Blue Ridge Mountain Adventure Race
Water Turkey\'s in Georgia
Christopher O’Connell - Team Water Turkey / 14.04.2003
Hosted (and I mean hosted – they go all out!) for the last 6 years by the Fannin County Chamber of Commerce in the town of Blue Ridge, GA, the BMAR has become the unofficial Georgia Adventure Racing Family Reunion. The 85 coed teams of three have had just enough time to kick off the dust from winter and do a little training for the first race of the season.
From the pre-race dinner at the local high school, to the finish line ceremonies in the downtown park, the entire town comes out to support the racers. Local businesses post welcome signs cheering us on! Afterwards, most racers retire to rented cabins along the Toccoa River for an evening of beer and a little post-race bee-essing. (Remember, no beer in the city park!)
The race is roughly 35 miles, has no complicated gear requirements and lasts between 6-8 hours. The trails are well known, and the route changes only slightly from year-to-year, but the terrain is brutal – full of steep tight single-track trails. Spread out along the course are a variety of special tests that the organizers clearly spend all year dreaming up. (Note there is even a separate “race director� and “special test director� – so it must be a full-time job!)
Our team, Team Water Turkey, consisted of Susan Walsh, Erik Poley and myself. Erik is our team’s Yao Ming, so Susan and I figured he’d be great for all these special tests which often seem much easier with a pair of long arms and legs.
This race is won or lost on the first and last run sections. The first 6 mile run heads straight up the unforgiving Benton-Mackay Trail (I believe Benton and Mackay must have been sadists). The tight, steep trails are notorious for wiping out racers early and getting backed up with slow-walkers. The strategy is simply to muscle up to the front of the start line and run as fast as possible for the first quarter-mile to the trailhead.
The next section, a 1.5-hour paddle, is cold and wet, especially if you tump over at the Aska Road rapids. Only one team I know of was bright enough to just portage the rapids. We elected to swim… or something like that.
The mountain biking is the gem of the race. So few races have so much sweet single track. Remember single track? Its why we all started mountain biking in the first place!
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