Raid The North: Deerhurst Resort

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Deerhurst Deliverance

Doug Doyle / 22.07.2005

Race HQ is a bustle of activity at the Deerhurst Resort, Huntsville in the north Muskokas region of Southern Ontario. Teams are completing registration and gear check for Frontier Adventure Racings’ first race of the 2005 Raid the North Adventure Race Series. (http://raidthenorth.com/2005/rtn/Algonquin/)

I managed to contact course designer Dave Hitchon who had just returned from race course reconnaissance last night. He was inspecting the course in advance to ensure no major surprises would greet the teams when racing and is now making minor amendments to the course instructions that will be provided to the 22 teams registered for this event during today’s’ mandatory team briefing.

Dave is disappointed that Team Holofiber had recently advised they were not racing as Dave desperately wanted to inflict adventure racing ‘experience’ on his friend and competitor Dave Zietsma and Lawrence Foster of Team Holofiber. In years past, Dave Zietsma and Lawrence ran FAR prior to Geoff Langford taking it over and they were instrumental in providing tough courses for the Raid the North and Raid the North Extreme races, of which Dave Hitchon has experienced empirically. I’ve raced with Dave Hitchon and have had the distinct pleasure of knowing the full extent of his vocabulary when describing a particularly nasty race: I know he was wringing his hands in anticipation of hearing the same from Dave Zietsma and Lawrence Foster.

Dave mentioned the weather is going to favour the racers: it was cooling off which should make the race faster. He expects a high finish rate due to the course design and incorporation of short and long course options depending upon cut off times and route choices the teams will face.

Notwithstanding his expectation of a high finish rate among the field, he stressed that this course was not to be taken lightly due to the variable and diverse wilderness and weather conditions teams will and could encounter. Navigation skills, team efficiency and attention to details will go along way to ensuring success for any team looking to place or just finish the course.

Race Director Geoff Langford was able to briefly speak with me in between multi-tasking and coordinating his FAR staff before the hours shrank to the midnight race start. He states this course is probably the most exciting over the last two years for Raid the North competitors due to a superb mix of trekking, biking, paddling and scenery – he guaranteed this course is truly reflective of Frontier Adventure Racings ‘real wilderness, real navigation and real adventure’ mandate and teams will not be disappointed.

After 36 hours of racing, the teams on the podium will truly be rewarded for their efforts: over $10,000 worth of prizes, race entries and giveaways.

Watch for race reports posted on the Sleepmonsters site once the race gets underway. For an overview of what the race course holds for the teams, look for Dave Hitchons’ course design précis that will be posted just after the race start at midnight tonight.





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