Record Field at Wilderness Traverse 2016

Press Release / 02.10.2016

A record-breaking 47 teams raced at the 7th annual Wilderness Traverse 24-30 hour adventure race near Parry Sound, Ontario on September 24-25.

Veteran event director Bob Miller began his racing career in Eco-Challenge times and became one of the top AR navigators in the world, earning a bronze medal with Team Tecnu at ARWC 2013. Although the Canadian AR scene has shifted its focus toward single day races, Miller continues to offer this annual weekend of “old school” adventure racing - a 150 km point-to-point journey with challenging wilderness navigation and route choice in all disciplines.

Wilderness Traverse is open to Coed or Open teams of three or four but in accordance with expedition racing tradition, the coveted Bob The Beaver trophy (named by the original winners) is awarded to the top 4-member Coed team. Miller is keen to attract new participants to race alongside experienced competitors.  “This race is for adventure enthusiasts of all levels who want to push their physical and mental limits in an awe-inspiring backcountry setting,” he said. To encourage newcomers, a Rookie Team award is presented each year to the top team consisting entirely of racers who have not finished a 24-hour race. This year eleven rookie teams took the challenge.

The 2016 race started with a spectacular 5-10 hour wilderness paddle from Wah Wash Kesh Lake down the Magnetawan River, finishing at the Harris Lake Marina. The river split into north and south channels with almost 6 km of portaging required for teams who stayed on the north channel where CP1 was located. Teams choosing the south channel were spared 3 km of portaging and were better positioned to continue south to Harris Lake but they had to paddle a longer distance, then drop their canoes and bushwhack or run trails north to CP1.

Half the teams chose each channel and the southern teams took different routes to CP1, providing a morning of excitement for dot watchers!

Defending champions Team Salomon, who shared the lead all morning, dropped their canoes early on the southern route, planning to minimize paddling and take advantage of their speed on foot. However, the northern route to CP1 turned out to be faster and the coed Long Sault Longshots arrived there first. By the end of the paddle stage, Salomon had dropped to 7th coed. “We executed the plan well but it just wasn’t a great plan,” commented captain Pete Cameron.

All-male Team Pullin’ Foot, traditionally one of the fastest teams at Wilderness Traverse, also chose the southern route then stopped mysteriously in the forest enroute to CP1. Unbeknownst to them and race organizers, they had dropped their GPS tracker when a pack ripped open during the trek so even though they were the first team through TA1, the leaderboard didn’t reflect it immediately.

The Long Sault Longshots retained their coed lead after the paddle but it was short-lived. Last year’s top rookie team, the youthful Warriors, charged ahead on the bike ride on logging roads and snowmobile trails to TA2. Team Salomon fought back, passing elite teams Running Free and Storm Beowulf to arrive at the bike/trek transition in 4th coed behind the Warriors, Long Sault Longshots and Team Canada AR.

After biking, Pullin’ Foot served a one-hour penalty at TA2 for losing their tracker, giving up precious daylight and watching eight teams depart on the long trek while they waited and attached their new tracker tightly.

The 6-14 hour trek stage took teams through a remote area of Crown land near the shore of Georgian Bay. It was sprinkled with small lakes and alder-filled swamps, and there were long rocky ridges, some choked with thick vegetation and others open and tempting but seldom travelling in the right direction. There were few contour lines or major features so teams had to watch their compasses closely and keep track of their time. One checkpoint was at a mandatory swim across the slow-moving Shawanaga River.

Team Salomon kept pushing and arrived at the first trek CP just 12 minutes behind the Warriors. Knowing the greater experience of the defending champs, spectators watched to see if the Warriors would stumble navigating through the technical terrain in darkness. But it was the veteran team that hit trouble, reaching the Georgian Bay shoreline a few hundred meters south of CP7 in near darkness with no obvious features to guide them. The Warriors finished the trek half an hour ahead of 2nd coed team Running Free. Storm Beowulf arrived 3rd, followed closely by Salomon, now more than an hour behind the Warriors.

Male team Pullin’ Foot, fuelled by disappointment at their penalty, stormed through the trek stage at a blistering pace, moving from 9th overall to first and reaching the final trek/bike transition 12 minutes ahead of the Warriors. They continued on to cross the finish line first, winning the all-male category in 20 hrs 57 mins.

The final 5-9 hour bike stage was a roller coaster ride on granite-strewn trails circumnavigating Parry Sound. The real challenge began in the final kilometres where the terrain became an endless series of steep hills and valleys littered with boulders of all sizes. After the final checkpoint, teams rode a short distance on paved roads to the finish line at Foley Matheson Beach Park on the shore of Otter Lake. 

Running Free challenged the Warriors in the final hours, keeping dot watchers on the edges of their seats as the two teams chose different routes to the final checkpoints, unaware of each other’s location. The Warriors finished with a 13-minute lead over Running Free but did not realize they had won until informed by the race director. Their amazed reaction, caught on video, was a race highlight. Last year’s rookies had been transformed into this year’s champions. Salomon placed 3rd coed, followed by Storm Beowulf. This year’s Rookie Team award went to a male team, Black Swan Racing.

Congratulations to Wilderness Traverse champions and future ARWS contenders, Janel Sauder, Brett Weersink, Scott Weersink and Ian Weir. Teams are already talking strategy for next year!

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