Winter Wuhoo! Adventure Race

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On the John Wayne Trail

23.01.2004

\"Courage is being scared to death - but saddling up anyway,\" John Wayne

The tension mounted at the start as 25 teams were ready to tear up the trails of Hyak State Park on Saturday, January 17. Being ready was a good thing. The 2004 Winter Wuhoo! featured it’s most competitive field yet.

When it was over, 23 teams conquered the disciplines of snow shoeing, Nordic skiing, orienteering, and navigating that made up this year\'s Winter Wuhoo! Adventure Race.

It was foggy but the rain stayed away for which participants were thankful. Racers were excited about the 15 miles of terrain ahead of them. The race started with a short orienteering section. Then the athletes were off on the John Wayne trail for a 6.2 mile Nordic Ski. They then dropped their skis, strapped on their snowshoes and navigated to three wilderness checkpoints. Next, it was back on their skis for 6.2 miles back to the finish. Just before the finish they were surprised by a team-building memory test.

At times the fog cleared, and Snoqualmie Pass offered a very picturesque setting. However, the athletes didn’t slow down much to enjoy the views. The Team of 4 Co-Ed Category was very deep and talented. During the course of the race the top four teams struggled for first. There was constant passing and then passing back. It was amazing to see the various strategies and attempts to get ahead such as skate skiing vs. classic x-country, running snowshoes vs. traditional snowshoes, bushwhacking vs. staying on trail. Nothing was straight forward.

Finally, the local team Hyak Hustle pulled ahead to cross the finish line in four hours fourteen minutes, but barely holding off Team Salomon USA from Colorado and then closely followed by Team Vasque from Washington and Team D.A.R.T. from Oregon/Washington.

At the finish line the tension lifted and the camaraderie that is special to adventure racing kicked in. Racers walked into the warm lodge to dinner and were able to recount their day’s activities with great enthusiasm.

At the awards ceremony the top finishers were given a free entry into the 2004 Wuhoo! Urban Adventure Race and a combination of prizes from the race sponsors: Tubbs Snowshoes, Sports Solutions ® Sports Storage Systems, Merrell Performance Footwear, Kahtoola ® Footwear Traction Systems, and Aaron Frizzell Photography.See All Event Posts