Valhalla Pure Challenge Adventure Race
Team Talus takes the Challenge
Shawn Wenger / 26.08.2005
Team Talus, made up of myself, my husband, Chris, Doreen Johnstone and Paul Blackett, sponsored by Kamloops This Week came in first in the \"team of 4\" category and 4th overall behind two solo men, Perry Grunenberg in first 4:39:36) and Trent Smith in second (4:48:13), and one \"team of 2\", Runners Sole, Jason Ladyman and Dana Manhard (5:14:42).
After a two-year hiatus from organizing the race due to change of ownership,Valhalla Pure Outfitters Kamloops owned by Russ and Wendy Gardner organized a high quality event for 40 racers, six solo men, four teams of four and
nine teams of two. The focus this year was to encourage new racers to give adventure racing a try. The race will grow each year with the racers, giving people a chance to improve their skills and challenge themselves further. Hopefully this will result in getting more people \"hooked\" on the sport.
What is adventure racing? It\'s a multi-sport event involving the core events of paddling, mountain biking, trekking and navigation. This race started with getting the map at 8 am. Each map had the check points (CPs) and transition areas (TAs) marked. The teams had to visit each location in the order indicated. Our team captain and navigator, Chris, spent the bulk of the next hour planning our course and discussing TAs. Part of the challenge is having a limited time with the map since the race started at 9 am.
We started with a paddle from Riverside Park down the Thompson River to Tranquille at the head of Kamloops Lake. Considering one of our teammates
had only paddled a marathon racing shell once before race day, we did very well, coming into the first bike TA in first place after a quick run across the sand at Rabbit Island to register at our first CP. Paddlers chose their preferred crafts which ranged from solo and tandem kayaks to various types of canoes. Using our racing shells was a bit of a risk due to their tippy nature. Chris had me freaking out at 5 am with his report of a 9 knot wind blowing in town. These boats are not designed for choppy water. In the end,the gamble paid off, the water was smooth and the paddle a beautiful way to start the race.
CP4 was at the top of Mara Mountain. We rode and pushed our bikes there,following a sparse trail of pink flags, designed as an equalizer for racers
who know the trails in the area and those who didn\'t. At the top of one markedly difficult pushing section, we enjoyed race director Chris Koch\'s humour as we read \"10 points if you just rode that!\"
After taking a minute to enjoy the view from the top of Mara, we rode down the trails on the other side, thinking of the one racer we knew of who had
never been on a mountain bike. Trails were rough and rocky and steep in places. We rode conservatively, not wanting to crash and end the race prematurely. Even teammate, Paul, who forces us to carry a rather large first aid kit whenever he\'s along, managed to crash only once when attempting to ride over a large log with broken limbs sticking out in all directions.
We all enjoyed blasting down the hill into TA2, except for the quick stop at the wire gate at the bottom. From there, we transitioned to trekking in a flurry of questions and requests to our awesome support team. Having done support last month for a 36 hour race in Alberta, I know it is aptly described by one of those teammates as a bunch of disorganized children running in, making a huge mess, shouting demands, throwing their stinky socks everywhere and running off without saying thank you. By the way, thank
you Ferdi, Klara, Adam and Ethan!
Halfway into the trek, I realized my head was a little hot and I\'d forgotten to take off my bike helmet, but other than that we managed it smoothly. This is where the navigation came in and many teams faltered, looking for CP 6 and 7 in the Lac du Bois grasslands. Our time put in the the Sage Orienteering Club here in Kamloops was a great benefit for this section. Our major challenges... spear grass, cactus and side-hilling.
After finding the two CPs on the trek, we descended into Westsyde to the last TA at Westmount school where we once again donned PFDs. The paddle took us down the North Thompson back to Riverside Park. Again, the wind was on our side and the water calm. The only dicey moment was getting from the North Thompson into the South Thompson, coming around Indian Point, but no
one minds going swimming too much when you can see the river bottom and the finish line (even though it might be a little hard on the ego).I ran up the beach to the finish, holding my five-year-old son\'s hand, with an awesome team of strong, fun people. What a high. I just hope a few other people experienced that feeling and want to feel it again. It would be nice to see the sport continue to grow in western Canada. We have such perfect, challenging terrain for this type of racing, and it\'s amazing what we can accomplish with proper training and planning (we only started doing this three years ago at the Valhalla race at Sun Peaks).
For anyone who is tempted to try adventure racing, this is the best venue for those just starting out. Race director Chris Koch designed a course with new racers in mind, including a short and long course option for further flexibility.
\"Beauty and the Bean\", the father/daughter team of Brendan and 15-year-old Caroline Matthews persevered through the long course and finished in just over eight hours. Other teams included \"Woodski\", a father/son combo of
Allan Stradeski and Kevin Eastwood and other great team names like \"Over Hungover\", \"LAWst\" and \"Cwazy Wabbits\".
Keep an eye out for the Valhalla Pure Challenge next year. Check out ww.valhallapurechallenge.com for results and information and start pestering your training buddies now!
The start and finish area at Riverside Park was buzzing with activity,providing a kids race course, climbing wall from Ropes End climbing gym and an updated team progress board for spectators. It was a great time for everyone involved as well as those at the park who didn\'t even know it was going on.
The prizes were awesome. Russ and Wendy had tremendous support from their sponsors and most racers, volunteers and support crew members walked away with some great prizes ranging from paddles, packs and trail shoes to sandals, technical shirts and hydration systems.
As part of our prize for winning in this category we received a $2500 entry fee to the National Adventure Racing Championships in Timmons, Ontario next May, put on by the Canadian Adventure Racing Association and the City of
Timmons. We\'re pumped already!
As for Team Talus, wish us luck next weekend when we\'ll be in Golden, participating in Race the Rockies 18 hour adventure race. We\'re hoping that
goes as smoothly as our dress-rehearsal here in Kamloops.
SleepMonsters
