Logs, Rocks and Steel Adventure Race Report

Dave Hitchon / 25.07.2008

Dave Hitchon, the Forest Gump, of the adventure racing world, has been there and done that. In his own words, this editor steps back and let\'s him roll on uncensored. The characters are as follows:
Phatty = Pete Cameron
Bobkittens = Liza Pye and Leanne Mueller


It’s been some time since I wrote a race report, which is odd because I used to be much busier and seemed to be writing a lot of them. Now I seem to have more time but I can’t remember the last time I wrote a report… hmmn, I wonder if there’s some correlation there.

When I wrote my training logs (and subsequent race report) for the initial Primal Quest I had more positive feedback than from all the other reports I have ever written. At the time I found those ‘reports’ a huge burden, but ultimately rewarding. So I am going to follow that same ‘diarized’ style here, since I believe it to be more entertaining (for the three people still reading this… hi Mom ) and if I happen to read it in the future it will be more likely to make me laugh… which at the end of the day is my primary motivation for most things. Also, this race was a unique experience because of the event(s) leading up to the race and the solo nature of it, so this style of story telling vs reporting allows me to relay my personal experience more vividly.

This race was to be the inaugural Logs, Rocks & Steel Adventure Race, set in the Haliburton Highlands of Ontario approximately 2 hours NNE of Toronto. The race was estimated to take between 6 and 12 hours. These solo sprints are not my strength, but I do find them a lot of fun and knowing the RD I was anticipating a great day. My anticipation was amplified by the fact that I knew several of my competitors and a friendly rivalry had been ‘intensifying’ with Pete Cameron (Salomon-Suunto) since we clashed in a team event in early May… a race won by our team after Pete’s team had been leading almost wire to wire (had to fit that in somehow).

At stake for the winning solo category at LR&S was a free entry to the Coast2Coast in New Zealand. This coupled with my escalating trash talk with Pete was motivation enough to try and focus my training more specifically for this shorter event. I even pre-‘raced’ the run and paddle sections, which was a first for me. I knew that there were younger, faster fitter and much better looking racers, (oh, yeah and Pete was coming too… zing) but I am fairly well balanced across the disciplines, so I was hoping to at least push the leaders and make them suffer for any mistakes they made.