Race: Planet Adventure, Old School, Rusk Indiana

Racers: Kyle Peter, Brian Pfister, Angel Garbarino

Format: 36 hours, unsupported

Time: June 6^th 12am Saturday - June 7^th 11:03am Sunday.

Rank: Unofficially 2^nd raced as a three person, but had to race as a four person to rank.

When first asked to race the Planet Adventure Old School race, I was hesitant, but knew I couldn’t turn the opportunity down; the race would be a great training for the upcoming Untamed New England race, it would incorporate swimming and ropes, and I knew Kyle and Brian would be fast.  The following is an account of the race.

Maps were passed out around 10pm Saturday night, the race started at midnight when the coordinates of CP 0 were revealed.  Teams ran to CP 0, where we found our bikes.  From here we moved to a short bike section, to what we suspected was coming- a water crossing.  Off our bikes and down a muddy embankment, we jumped into the cold river, swimming across to the other side to locate CP 1 (around 1-2am).  Finding the CP in the dark and through the marshy terrain proved difficult.  After about 30 minutes we found the CP, jumped back into the river, and back onto the bikes.  After about an hour or so on the bikes we reached the TA, were we were allowed to leave our paddles, and bikes and headed out for a long orienteering/trek section.   Brian navigated, while Kyle acted as point.  We knew we were only about an hour or so behind the lead team Wedali, and that another team was close behind us. 

From the trek we came back to the bikes (around 2pm?).  This section involved some steep climbs, and trails destroyed by horses and mud.  Kyle navigated the bike sections.  After several hours on the bike we moved to the next trek. This trek was broken up by a swimming section down a river.  The river was a welcome site during the day, especially as we had just trekked through a stinging nettle field. After the river and back onto the trek we found ourselves following a trail that had petered out, and we struggle for a good couple of hours battling blackberry bushes and thorns.  We knew at this point that catching Wedali would be difficult.  Once out of the bushes, some encounters with dogs, a quick traverse across a sink hole and a water stop at someone’s garage along the way, the trek ended on a road to the canoe section (around 10pm). 

At this point, I had started to feel the blisters, and my hip flexors had become sore enough that running was difficult.  The hallucinations from sleep deprivation also started to kick in (because the race started at midnight, the last time we had slept was Saturday morning).  We got on the canoe and paddled out to a trek for two more checkpoints.  While in the canoe and moving into the trek, my hip flexors and blisters severely started to slow me down, I was losing my ability to climb up hills, and found it easier to crawl up the hills and walk backwards over any logs or barriers (which there were many).  Needless to say, the pace slowed down considerable, and the vicodin was pulled out.  Brian would stay back with me, while Kyle scouted ahead to find the easiest path.  We went back on the canoe, and paddled to the next section.  It was now morning, and the goal was just to finish as I was in pretty bad shape.  We finished in the canoe, missing the ascent and repel section and headed back to the bike section for the last bike leg home.  I wasn’t able to get my bike shoes on because of the blisters, and pedaled home with the help of Kyle and Brian to finish the race at about 11am Sunday morning. 

It was a great race despite some of the pain along the way.  I learned a ton and cannot say enough about Kyle and Brian as racers and teammates.