Odyssey One-Day Adventure Race
ATP & QuestPatgonia.com Fight from the Start
28.04.2005
The sun was brightly shining on all the teams as they enjoyed race check-in and geared up for the race start with 70 degree temps and had the sun still shining brightly as teams crossed the finish line the next day in 80 degree temps. Certainly not the norm in Odyssey Adventure Racing at anytime of the year, but to have such great weather in April was an exceptional and welcomed bonus to one fine day of racing in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains.
The race started at 6pm with Terrapin Mountain waiting in the backdrop for racer’s to get their first taste of what was to come in this year’s Odyssey One-Day. The first trek to punch point 1 set the stage for the dog fight that would evolve between soloist Scott Pleban of Team ATP, and 2 Person Co-ed, Joe Moerschbaecher and Julia Pollock of Team QuestPatagonia.com. Another battle was getting underway between Mark Lattanzi and Kristen Dieffenbach of Team Zed and soloist Chip Whitworth.
The grueling 13 mile hike to CP 3 had racers ready to get on their bikes. While most teams were finding their way to the bikes, Pleban and QuestPatagonia.com battled back and forth on the 17 mile bike to the Orienteering course at CP5. The 7 mile round trip in the dark allowed Pleban’s keen navigation skills to shine as he put an hour on QuestPatagonia.com and an hour and a half on Team ZED. Most of the teams passed by Apple Orchard Falls during the night missing out on seeing the stunning 100 ft. waterfall proving that sometimes being in the back of the pack isn’t all that bad.
The orienteering course provided to be one of the toughest challenges of the race for many teams reminding racers of the importance of navigation skills in adventure racing. From the O-course teams proceeded 10 miles on their bikes to CP6, and then were off on a short run to CP7 for the river put in. Pleban’s bike problems allowed QuestPatagonia.com to gain all but 9 minutes of their time back by the river put in.
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