Well, this is my first attempt at writing a race review.  This past weekend, Anna, Erik, and I competed in the 2011 North Georgia Adventure Race, billed as one of the toughest, most competitive races of it’s length in the US.  Unlike the last time the three of us did this race in 2008, (when it snowed, the temps were in the teens on the paddle, we all got hypothermic, and had to pee on our frozen bike components to keep them working), it was beautiful weather this past weekend.  Peter, one of the race directors, put the checkpoints and race map online HERE.

    The race started at 9am with an out-and-back paddle to the first checkpoint that was approximately 19k total.  Some teams chose to skip this paddle, feeling the amount of time it would take to get the 1 point was not worth the 2-3 hours of paddling. There was little, if any wind, and we had a solid paddle.  Our strategy for the race was to not get too far behind on the paddle and bike, and try to get ahead on the orienteering and final trek section.  We arrived at the first CP behind Technu and EMS, and got back to the transition area in fifth place, not far behind.

The next stage of the race was an interesting twist that the race directors came up with and notified teams about a month or two before the race.  At three different times during the race, Each person on a 3-person team would have to do a solo navigation section, while the other teammates would wait at the TA.  This was a creative, unique idea, and we thought it would give us a distinct advantage, as each of us orienteers and navigates (solo and on teams) on a regular basis.  The first solo orienteering leg was an easy difficulty.  Anna took it, collecting CPs 3, 4, and 5, and passed a few teams in the process.  We left the TA in 2nd place behind Technu (who smoked the paddle!).

    We then rode our bikes North to TA2 at Mullbery Gap where I embarked on the “medium” navigation leg.  On this section, there were three points, and you could get them in any order.  I chose to get CP7 first, which only took a few minutes.  Next, I followed the elevation changes on my map, contouring two reentrants, and got to the second spur where I thought CP8 should have been.  Not having an altimeter on, I thought that maybe I had underestimated the elevation, and headed up the spur to look for it…  no luck.  Headed back down past where I first got on the spur…   not there either.  After about 30 minutes on the spur, I saw team members from Technu, EMS, and Appalachian come from the West.  I was just about to head over one spur to where they were coming from, but they confirmed that they had just been there, and that’s where CP 9 was.  We all looked up and down the spur I was on again, going higher until it topped out.  As the race clock ticked impatiently on, more teams started coming through, looking for CP 8 as well.  I joined Katie from team Who Plotted, and we decided to check out the spur to the West of where we were, where teams said they had found CP9.  Immediately upon finding the flag, it was obvious from the contour that we were indeed at C

P8 (not 9), but there was no CP number on the flag to confirm this.  This section was difficult because the contour intervals on the map were 40-feet, and although the map was 1:15,000 scale, the contour lines appeared to be based on 1:24,000 scale.  Because of this, reentrants and spurs that were less than 40-feet did not necessarily appear on the map (thus why I undershot the distance from 7 to 8, basing my navigation on the contour shapes).  From there we headed West and downhill to get to 9 and then back to the TA, roughly an hour longer than it should have taken.  This can easily frustrate a team, but my teammates were thrilled to see me, and assured me that we hadn’t lost any time on the race leaders. 

    Next was about 6 hours of steep uphill and rough technical downhill biking (from a flatlanders perspective).  We took the lead, passing EMS and Appalachian around CP11, but not for long, as they would pass us later on the technical section.  We navigated well, but took one wrong turn on the downhill bike that put us on a singletrack trail and probably cost us about an hour.  We ended up with quite a few river crossings on the singletrack trail, and were thankful for the help of team Appalachian AR, as we worked as a 6-person team to ferry our bikes across one section of the river that was particularly swift and deep.

    When we got back to the TA from the second bike section, we found out that quite a few teams had actually missed a CP or two on the Medium orienteering let.  Some thought CP8 was 9, and found a flag that was part of the hard course and thought it was 8, thus missing two points on the course.  Because of this, we were in first place, as we had found all of and punched the correct control points on the Medium O-section.

    Erik ran the final “difficult” orienteering leg in the dark.  He got thrown off initially by the same contour interval problem that Many teams had on the Mulberry Gap foot legs, but regrouped and found all 3 points without a problem.  Anna slept in the warm car and Jeremy (our support crew member) took care of our gear and food needs.  I tried to get a nap in, but was in “race-mode” and was way too excited to sleep, and went up to the TA area and hung out with the race directors and volunteers in their warm cabin.  Thanks for the brownies guys!  After 13 hours of racing, they really hit the spot!

    The last section of the race was a long run/hike section with 9 CPs that we estimated would take us 8-10 hours.  The race directors allowed for a lot of navigation/route choices on this section, thus leaving the field wide open.  We nailed all but one point on the first try, spending a few extra minutes on CP22.   We ran the first couple hours and the last hour of this section, but fast-hiked most everything in-between, giving in to the relentless hills that accumulated to roughly 9,000 feet in elevation gain.  Weather was great through the night.  For the first couple hours, I was warm enough that I stripped down to nothing but bike shorts to help regulate my body temperature.  We had some key navigation choices that cut-off a lot of time/distance, often choosing to bushwack up or down some very steep hills over winding trail switchbacks.  Some of the leaf-covered hills were steep enough that it seemed more time was spent sliding down on our butts than hiking down, and pulling yourself up from tree to tree seemed to be the only way to climb up some of the uphill bushwacks.

    We finished the final foot section in about 10 hours, putting our total race time at 25 hours.  We finished in first place, being the first team across the finish line with all the checkpoints.  This was our first win outside of the state of Florida, where we do most of our racing.  We also couldn’t have done it without the help of our awesome support crew member Jeremy Fox!  He did an awesome job of meeting us with our gear and getting us in and out of TA’s quickly, and it was a blast having him on the long car ride from Miami and back. 

    Congrats to all the teams who competed, and a BIG thanks to the race directors, Tony, Peter, Jon, and volunteers for putting on a challenging, creative, well organized race.  We enjoyed spending some time on the course with Appalachian AR, and had a good time hanging out with EMS after the race. Our friends and family who were following along online really appreciated the race coverage, and we loved seeing all the comments afterwards.

    Next up for Green Paw is the Pangea Nocatee 10-hour on Saturday, April 9th.  See you outdoors!

-Tim Buchholz