(story by Dayna with team "Don't Let The Booya Fooya" after the June 11 Women Rock race)
This weekend two friends and I spent 6 hours tromping around the Eagle
River Area looking for "flags." I believe there were 10 teams also
participating against us, I am not sure. The race is an adventure race called
Women Rock. Teams can be anywhere from 2 to 4 people, and the goal is to find
as many flags as you can and get to the finish line in 6 hours. We had to
paddle around the lake and get flags, pick up an egg floating in on the lake,
retrieve our stolen tire, then paddle back to our bikes, put the tire back on,
and proceed to find the rest of the flags. We had to bring our own maps, copy
the locations of the flags on to our maps, and then go find the flags. Each
flag has a punch attached to it that you have to punch your passport to prove
you did indeed find the flag, and the passport has clues to where the points
are. Some of the points were out in the open, some of them you had to make your
own path to. So really it is like a treasure hunt for Adults. The thing about
this race and the Winter Women Rock race, is that it is all women. The August
race is a co-ed event and I believe it is a 6, 12 or 24 hour race. I am not
positive.
The winter Women Rock was also a 6 hour event, and it was a crazy 6 hours.
We had to pull our teammate on a sled around Westchester,
and snowshoe around on the Westchester
trails finding flags. Then at the end they threw in a surprise event and we had
to dig around in knee deep snow to find a hidden dinosaur! It was crazy to say
the least! But we had a great time, and we worked together and got through.
Which I think is one of the main parts of the race.
The thing about this is I am an average person. This weekend is maybe the
second time I ever went mountain biking. I have competed in 3 triathlons, one
of which my husband and I were the second to last people finishing. I finished
the Gold Nugget in 2 hours. There is nothing extraordinary about me and my
teammates, except that we are out there doing it. The gear that is needed for
these races is not out of this world either. If you have done any backpacking
you probably have everything that is on the mandatory check list.
I said earlier that I had 2 teammates. My friend Leslie and I did the
Winter Women Rock alone, and were planning on doing this one just the two of us
also, but at the pre-race meeting we found out that Lauren's team bailed on
her. She came to the meeting hoping someone would pick her up. And we did.
Which is a big step for me, because I don't really like to meet new people. So
we picked up a complete stranger, but we made an awesome team. I know we will
do it again.
And our Race Director, Brian Richardson, is a pretty cool cat. An
adventure racer himself, he makes it all happen. EGADs Alaska
is his company. I have no idea what that stand for, but they are the people
that put this thing on. Not only does he put this stuff on for us, but he goes
above and beyond what is expected of a race director. You can call or email him
anytime with questions, he puts up with all these women, there had to be 15-20
of us at the pre-race meeting, at his house, trying to get info out of him for
the race, he is patient with us, and when the funds run out, he steps up and pay
for stuff out of pocket. And his wife competes with us too! We need sponsors
so he doesn't have to do that. Then at the end of it all he puts all the
pictures from the race for us and shares them with us, and invites us over for
an ice cream social, and picture viewing! I haven't had that at any of the
other races I have done!