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2007
Races |
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2007
Lewis and Clark Adventure Race
www.ozarkadventurerace.com
www.urbanadventurerace.com |
| Race
Date: November 10, 2007 |
Type:
1 Day Race/ Sprint Race |
Classes/Division:
Solo, 3 Person Coed/ Premier, Master |
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Location:
Fayetteville, Arkansas |
Placed: Official
Finish - Ranking Pending |
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History: |
| Lewis
and Clark Adventure Race Coming Soon!
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2007
Raid the Rock
www.raidtherock.com |
| Race
Date: October 27, 2007 |
Type:
1 Day Race |
Classes/Division:
Solo, 3 Person Coed/ Premier, Master |
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Location: North Little
Rock, Arkansas |
Placed: Official
Finish - Teams Ranked 6th, 12th and 13th |
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History: |
| Raid
the Rock Review Coming Soon!
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2007
Berryman Adventure Race
www.berrymanadventure.com |
| Race
Date: September 29th, 2007 |
Type:
1 Day Race and 36 Hour Race |
Classes/Division:
Solo, 2 Person, 4 Person Premier, Master |
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Location: Little
Rock, Arkansas |
Placed: Official
Finish - 25th (12 hour) 2nd (36 hour) |
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History: This was
the largest turnout to date for participation at this event. An
estimated 250 racers turned out to participate in the event. |
| Berryman
Adventure Review Coming Soon!
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2007
Assault on the Spa
www.dltmultisport.com/assault |
| Race
Date: February 24, 2007 |
Type:
1 Day Race |
Classes/Division:
Solo, 2 and 3 Person / Premier, Master |
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Location: Little
Rock, Arkansas |
Placed: Official
Finish - 1st Solo Division/ Unofficial Finish - DNF 2 Person Coed |
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History: This is
the events third year. |
| Assault
on the Spa Review Coming Soon.
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2006
Raid the Rock
www.raidtherock.com |
| Race
Date: October 21, 2006 |
Type:
1 Day Race |
Classes/Division:
Solo, 3 Person Coed/ Premier, Master |
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Location: Little
Rock, Arkansas |
Placed: Official
Finish - Ranking Pending |
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History: This is
the 6th running of the Raid the Rock Adventure Race. Race directors
are three time USARA National champions. |
| Raid
the Rock has always had a way to incorporate the interesting
features of our home into their races. Ozark Extreme fielded two
teams in this years race. The race start was one that will be unique
in the history of adventure racing. At 4am teams met at the starting
area at a local lock and dam. We were instructed to get our canoes
and "stage" at the outside of the lock. We then moved as a
group into the lock. The water was raised with all of us in there
and then the lock doors opened for the race start and we were off.
The race took us about 6 miles up the Little Maumelle River to
collect a checkpoint then return to and area about a mile up from
where we started. The canoeing section was pretty neat, as this was
an area we all have paddled many times before, but this time was in
the dark. Once we returned from the canoeing section we
transitioned to foot for a navigation section. The navigation
section had plenty of neat features that most of us didn't know existed.
Most of the checkpoints were the standard "in the woods"
checkpoints with two exceptions. One checkpoint was in the middle of
a long drainage tunnel and the other required a walk and then a
crawl through a quarter mile of drainage tunnel in which the clearance
diminished towards the end. Once we completed the first navigation
section, we transitioned to bikes. As we came out of the previous
section we were also handed the rest of our course coordinates. We
plotted the points and took off on our bikes. Just into the bike
section we stopped for the rappel. Little Rock had just opened a
large pedestrian bridge just a few weeks earlier, we were excited to
see that we would be able to rappel off of the new bridge. We
rappelled about 50 feet to the ground, checked out and then took off
on our bikes again. The biking section took us through the Cooks
Landing area where we were met with our first race problem...four
flat tires. Apparently somewhere we all hit something and
punctured our tires. I got the worst of it with both tires popped.
We all three changed the tubes and patched the remaining tire. Then
took off determined to finish the course on time. We pushed through
the biking section noting some spectacular views and great terrain.
We ended in Burns Park where we transitioned to foot for our final
navigation section. We flew through the last navigation section to
finish in just barely under 12 hours. This was a great race and one
that we will all remember for its "unique" features. A
great thanks goes out to all of the race directors who put on this
race every year. |
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Race Date:
April
8, 2005
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Type:1 day race
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Classes/ Division:
Solo, 3 & 4 Person
Coed |
| Location: Cass,
Arkansas |
Placed: Unranked/
DQ |
| History: This is the 9th
race of the Ozark Challenge. Ozark Challenge was Arkansas' first
adventure race. |
| This was a unique year for the organizers of the Ozark Challenge. This years race did not include the normal 24 hour race. We learned early that the USFS had denied the organizers permits for the use of the land used in the 24 hour race. As race day came closer we heard that the race was to be held on private property only. This was a huge change for this years race, as in the past the sprint division was as challenging as the 24 hour race. On race day we showed up ready for
anything. Our race started with a "mystery checkpoint" where we had to collect our first set of race maps. The race started and we were off. We picked up our map and learned that we needed to be on our bikes, so we collected our gear and took off. The biking course was along some older 4 wheeler roads and local dirt roads. Later in the course we found that the race directors had cut in some new single-track. This was a difficult and tricky course as in some places you were biking next to some steep drop offs. Once we completed our biking course
we were given the second set of race maps. We then took off for the paddling section. We had decided to split our 3 person team into two canoes. Myself in one and Adrienne and Alicia in the other. We were about half way through the canoeing section on the Mulberry river. The river was up and the rapids were running pretty fast. We thought we had gotten then hang of the river when we came to an "s" turn with rocks and rapids all over. Adrienne and Alicia went first. As I was starting in just behind them one of them got clothes lined
by an overhanging branch which caused them to flip and land them in the water. I watched as they cleared anything that could have hurt them, but in my attempt to stay out of their way I got myself into a bad situation. My canoe hit a log jam and flipped over pinning the canoe against the jam. I looked up to see Alicia standing on the bank with Adrienne no where in sight. Alicia took off to check on Adrienne while I worked on getting my canoe out. It was stuck and with the water rushing into it, wasn't going anywhere. I retrieved my gear
from the boat and headed out to see if the girls had any luck. I quickly learned our situation was true to the nature of adventure racing in that "if things can go totally wrong, they will and often do!". I rounded the corner to see that the girls canoe had flipped and gotten lodged under a rock in the middle of the river and all of their gear had continued on down the river without us. What rotten luck! We struggled for an hour trying to get either of the canoes out before we finally hiked out to the road and was picked up by the race staff.
