Team finishes 2nd at Gold Rush 24 hour race

Written by Cyril Jay-Rayon
Created Date: Tuesday, 17 August 2010 10:54

This past weekend, the team was at it again at another national series 24 hour race in the Sierras just east of Sonora. The race was hosted by Gold Rush AR and the course took teams through a stunning landscape near Yosemite. We battled for first for over 26 hours against the Yoga Slackers but, in the end, came up short. The Slackers had a excellent race and beat us by 31 minutes. They raced a near perfect race and deserved the win. As for us, we raced well but just didn't have the added speed and efficiency needed to win. The team was comprised of Jen Segger, Sean Clancy, Cyril Jay-Rayon, and newcomer Slater Fletcher. Although Slater is new to the team, he certainly isn't new to endurace sports and the art of suffering while going fast.

The race started with an orienteering kayak section on Beardsley Lake near Pinecrest where teams were given a bearing and distance to the next Checkpoint (CP) at every CP. The orienteering ultimately took teams around the entire lake and up the river feeding the lake. After more that 3 hours of paddling and finding CPs, the team got out of the water a few minutes behind the Slackers who paddled a triple while we paddled a triple and a surfski (teams of 3 coed and 4 coed competed in the same premier division).

After the paddle, we headed out on a 4 hour bike section. Although we started off with a mistake (we forgot our passport in the Transition Area (TA) so had to bike back 3 km to get it), we quickly settled into a rhythm and, after an hour plus climb, caught up to the Slackers. The chase had cost us dearly though as the effects of the altitude and heat was taking it's toll. So for the next few hours, all we managed to do is survive. It's amazing how some times you just don't have any power no matter how hard you try.This was one of those moments when all you can do is hang in there and suffer in the hopes that you'll eventually feel better. It was clear that all other teams were suffering as well all along the course. Who could suffer the longest without giving up was the question. We finally came into the next TA tied for first.

We left the TA on foot still tied for first but after refilling water at a river, the Slackers beat us to the rope section where they managed to put 20 minutes on us. The ropes course was beautifully set on a granite slab section that involved an exciting rappel followed by a bushwack and an ascent up a granite ridge. It was hot and a little tough going for the team but the spectacular views made up for any pain we felt.

What followed the ropes course was an unbelievable trek section deep into the night in the Sierra mountains. As the night fell, the heat subsided and we started to feel somewhat better but just as we felt we were gaining ground, Slater badly twisted his ankle. To his credit, he bared the pain for rest of the trek. At times the pace was slow through the thick bush but it was always beautiful with a lot of route finding and route choices. When we emerged from the woods into the next TA to the bike at a ski resort, we had fallen behind 50 minutes. Although we had navigated well throughout the trek, we knew that the route choices weren't always the fastest (hindsight is so easy in adventure racing). So, we weren't surprised to hear we had fallen behind.

What now remained was a massive bike section (in all, we biked 95 miles at the Gold Rush on dirt tracks and rugged single track) that would take us through the rest of the night and well into the the following morning. The bike section was through an area interspersed with Off Road vehicle tracks, old railway grades, logging roads, forest service roads, and hiking trails). So, the navigation required constant attention to make sure we stayed on the right route. Despite the respite from the heat, the altitude and now the sleep monsters played tricks on us throughout the night. We tried to move fast but we suffered from a lot of fatigue and just couldn't get our speed up enough to make up ground. Since all the CPs at night were un-manned, we had no way of knowing how far behind we still were but we were quite certain that we were not making up ground fast enough.

When the morning light came, our spirits picked up (as they always do after a night of racing) and we crossed the Slackers on the only out and back section of the race course. They were just finishing an 11 km out and back section as we started it. After a few quick hello, both teams' speed picked up. When we finished the out and back, we were 29 minutes behind. Although, we knew that it was the other team's race to lose, we rode hard for the next 4 hours or so to the finish line but so did they and we finished with the same gap we had when we crossed them in the early morning.

After the race, we talked about our route choices on the last 4 hours and, as it turned out, we took a faster route to one CP but they took a huge gamble to another and bushwacked with their bikes down to a river and up the other side. It was a gutsy move that definitely saved them a lot of time. To win you often have to make daring moves, but they don't always pay off. This time it certainly did!

Overall, we were pleased with how we raced and were truly impressed by the quality of the race course. We will definitely be back again. Thank you Gold Rush!

Check out the rest of our photos and that of other races in our gallery.

Next up is another 24 hour national series race hosted by Trioba in Washington state on August 30th.