Locally known for putting on great races, once again, Steve Morrone of Kando Adventures did not disappoint and put on an excellent race. The race started out with a scavenger hunt to find the paddling equipment that had been dropped in 3 different locations in the park. We were given three different coordinates, but not told what was where. Based on last years start of the paddle section, we set out for the further out points and were not disappointed to find the paddles and PFDs.

Getting onto the water first, we had a little trouble finding the first point on the water. In the middle of the paddle section we had a bonus orienteering section that allowed the team to split up and attack the points as best we say fit. We had a little miscommunication in where we were supposed to meet up, which had me running up and down the coast looking for Susan and Michele in the boat.

We managed to get off the water in about 4th place, hot on the heels of Secret Squirrel who we knew were fast and looking very strong. We elected to head out towards the trekking section, and quickly knocked out the first couple points. next we headed for the rope section, and along the way we lost our way, buut managed to bump into Secret Squirrel and another team that were equally mystified as to the location among the numerous hills.

Eventually finding the start of the zipline, we made our way across and back to the bikes to the last portion of the race. We knew that it would be a stretch to get all the points and make it back to the finish before time would run out. Most of the points were straight forward, and we got a little lucky on finding unmarked trails, but at the same time, we got caught by a couple trails that were on the map, but were way too overgrown to travel on.

Coming down the wire, we had a couple points left and barely managed to find them before starting the long bike back to the finish line. With just minutes left, we crossed the line and learned we were the only team to collect all the points and secured a spot in this years USARA National Championship race in the fall.

Great thanks to all our sponsors, Inov-8, Numa, and Nuun, as well as all the other competitors that make this sport so fun. Check out some of the photos taken by Carol Garrity here.