Raid the North Extreme
Slow and steady wins third place
Susan McKenzie / 22.08.2003
After two days of racing neck and neck with Calgary’s Wild Rose, Kenora, Ontario-based team Fudugazi, experienced canoe trippers, got past the Calgarians, and captured third place in the Raid the North Extreme 2003.
“We’re pretty comfortable in the bush,� says Janet Findlay. “I guess that’s why we tried to stay out of the bush as much as we could. The bushwhacking was so slow, one kilometre an hour and it was awful.�
In a race heavy on paddling, Fudugazi held a strong advantage. “We all live right on the Lake of the Woods,� says Buzz Pedersen. “Bruce and I both paddle to work every day.�
“We’re so happy to finish in the top three,� says Findlay. “At one point Buzz said that given the number of teams that drop out of a race, even finishing the race would probably be a top ten finish for us.�
“We’ve done a lot of long canoe races, plus we’re used to canoe tripping,� says Bruce Daly. “So we’re used to these kinds of distances, this kind of planning.�
“On the voyageur canoe, we were just chilling out, having a good time. Then we decided to go for the paddles and really work hard.�
The team that scores the fastest crossing on a voyageurs canoe will take home four hand-crafted canoe paddles. “We found we had to shorten our stroke a bit on the voyageur canoe,� says Findlay. “Then Buzz (Pedersen) started calling out tens to keep our rhythm.
“I can’t believe we’re fourth,� says Wild Rose’s Brent Clark. “Only Bart (Jarmula) has any expedition length race experience. We’ve all done shorter races, but this is our first big race as a team. We were racing with Fudugazi side by side for about two days, and then they finally slipped away.�
Team Phoenix cycled across the finish line not long after Wild Rose. The three teams were all pretty tight over the last day of the race, but Phoenix was never able to catch up on the other two.
Given that Robyn Dicesare had a nasty bike spill on the very first bike leg that left her bruised and cut with an injured shoulder, fifth place is pretty good. “I just dulled my pain receptors,� says Dicesare. “I’m pretty glad it’s all over.�
It will all be over soon for everyone. The cutoff for the race is midnight Friday, so there are just a few hours left in the race. Those still on the course will be shuttled to the finish line.
SleepMonsters
