ARC Outventure Race
July 7th ’07
Sprint Adventure Race
Bracebridge, On
Website: www.adventureracingcanada.com
The 2nd ARC Outventure race of the season was held in beautiful Bracebridge, On with Muskoka Outfitters acting as host of the race. Racers boarded the buses and were shipped to the Porcupine Ridge mountain biking park to begin the race.
A Lemans-type start was held for the male solo and pairs racers with a quick 100m loop to spread the field out. Then it was onto the bikes for 2-5km loops through the best biking loops ARC has ever had in one of their races (just my opinion!). Each loop consisted of gnarly uphills and twisty downhills, rooty straightaways and awesome (and challenging) rocky terrain throughout the course. Although some of the rookie racers did have difficulty with the loop, all racers felt a real sense of accomplishment when they were finished. As for myself, I emerged from the ride in 2nd place.
After the ride (and CP1), we headed across the street to the edge of the Muskoka River (right beside Santa’s Village!) to begin the paddle leg of the race. A quick 1km paddle led racers to the transition to the run. Racers had to get out of the water, portage their boats to the next CP and begin their run towards the hilly, rooty and rocky Strawberry Point trail where they would run a 5 km loop and return to CP3 to begin the paddle home. Again, I emerged from the run in 2nd place and I knew I had to have the paddle of my life to maintain position. I started the 4.5km paddle out strong but, unfortunately, one of my fellow racers caught me on the water with less than 200m to go and I had to settle for a 3rd place finish (with just 26 seconds separating 2nd place from 3rd!)
Once again John, Bernie, Bob and the rest of the crew from ARC treated the racers to a fun, challenging day of Adventure Racing. It is no wonder that the ARC races are so popular!!
