2010 Swamp Stomp 30 Hour Adventure Race
Freezing in the Florida Swamps
Team Tecnu Extreme/StaphAseptic / 16.02.2010
Plotting the course Friday night near the banks of the Homosassa River proved that the race would live up to its name. 30 miles of river-paddling in a maze of waterways cutting though the swamp and miles of swamp travel ton foot and even bike (yes…I said bike) though thick wet swamp ooze!
Saturday morning we started with a 14 mile paddle on the Homosassa River Trail that we finished in around 4th place, but we transitioned quickly at the ‘Chaz’ Campground and headed out onto Bike #1 in first place. Biking mostly on paved roads we grabbed a few CP’s and cruised into the transition to Trek 1 holding our lead.
Trek 1 was a relatively straightforward rogaine in Withlacoochee State Forest. After 5 hours of running we cleared the section. Most points were 100-300 meters from a trail or road, but with no features in flat Florida, the team relied heavily on pace counts to get the CPs.
Tecnu Extreme/StaphAseptic took off on Bike #2 still leading the pack, but with a local team hot on our heels. We grabbed 3 CP’s or so on our way into the deep nasty swamp and at the same the time the sun began to set. The first point we went to in the swamp required us to leave our bikes at the end of a trail and stomp through the swamp for 100 meters to find the flag. It was cold, it was our first time moving in the swamp, and Leslie found a keeper spot that sucked her in deep. Needless to say, we slowed a bit.
We started to bike back out the same trail we used to come in to the CP and saw the local FL team. I estimated we had about 15 minutes on them. We also saw Checkpoint Zero and some other teams on the out-and-back section. Next up on our plan was a group of 4 CP’s that didn’t have a clear connecting route to get them all. We tried to get them in a loop that appeared to be the most efficient according to the map. But it turned out that trails in the swamp can easily be covered in 3 feet of water and near impossible to find.
We decided to bike an extra 15 kilometers on relatively fast trails to avoid a 750 meter swamp bushwack with our bikes over our shoulders. It seemed like the safest, smartest thing to do, but it turned out the Race Directors designed the course so everybody had to carry their bikes through the swamp. The marked trails on the map were really hunters’ bushwacking routes through the swamp, rather than ride-able trails. The long and short of it is that we were passed out there by the local team as well as Checkpoint Zero with all three of us getting all the points on Bike 2.
SleepMonsters
