Raid The North: Deerhurst Resort
Course Designers\' Overview
Dave Hitchon / 22.07.2005
This Course starts about 5 km North of Algonquin Park and approximately 12 km East of Hwy 630. The first section is Trekking and it will start at 0200 on Saturday July 23, 2005. There is one ‘warm-up’ CP in this first section which some teams may reach in as little as 1 hour if they are running hard and manage to find some good trails. I wouldn’t advise that sort of pace to start. I expect most teams to clear this CP within 2.5 hours. There are numerous trails and roads dissecting this section, but my belief is that the fastest way through is to follow a loose bearing and take advantage of trails that are heading the right way, but not to hesitate to jump into the thick bush if the trail turns ‘sour’. The teams have to be cautious not to drift too far south and end up in Algonquin Park, which is off limits to us. I expect the first teams to come into the Bike Transition on Hwy 630 just outside the park at about 0600. Hopefully the last teams will be out by 0900 or 1000.
The first bike section will take the teams along an old rail bed towards Powassan. Since the Park will not allow the teams to ride through the Kiosk entrance (and spend 5 minutes on Park roads) to access the rail bed, they will have to carry there bikes across the Amable Du Fond River. This will take place above where the river exits the Northern Boundary of the Park and they will bushwhack with their bikes for about 200 – 400 meters to reach the rail bed. We did this in the dark and it took us about an hour from the Transition Area. I would expect 30 – 45 minutes with daylight.
The next check-point for the teams will be along the Mary-Jane Loop mountain bike trail to the west of Kawawaymog Lake. I would expect most if not all teams to ride west on secondary roads towards Powassan before heading south along Genesee Lake to the Kawawaymog area. The actual CP is on Denis Lake and it will allow us to notify the TA staff that teams are coming soon. They will continue to the South River from Denis Lake and change the bike for canoes. The first teams should hit the water by about 1100 and if they do not clear that transition by 1600 they will have to withdraw or ride their bikes to the next TA and continue from there (likely unranked).
The canoe put-in is about 1.5 km outside of the park boundary. The first 3 hours of this ‘paddle’ will be spent mostly walking beside or lifting the boats down the river. This will be a real test in efficiency and team dynamics. There are many ways to effectively negotiate this type of shallow river and each team has to find the best alternative for them. Below the drainage from Twentyseven Lake there is enough water to make the paddling much easier with little or no need to get out of the boats again before the TA at Tom Thompson/Beaver Point Park in South River. I would expect the first teams to arrive here at about 1700 and the last to arrive before Midnight. (There is about a 2 km portaging opportunity that will save 1-2 hours… I would expect at least half of the teams to take this).
The teams will ride south from here to Fish Lake just east of Novar. They are free to choose their own routes so long as they avoid hwy 11 and hwy 592 north of Scotia, where there is a CP. Upon arriving at the TA near Fish Lake they will grab their rappelling gear and prepare for a Trek to the Big East River. I would expect the first teams to clear the rappel by 2300 and the last teams must clear by 0630 on Sunday to remain on the full course. The teams arriving before 0100 on Sunday have the option of taking an advanced course that gives them the benefit of an extra little nasty bit of trekking.
When the teams finally hit the Big East River they will be treated to a river walk for 45 mins to an hour before getting in the canoes and paddling down to Vernon Lake, through Huntsville, through Fairy Lake and into the Deerhurst Resort for the finish.
The top teams could finish the advanced course in as little as 31 hours (0900). I would expect the bulk of the teams should come in at around 30 –36 hours (1000 - 1400) on the regular course.
So long as teams take care of each other, keep their fluids up and don’t make too many mistakes, I would expect at least an 80 % finish rate and hopefully we will be able to get 100% across the finish line on at least a modified course.
I think the racers will really enjoy the rail-bed (for the first hour) and most of the mountain biking throughout the course. The newer racers will get a bit of a thrill on the rappel when they hit the overhang but the veterans won’t blink at it. The South River paddle is great for the first hour and last couple, the rest is mentally draining, as it seems never ending. The river trekking is a real highlight as is the final paddle and I think it’s a great reward after a long tough race.
Many teams will get frustrated with the maze of confusing trails they come across in the bush, but at least they will not be alone in the dark with the boogeyman like the course designer was ;-D. A few will like the river crossing with the bikes, but many will not. The weather will play a huge factor. It was very hot and dry for most of the pre-racing and that is how times were set. If they stay on top of hydration they will be fine, if not it will be disastrous. If it cools down then it should speed things up considerably. I did get the chance to ride a fair bit in some wet conditions and it increases speed, if anything, due to the cooling factor.
I fully expect all support crews to be sitting in one of the three pubs that over-looks the last CP before the finish in Downtown Huntsville. They can cheer on the teams and since they will have about an hour of paddling left, it leaves plenty of time to pay the bill and make the 15-minute drive to the finish line.
This is a long course for a weekend race but a good portion of it is very fast. Depending on route choices it will likely be in the 200 km range. Most teams should be able to make a few small mistakes and still finish the race. If they are prone to making a lot of bad choices or make one really bad one, they could be in trouble.
These are my pre-race thoughts. We’ll soon see just how out-to lunch I am… but that’s adventure racing.
kkrbkcmn
dave
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