Texas Quest Adventure Race

SLIDESHOW of pics

The main TA, at CampTexLake, was quiet this morning when Rodney and I arrived at 7:00AM. Lesley, Emily and Steve were packing gear and preparing for the day. Lesley said they slept well in the cabins because the constant hum of the air conditioner kept them sleeping peacefully. They shared the cabins with a few other people. Rodney had a good night's sleep as well, in the RV park and woke up refreshed and ready for the day.

As the gear list was reviewed, we realized Steve did not have a PFD. There was some miscommunication prior to the race. The boat drop was about a quarter of a mile from the TA. After considering trekking to the drop, they opted to drive instead. Once there, the team

unloaded their canoes from the stand and placed them near the lake, with the other boats. They loaded the gear into the boats that they will need for the paddle later in the day. They were able to borrow a PFD from another team. (Thanks to Mark with Team Thrive!) After the boats, oars and gear were loaded we headed back to the TA for race start.

The bus had not arrived for the 8:30AM departure. It arrived about 8:45 and the teams were instructed to load up. I followed along behind the bus for the near 45 minute drive to Reimers Ranch. Once we arrived at the ranch, the bus had some difficulty making it up the hill into the ranch entrance and had to back up a couple of times. The drive over was beautiful and seemed so vast. The view is full of steep, rolling hills. The weather today is overcast, windy and chilly.

Once we arrived at the Reimers Ranch TA, the race began at 10:06 with a short 2 mile run. The next leg was a bike leg that team SteelSports started about 10:30. They arrived back at TA about 12:10 and were instructed that the cutoff for this trek would be 12:45 sharp. Rodney and Lesley plotted the points for the trek and Rodney said it shouldn't be that far or hard. Emily filled back packs with water and was keeping track of the time. Steve seems to be enjoying the race so far. After they arrive back, all teams will load back onto the bus to travel to another location. I'm not sure yet where that will be. It's 12:26 and I'm waiting for them to arrive back here. They seemed in great spirits and all said they are feeling great. The bike was a little rocky, and a couple of them had falls. Nothing major hurt, except Emily's pride.

At 12:40, the team arrived back at the TA. They grabbed all their gear (except bikes), and headed to the bus. They are heading back to the main TA.

At 1:55PM, the bus arrived back to the main TA at CampTexLake. Teams checked in at the main check in, in the order in which they checked in on the bus, to keep things fair. Team SteelSports was the fifth team to arrive. They received the instruction sheet for the next leg of the race, which is a trek. Rodney estimated it should take them less than an hour to complete this leg. They had a very fast transition and were one of the first teams out of the TA. It's still slightly chilly, extremely overcast and it drizzles small amounts of rain periodically. The team seems to be doing well, although they got a little sleepy on the 45 minute bus ride back to Pace Bend.

4:15PM: Two, 4-person coed, teams have checked in from the trek leg. From what I've overheard at the front desk, the coordinates for the TA on the passports were wrong. So what they plotted on their map was actually the boat drop, not the TA. Teams are being given a 20 minute time bonus for this error. Still no sign of the team. I did see them about 20 minutes after the left. They passed by the TA looking for points. I overheard Rodney say a couple of times, that he didn't think the TA was plotted correctly. So, turns out he was right, now I just have to believe he will figure it out and they will get all the CPs and back here soon. They are on leg 4-b. Leg 4 has an "a" and "b". I think "a" includes a zip line.

5:35PM: The race directors have decided that teams who have not arrived back from the current trek leg, if they are not strong paddlers, will not be able to complete the race by the cut off time (1:ooAM). From what I understand, the remainder of the race is, a 9 mile (one way) paddle. Along the way, there is a special test, which is repelling. From the special test, they will paddle the remainder of the 9 miles to another bike/trek at MuleShoe Bend. From there, they will paddle 9 miles back to CampTexLake for another bike/trek to finish the race. They have the option to cut the paddle short, and only paddle to the special test and back. The ropes course will be closing when it gets dark. I overheard the race director say the bikes would be transported back to Pace Bend and they were hoping to have all racers finished biking at MuleShoe by 10:00. It appears as though most teams are going to be short coursed as I think there are only about 3-5 teams on the water now.

6:20pm: The zip line is closed. The staff was only reserved until 6:00pm, so Team SteelSports will not do the zip line.

6:35PM: Team SteelSports arrived back at the TA and didn't seem to be in good spirits. They have been "Super Short Coursed" by the race director. They are paddling 3 miles to check point 17 and back and will not get to repel. When they get back from this leg, they will trek/bike...if their bikes are back from MuleShoe.

7:00PM: The race director has left to go pick up bikes, but doesn't anticipate that he will be back for another 3 hours.

So, The Texas Quest Adventure Race was shortened from a 24 hour to a 15 hour race, combining 12 and 24 hour racers into one race. Within the race, there are now 3 categories. A long course, short course and super short course. Five of the 20 teams are long course teams and expected to finish by the 1:00AM cut off time. The Short Course teams paddled to the special test (repel) and back to Pace Bend. Super Short Course teams will paddle to one CP and back. The newer racers who have decided to call it a day, seem to be enjoying the race and are very complementary of the race directors.

I overheard the volunteer at the front desk talking about the 20 minute time bonus that will be given to teams who were not told about the wrong coordinates on the passports. Team SteelSports was not mentioned and when I asked about it, they said they'd have to ask the race director.

7:55PM: Two short course teams have arrived back from the paddle.

8:40PM: Team SteelSports arrived back from the short paddle leg. They were given another trek leg, which Rodney expected to take them an hour and a half if they run, 2 hours to 2 and a half hours otherwise. A few of them were smiling, and others were not. They seem somewhat frustrated with some of the navigation. Rodney will most likely elaborate on this issue in his race report. [Inserted by Rodney: The UTM coordanates were in 1927 datum, but the maps were 1984 Datum. We learned this from another team around 4:30 pm. After we learned this, we were able to find all CPs with less problem.] I left to get them some pizza, at their request, and passed them on the road. They were running...so I'm expecting to see them soon.

10:50PM: The team arrived back at TA, enjoyed some pizza and were off about 20 minutes later. This trek leg was originally supposed to be a bike leg. The bikes are back at CampTexLake, but the race director altered this leg to another trek. There are 3 points, which they plotted easily. The farthest check point was farther than they thought they could do in the remaining time. Their plan is to get the two closest points and decide from there, based on time left, if they want to get the others before heading back to the TA to finish the race.

12:25AM: Team SteelSports completed the race. They got all the checkpoints they were allowed to get. They were still smiling and glad to be finished. Overall, it was a good race for the team. More to come in Rodney's post race report.

I had a good day supporting an awesome team, taking in the scenery and enjoying the atmosphere of adventure racing. Until next time...when I'll be Katrina Skyles : ) ... KT