Monday, May 10, 2010

LBL challenge report from race director

Jason of Bonk Hard Racing gave the following report of the 2010 LBL Challenge in his newsletter.

The LBL Challenge 12-Hour and 24-Hour adventure races took place on April 10-11 at the Land Between the Lakes, in western Kentucky. The weather was absolutely beautiful with the high at 72 degrees and the sun was shining the entire weekend.

The 12-Hour and 24-Hour racers both started at 7AM on Saturday morning. Race Headquarters was located at Birmingham Ferry (on Pisgah Bay), and we had the entire backside of the campground reserved for the race.

Nearly 200 racers lined up at the starting line for the playing of our National Anthem and some last minutes notes. 24-Hour teams and 12-Hour teams were headed in different directions at the start, but they all had the same goal – to do the best they could and have fun doing it.

12-Hour racers started with a 4 mile running and orienteering leg, and had to find 4 checkpoints along the way, before returning to Race H.Q. The four CPs could be found in any order. The 4-Person team, The Juggernauts, finished this leg in a very fast 56 minutes! The were followed very closely by the team Iowa Wolfpack, who finished one minute behind them. It was a battle for first place, and with the top 3 teams finishing within 4 minutes of each other, it would be a battle the entire day!

Once teams returned to Race H.Q., they started a 15 mile biking leg. This biking leg included about 6 miles of fun singletrack. The rest was jeep roads, gravel roads and paved roads. This biking leg led teams to Taylor Bay Campground where canoes were waiting for them. The 4-Person team, FollowNoOne, and the 2-Person team, Brewer Science, recorded the fastest times on this biking leg, completing the 15 miles in 1 hour and 45 minutes. This put FollowNoOne in a dead-even tie for first place with Iowa Wolfpack at Taylor’s Bay. Teams dropped their bikes, grabbed their PFDs and prepared for the upcoming 7 mile paddle on Lake Barkley and Energy Lake.

Teams paddled south on Lake Barkley for about 4 miles, getting a CP in a cove along the way, and arrived at the eastern boat ramp of the Energy Lake Dam. Teams had to portage their canoe across the dam to the western boat ramp, and continue paddling another 3 miles on Energy Lake. Team FollowNoOne posted the fastest paddling time, finishing the 7 mile paddle in a time of 1 hour and 38 minutes, putting 7 minutes on Iowa Wolfpack. Teams would now face a 4.5 – 5 mile trekking leg back to Taylor’s Bay Campground.

It ended up that team Iowa Wolfpack finished the trekking leg 7 minutes faster than team FollowNoOne, in a time of 1 hour and 26 minutes, which put them – once again – in a dead-even tie for first place at Taylor’s Bay! But the big news was the 4-Person team Forum Dental, who finished the trekking leg in 1 hour and 17 minutes, and closed the gap on the top 2 teams. Forum Dental arrived at Taylor’s Bay a mere 7 minutes behind the top teams. They knew they would have to push extremely hard on the final bike leg to have a chance at catching the top 2 teams. They had no intention of slowing down on the upcoming 15 mile biking leg, and they had every intention of making FollowNoOne and Iowa Wolfpack earn it.

I can only imagine how hard these top 3 teams were pushing each other on this final biking leg. And in the end, crossing the finish line 7 hours and 31 minutes after the race started, was the 4-Person Co-ed team FollowNoOne! Three minutes later, team Iowa Wolfpack crossed the finish line taking 2nd Place Overall! Only one minute behind Iowa Wolfpack, team Forum Dental crossed the finish line for a very solid 3 Place Overall! A huge congratulations to Laura Scherff, William Scherff, Ken Debeer and Joe Perry, of the team FollowNoOne, on winning the LBL Challenge 12-Hour!

12-Hour : 4-Person:
1. FollowNoOne – 7:31
2. Iowa Wolfpack – 7:34
3. Forum Dental – 7:35
4. Guinness for Breakfast / Trace Bikes – 9:14
5. The Juggernauts – 9:22

12-Hour : 2-Person:
1. American Flyers – 8:41
2. Cuttahotha – 8:45
3. Moose Knuckles – 9:14
4. Team Brewer Science – 9:19
5. That’s Gonna Leave a Mark – 9:43

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