Dart-nuun places 1st at the Norcal Sprint Race

On Saturday April 2^nd, JVG and I (RVG) were able to line up baby sitting and head down south to Almaden Quicksilver County Park for a 4-6 hour adventure race put on by the folks at Norcal Adventure Racing. The race entailed trail running, mountain biking, a short kayak with navigation required throughout the course.

 

Promptly at 9:00 AM the gun went off and teams went in 2 different directions. The first checkpoint would have teams run up and over a 1,000 foot ridge and bush whack to an optional checkpoint right out of the gate. We followed a team of 2 men down the decent on the other side of the ridge and took our bearing up to CP 1 at a sharp bend in the road. We arrived at CP 1 with team RWG Light Brigade and just beat them to our bikes in the transition area at CP 2.

 

The biking was stellar, had us covering most of the length of the state park and had views for miles. Good climbs and steep descents were broken up with well placed check points including one in a mine shaft. After an hour of biking we launched our double sit on top kayak and paddled the length of the reservoir in first place. Afterwards we ran a small loop to get two more check points and then we were off on our bikes to get one more check point and then head to the finish line.

 

Our closest competition, solo male racer Andrew from Racing With Giants had retained his position with us most of the race and was shadowing us from 2-4 minutes behind. He caught us at the top of the last climb and we arrived at the last checkpoint nearly together. He chose to follow a trail beyond the last check point which ended on the map, while we retraced and climbed out of the valley and continued on back to the finish line. It turns out the trail connected to a road and when we got to the line Andrew was there waiting to cheer us on. What a blast and we were happy to have the competition breathing down our neck all day long.

 

We finished in 3:54 with an official time of 3:04 after a 50 minute time bonus for CP1 in second place overall and first place for two person teams. Good results for the day and we were happy to be out adventuring with everyone. Thanks to the race organization for a great race in a great venue, we are looking forward to competing in more of the Norcal races throughout the year!