An update on the Races from 2010 so far…
Jan 27 – Equinox Mid-Week – Night Orienteering
First time out at night, first time really trying to read and use topo maps. We got all the points, but have to say our trusty guide, Barrie, helped a lot!
Feb 14 UCSD Valentine Orienteering
What better way to spend Valentines than running around holding hands and finishing as many checkpoints as possible in 1 hour time limit? We got 13 from 30, and happy with that for firs time on our own using those topo maps. Have to say that as the orienteering was around building, this helped the navigation most of the time. On one area I was fixed on the building ‘knowing the campus’ and lost 15 minutes for 1 checkpoint!
Feb 20 – Scavenger Dash LA
A race around a city we don’t know, dressed up in matching t-shirts (thank you Spreadshirt!), answering clues from friends in Chicago (thanks Ali) and doing crazy stunts like getting arrested! Fun, fun, fun! Finished 13th on this one and then had to try and beat in San Diego a few weeks later….
Mar 6 – Scavenger Dash San Diego
Return of “Bangers & Mash”. We knew the drill so mentally had an advantage until the owner said he changed the course just for us! Oh no! Our confidence in maps and getting to checkpoints was much better from our practice and even with a fatal mistake of missing one clue (which added 2 miles and 20 minutes to our time) we finished 9th. We later got bumped to 8th because of a disqualification from using a pedi-cab!
Mar 14th – Orienteering in O’Neills Park, Los Angeles
A combined trail run event as well as a advanced orienteering race. Was worth the drive to a new place and we enjoyed having to navigate in the open park land. It was meant to be 5k which of course meant we did double that because of our ’shortcuts’! We will learn how to read a map eventually…lots of thistles on this run which led ot some lovely scratches on the legs!
Mar 27th – Peaks & Valleys Adventure Race
The full race report is available for this one in another blog post, including a bonus video! We are getting better and able to go for longer distance and time (4 hours from 1 hour in 8 weeks). Yeah!!!
A goal is to get up to a 12 hour race this year….but as most are in the summer, we might be pushing too hard to get to this one this year….
What’s next?
Apr 3 Urban Dare San Diego
May 2 Sprint Sprint Triathlon
May 16 Central Coast Sprint Adventure Race
Are you attending any of these? We like to hear from people that are attending or training….we need the tips!!
Tags: adventure race, geocaching, hiking, mountain biking, scavenger hunt, urban dare
