ARC Enduro Adventure Race

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Season’s End at Kawarthas

Joe Gabor / 26.10.2004

The 2004 adventure racing season was winding down for teams in Ontario, Canada. Fall weather usually means cold and rainy misery to racers. Luckily, for those of us who signed on to do Adventure Racing Canada\'s final \'Enduro\' (5-8 hour sprint) race of the season, mother nature decided to give us a break.

The race was held on October 16 in the amazing Kawarthas region, on Rice Lake just west of Toronto. Fifty-one teams of 3 gathered at the arena in Bewdley, Ontario on a cool but sunny Saturday morning. Teams got their maps and instructions about 30 minutes before the race start. Not much time to plot 17 checkpoints, surely an advantage for the more experienced teams.

5, 4,3,2,1, and they are off! 153 racers sprinted off on a short run to spread the pack out - a trail run around the arena, through the baseball field and down the street to Rice Lake. The race would truly start when teams got to the shore of the lake and began a 7 kilometre paddle across Rice Lake to hit the first couple of CPs. The wind made the paddle a bit treacherous, dumping several boats in the lake within minutes of the start.

Teams the left their boats on shore and headed inland to find two orienteering checkpoints within the Rice Lake Conservation area. Navigation skills began to separate the pack that had formed on the beach after the paddle. CP3 was the first manned CP of the race, and the times would show how close this race still was - after 1 hour 23 minutes, 7 teams were still within 4 minutes of each other at the front led by ‘Worth the Drive’, ‘This Time We Finish’, and ‘Ke-Kindelins’.

Next it was back to the boats to paddle back to Bewdley for the transition to bikes. CP\'s 5-8 were highlighted by some excellent twisting double-track and ATV trails for 10 kilometres through Ganaraska Forest. While the riding was generally easy, except for the sandy soil, navigation would again make the difference. New trails had sprung up over the years so it was critical to use your bike computer and not miss the correct turnoffs.

At CP7, ‘Human Factor/Dead Reckoning’ of Toronto had pulled into 2-minute lead followed closely by ‘Worth The Drive’ and ‘NMDT’ hot on their tail. The ride from CP7 to CP8, if you could call it that, was a true hike-a-bike. Teams dragged their bikes up a steep, forested hill for about 500 metres before hitting the trail that lead to the CP. After that, it was a quick dirt road ride to transition area #2 and the start of the more difficult trekking section. See All Event Posts