoyed racing in Portland,” commented Jennifer. “The race gave us an opportunity to discover an incredible city with beautiful parks and a stunning river that flows right along the downtown area”. Glenn concurred, “We got to explore the city’s hidden treasures.”

Right from the start, the race pinned the top teams in a heated competition that would last to the very end. “In such short races, you can expect teams to be very close together throughout the race. Those who thought that an urban race would be easy were in for quite a surprise,” reflected Ryan.

“The navigation was made challenging by the small scale and the lack of detail the maps had,” added Cyril. “We definitely made some decisions that were risky because the maps didn’t show all the roads or the road names. As a result, we made a few mistakes but, in the end, were able to hold our own."

The race started with a short 1.5 mile run that spread out the teams before the next leg. The mountain bike leg took teams to the top of a hill in a residential area before entering Forest Park, one of the largest city parks in the nation. What followed was a unique 9 mile paddle around Ross Island on the Willamette River which offered excellent views of the downtown area.

The metrogaining section that followed sent teams on a whirlwind tour of the downtown and surrounding area with only a black and white street map and no street names or topographic features. As a result, teams had to monitor where they were on the map at all times by keeping track of the number of street intersection between check points.

During this section, teams had to answer questions at every check point about a local fact, adding to the teams’ experience of the city. The final leg sent teams on a short run followed by a rappel off a parking garage that challenged many team ' s ability as they transitioned off a narrow ledge to the vertical descent.

In the end DART finished just under 7 hours. NW Nike ACG finished 1st in the 3 person Coed division and Nomad took the solo division.