Battling Exhaustion, Mud, and Crisco

Standing on my friend’s head, I’m clinging to the top of a 10-foot-high, Crisco-covered wall, in the dark, while strangers climb over me to get to the top.

Welcome to Adventure Racing
Say “adventure race,” and most people think of brutal events like the Eco-Challenge, a televised multi-day event held each year in exotic places like Patagonia or Borneo. Teams of four people race through the wilderness for a week or more, sometimes on foot, other times mountain biking, canoeing, rappelling, or whatever the race organizer decides. For competitors, this kind of adventure racing involves a huge physical and financial commitment.

But this young sport is expanding to include weekend warriors with such events as the Hi-Tec Adventure Racing Series, featuring scaled-down races in accessible locations. This is how I found myself hanging from that greasy wall.

A Different Kind of Amusement Park
Across Interstate 5 from the famed Magic Mountain theme park in Southern California sits Lake Castaic, a mecca for boaters from Los Angeles’ northern suburbs. Steep, grass-covered hills surround the lakeshore, echoing the forms of the massive roller coasters a short distance away. The quiet desolation of the parched hills contrasts sharply with the thrill-seekers who crowd the amusement park. Yet each year, on the last weekend of October, crowds flock to the shores of Lake Castaic for another kind of amusement: the national championship of the Hi-Tec series.

What’s the Race all About?

Events are performed in teams of three, with prize money reserved for coed teams (in any combination). The team completes the entire race together, with penalties assessed to teams that fail to stay together during any part of the race. Each race includes mountain biking, trail running, and kayaking (in inflatable kayaks), but the order and the distances of each leg are revealed only minutes before the start of the race. Races are designed to be completed within three to seven hours. The kicker: Every race contains a number of “special tests,” which range from somewhat cerebral to purely athletic. Designed to force teams to work together to solve a problem, these tests are legendary on the Hi-Tec circuit. During race preparations, you’re apt to overhear one team telling another team: “Hey, did you hear that they let the air out of everybody’s mountain bike tires at the race in Pittsburgh?” or “They bussed in Army soldiers from Camp Pendleton to bark at the people doing the mud crawl.”

Racing at Night?
As if the format of the Hi-Tec races weren’t enough to plumb the depths of our fitness, the race directors decided to start the race in late afternoon, so that a majority of the race would be conducted in the dark. We decided to scope out the course in the daylight to see if we could discover anything about those special tests. Down on the beach near the finish line, hulking structures stood beneath huge blue tarps, concealed from the prying eyes of competitors. A tarp covering one of the structures had blown free in the stiff wind to reveal a tall cargo-net ladder. But the other obstacles remained well hidden. We would have to wait until the race to see what was in store.

One hour before race start, we joined 300 other teams beneath a huge tent to hear the race director reveal the order of the events. “The first event,” he proclaimed as everyone held his or her breath, “is...a nine-mile MOUNTAIN BIKE!” A murmur rippled through the crowd. The distance was shorter than we’d expected. “Next, you’ll do a three-mile KAYAK.” Whoa. That was a lot longer than we thought we’d have to paddle. “Last is an eight-mile RUN.” That too was longer than we expected, especially considering it would be pitch black by then.

Make Like Worms
A half-hour later, we were being herded toward the starting chute on the beach. My usual pre-race jitters were compounded by the mystery of the special tests. What lay beneath those huge blue tarps? As we stood crammed together like a 900-head herd of cattle, a troupe of race volunteers appeared carrying piles of sealed manila envelopes. Each team was handed an envelope, then the race director’s voice boomed over the microphone. “You have 30 seconds to open your envelopes and read what’s inside. After that the race will begin.”

In 1999, there were 10 Hi-Tec Adventure Races around the U.S. Check here to find our more about the upcoming racing season. A few other adventure-racing Web sites: http://www.ecochallenge.com http://www.raid-gauloises.com http://www.beastoftheeast.com http://www.scarabs.homestead.com For a list of links to adventure races, schools, teams, gear, etc., visit: http://tor-pw1.netcom.ca/~ceaston/adventure.html