We all were thankful that we made it out okay, but were all bummed out about not being able to finish the race. It sucked, but we were pulled from the race by the race staff and were given a "Did not finish (DNF)" ranking. Maybe next year. |
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2005
Raid the Rock Adventure Race |
| October 15th, 2005 |
1 day race |
Classes/ Divisions: Solo
and Coed |
| Location: Little Rock,
Arkansas |
Placed: 32nd |
| History: This is the 5th
running of Raid the Rock. |
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This
was the 5th running of the Raid the Rock Adventure Race and it was
obvious that the race directors wanted to make this race unique from
all the others...they succeeded. Early, and we mean early, on
Saturday October 15th we met up at a location only disclosed a few
minutes before leaving the pre-race meeting on Friday night. Teams
met up and set up transition areas not knowing if we were to use
them. At the race start basic instructions were given to teams and
we lined up for the start. For the start each team had to send one
person to pick up our race packet which included our race
instructions, passports, and maps. Once we collected our packet...it
was off to the transition area to plot our points. Just as a note,
the race directors used a 1:25,000 map instead of the 1:24,000 that
we usually have used in past years. Already prepared for this, as
they told al racers way before the race, we plotted all of our
checkpoints and set off to make the first section. The first section
of the race was a rogaine style navigation course. The points were
well placed as you had to be accurate to find them. Once completing
the first section and returning to the transition, we set off on our
bikes for the biking section which took us through Burns Park in
North Little Rock. The biking section was great as plenty of single
track kept us busy. Once completing the single track sections, we
were moving along the paved river trail. Once nearing the city we
stopped for our ropes section. Teams arriving at this part were
required to split one member from their team and have them swim to
and climb a cargo net suspended over the Arkansas River from an old
railway bridge. Other team members climbed either a rope ladder or
cargo net, from the ground, up to the bridge. Once all teammates
made it to the top we rappelled into the cool, okay somewhat chilly,
water of the river. After completing this section we finished our
biking section at our transition area and switched to the canoeing
section. This section took us across the Arkansas River and down a
small creek called Fouche Creek. Our team spent a fair amount of
time during the canoeing section and definitely felt happy when we
were out of it. Once we finished the canoeing section, we had to
transition to the last section which was a rogaine section. The
navigation was tougher than the previous section and we spent some
time finding only a few checkpoints. Somewhere along this section
our team made the decision to finish without all of the
checkpoints.
Overall
I don't know how you can stress how well organized and planned this
race is. Every year we return to be amazed that there are still
areas in our home town that we didn't know about. As before we
highly recommend this race to everyone. Great race direction, staff,
and planning makes this race one to look forward to each year.
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2005
Ozark Challenge Adventure Race |
| April
8 & 9, 2005 |
1 or 2 day race |
Classes/ Division:
4 Person
Coed |
| Location: Cass,
Arkansas |
Placed: Unranked |
| History: This is the 8th
race of the Ozark Challenge. Ozark Challenge was Arkansas' first
adventure race. |
| The
race directors of Ozark Challenge again raised the bar for adventure
races in Arkansas. Our race started with a tough navigation course
that moved our team over some breathtaking landscapes. The
navigation was really tough within the trekking section and at times
seemed like we were not moving anywhere. This years race was a different
format, with the ropes sections being mixed into the course in separate
locations. During the trekking section teams had to complete a rappel,
cross a river on a zip line, and climb as they continued through the
race. We originally weren't thrilled with the idea of carrying more
gear (such as our climbing gear) but found that we really liked the
sections being mixed in the course. Once completing a trekking
course with approx 2000 feet of elevation change, we started on the
first leg of the canoe section. The trick was to complete the first
canoeing section by 5:30pm, so that we could continue on the second
paddling section. Our team did not make the dark zone and we were
forced to camp out overnight. We were given our coordinates for the
next day and the biking section. Once we plotted the coordinates and
checked the terrain, it was decided that we did not have enough time
to complete the biking section before we had to leave. As our team
talked about the next day, we decided to take the penalties of not
collecting checkpoints and simply ride to the race finish for a
"technical finish". The next morning we all converged at
the race start to learn that only 8 of the 24 sprint teams made it
through the cutoff. That morning only four teams met at the start
for the next day of racing. Somewhere in the meeting, our plan got
out and the race directors nixed our plans of a 'technical
finish". Our team was forced to stop there. The race was
expertly setup and the course was really tough. We really liked the
continuous format of this years race (if you made the dark zone
cutoff) and the integration of various the ropes sections into the race
course. It is obvious the caliber of race that Ozark Challenge
provides, as there were more teams from all over the country than I
have seen at a local race before. |
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