Results & Reports - 2005 Blue Ridge Adventure Race

Blue Ridge Adventure Race

Report by Ardie Olsen

Ardie Olson, Team Captain of Team Mighty Dog, was a replacement for an injured teammate this past weekend, joining forces with Lisa Randall and James Holmes, of Team Enduraventure to take 3rd place at the 8th Annual Blue Ridge Mountain Adventure Race 2005, in the North Georgia Mountains.

It's just a coincidence that Ardie was featured on the cover of ASM's last issue. The race started at 7:30 am with a train ride on the Smoky Mountain Railway from downtown Blue Ridge to the community of Cherry Log. Racers were given their first set of maps and instructions when boarding the train. Support crews were given their instructions as the train pulled out of the station. This was a race for both the team and the support crew, with drop-locations (dropping bikes at TA1 and Boats at TA3, before going to TA2) and cut-off times for support crew. They had to scramble the entire race to be one step ahead of their racers.

Upon departing the train, the team was given a riddle. Thankfully Lisa is a wiz and did the riddle in a diddle. Next, we were off on foot to CP 2 (Rock Creek Church). Our support crew, Chris Randall and Sherry Olson, had dropped our bikes at the front in plain sight when we arrived. With a quick change of shoes and putting on helmets, we were out of TA1 in lst place with Snickers Marathon, Racemetrics, and several other teams hot on our heels to Stanley Gap parking lot.

We had to drop our bikes, change to running shoes, and plot several CPs, then proceed on foot for a orienteering section in the Indian Grave area of the Rich Mountain Wilderness. One of the CPs required that we remember the name of magazine posted. When we arrived at the CP, the Race Director, Ron Zadroga, was holding Race Program and cheering us on. (We really can't say enough good things about the volunteers in this race. They are professional, well organized and caring group.) We were a little confused as many teams were coming at us from the opposite direction until we learned that clockwise and counterclockwise routes had been distributed. We completed this section in 2nd place and were back on the bikes for long downhill ride down Stanley Gap Road.

After crossing the Historic Shallowford Bridge over the scenic Tocca River, we faced our next special task & one team member had to hand off his bike and run to CP 11 on the Benton McKay trail, while the other two team members had to get all 3 team bikes to the intersection of Dial Road and the Benton MacKaye trail. Ardie did the run and was faced with another challenge at CP 11, when asked to name the manufacture of the 3 bikes his team was using. Not such an easy task having just run almost a mile uphill in bike shoes, but he passed the test and was allowed to proceed.

Runners from Hooked and Racemetrics had passed Ardie in the run, which put the team in 4th place when starting back out on the bikes. From here, the team biked up hill the entire way up to Brawley Mountain picking up a couple of checkpoints along the way. James used his expert mountain bike skills and mammoth strength to push Ardie up the hills.

The rappel at Brawley Mountain was one of the highlights of the race and crowded with cheering spectators. Still in 4th place, the team took off for the trekking section (having to plot on the fly to not loose ground and many times just hunt out the CPs by the directions given in the instructions) and caught up with the top 3 teams while searching for CPs on the way to Rocky Point on Lake Blue Ridge. Most of the CPs were about 200 meters north of the UTMs given in the race instructions. A quick long boat and strategic portage allowed the team to pass Team Georgia Mountain Heath and leave the water in 3rd place.

Now the next twist, the team couldn't leave this TA until the support crew also left. With 3rd place and a trophy that would rival any other award on our mantel in sight, we loaded the boat on the van in record time and all were off. A short 4.5 mile ride to the finish was an all out sprint. With only 9 minutes separating the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place teams at the finish, this was one of the most competitive races the team has done. With good friends on the teams that finished 1st, 2nd, 4th, and many others, it was like a party at the finish & a great band, good food and the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains in the background & who could ask for more?