Goomna 2004

Note: Big Shark Racing and Gateway Adventure both entered teams in the Goomna. This report is written from the perspective of Big Shark.

�It's just a little local race � about three hours.� That was the description David Frei gave me when asking me to join his team for the Goomna Adventure Race in Highland, IL. As he was on the winning team last year, I figured he was a reliable source of information. It sounded like fun and I didn't have anything else going on, so I said yes. Our third member was Yvonne Deyo, who also did the race with David last year. Kate and Olivia form our cheering section.

Like most adventure races, the Goomna is comprised of three major disciplines (running, biking, and paddling) with a few �special challenges� thrown in. The course is not marked, so you have to follow a map to each checkpoint. This event starts at 3:00 PM and headlamps are required (although we figured we would be done before needing ours). The race is unsupported and the organizers do two drops: the bikes go to the first exchange, and the life vests and paddles go to the canoes. Other than that, we have to carry everything we need.

We get the maps an hour before the start. The second part of the course is already plotted and it is immediately obvious that this will not be a three-hour event. After we get done plotting our points for the first half of the race it's looking a lot more like six hours. We reevaluate our food stores and put a few more Gu's in our packs.

David decides that since I have to have the maps for the bike portion (I'll be riding lead), that I might as well navigate for the whole race. I'm a bit surprised by this, as David is almost always the navigator for his team (as am I, but this is technically David's team). At any rate, it hardly matters since the navigation for this event appears quite easy.

After some brief pre-race instructions, the race gets underway. We move into the lead immediately, but several teams stay close behind us as we run through Highland. The running is all on roads and it's hard not to feel a bit silly running through a town carrying a pack, wearing a bike helmet, and towing a woman behind you. We try to adopt grim faces to show any onlookers that we mean business. David is towing Yvonne with a ridiculously long bungee so she is about 10 feet behind us. I feel bad for her so I tell David I'm going to drop back and keep her company. It turns out she doesn't want any. The running is the hardest discipline for her and she is trying to focus on the task.

We get to the first check with about a minute lead and double that by the second. Or, I should say, the spot where the second check is supposed to be. In the only organizational snafu of the race, there's no marker in sight. A quick scan of the map reveals two possible locations where the control could be misplaced. We choose the one closer to the next check, figuring that if we find it there, we won't have lost any time. Luck is with us and we find the control about half a mile down the road. The next team behind us guesses wrong and heads off east rather than south. We feel bad for them because there was really no way to know.

By the time we get to the first exchange, we've covered about 10 miles on pavement. We get through the transition reasonably quickly and spot the next team as we are leaving. It looks like our lead is up to about five minutes.

For the biking, I ride lead with David in my draft. Yvonne is drafting off David and also using the tow. We make good progress, particularly on the headwind section although I'm getting a little concerned about how much effort I'm putting out. Still, this should be our strongest discipline, so we need to increase the gap.

Shortly before the fifth control, we find that a road that was on the map has since disappeared. We can see where the road used to go, but it's now all grass and appears to be private property. We have to double back, adding about a mile and a half. We wonder how many other teams will have the same problem. Our route was not the most direct, but it looked fastest when accounting for climb. Now it's going to be about 5 minutes slower. Nothing we can do but press on.

Shortly before finishing the first bike section, David and Yvonne get the tow crossed up and break the fishing rod that holds the towrope to David's seat. We'll have to rely on just drafting for the remainder of the event. I'm not too worried about it because Yvonne is strong enough on the bike that the tow isn't much help. With the detour, our route for the first bike section is a bit over 17 miles and we are still in the lead.

The next event is the obstacle course. We do a wheelbarrow race with me holding David's legs and Yvonne guiding as I'm blindfolded. Then it's a four-legged race that we are pretty quick at. We build a bridge using planks and paint buckets where you can't touch the ground while building it. Then there's a water balloon toss where we have 1 minute to get as many balloons in tact into a bucket about 30 feet away. Each one will deduct a minute from our time. David tosses me a bunch of them, but I only manage to catch six without breaking. The final event is a logic puzzle that we have to solve in 5 minutes or suffer a 10-minute penalty. David and Yvonne leave me on my own, but it's not too hard and I get it in about 2 minutes. As we head back to get our bikes, the next team is just starting the obstacle course. That puts our lead at about 12 minutes. I refill my Camelbak and we are off again on bikes.

We pedal a couple more miles on pavement up to the dam at the base of Highland Silver Lake and then to the trailhead for the off-road section. The 2-mile singletrack isn't particularly technical, but it's still the weakest leg for us. Even if we hadn't broken the tow, the trail is too narrow for that. Yvonne and I do our best to get through quickly while David's expert mountain bike skills are squandered. At least he gets a rest.

At the end of the trail we have to ferry our bikes across the lake. We decide to load all three bikes into the canoe for the first trip across. David and I paddle off, leaving Yvonne to take a rest. It's about an 8-minute paddle to the other side and while the navigation is fairly straightforward, I do have to stop and look at the map a few times to make sure we go in the right inlet. We unload the bikes and David suggests that I stay and put them back together while he goes back for Yvonne. I'm happy to have the rest as I'm really not feeling well.

After he leaves I realize that I've only eaten one packet of Gu during the almost four hours of racing. I curse myself for making such a novice mistake and quickly down another. The race director is at the drop and tells me that one of the teams got all 15 water balloons. Apparently, we should have read the directions more carefully; the rules didn't put any restrictions on the third teammate so we could have just had Yvonne carry the balloons.

As I'm putting the wheels back on the bikes, I hear on the director's radio that the second team has just left in the canoe. They've cut our lead to 10 minutes. If they're the ones that got all the balloons, we have a really close race on our hands. A few minutes later I hear a query coming over the radio from the safety boat in the lake. �The second place team missed the inlet. Should I stop them?� The director chuckles and says they have to figure it out for themselves. It's a huge break for us. By the time they've recovered and arrived with their bikes, David and Yvonne have almost caught them. As they paddle back to get their third teammate, we mount up and head off for the last biking section with a nice lead.

The snack and rest has me feeling better and I get back on the big gear for the last 10 miles of biking. Now that we're back on roads, David settles in behind me again. As I expected, Yvonne keeps up just fine without the tow. Both controls are easy to find and we also locate a water spigot in a farmer's front yard that we use to replenish our dwindling supply. From the exchange, we have to portage the canoe a few hundred meters to the lake. Then it's off on the long paddle down the narrow lake back to the dam.

Measured straight line, it's about 5 miles but the 1:100,000 USGS map we've been given doesn't show all the islands and sand bars in the lake. We seem to be constantly crossing from one side of the lake to the other to stay in deep water. The sun is setting and I'm finding it difficult to match the features on the side of the lake with the rough contours on the map. We are feeling pretty confident, but it would only take one big mistake to let the other teams back in it.

The paddle takes well over an hour and by the end it's getting quite dark. We break out our headlamps for the final 3-mile run to the finish. David and I decided to leave our running shoes at the first exchange rather than carry them the whole race, so we run in our mountain bike shoes. Yvonne has changed back into her running shoes during the paddle.

As we get into Highland we wonder what last-minute surprise the organizers may have for us (adventure races often throw you a curve right at the end). We soon find out as we are stopped by a race volunteer and told we have to descend through a manhole cover into the sewers. It's only about 8 feet down, but I'm feeling wobbly enough that I ask David to go first so he can help guide us down the tiny ladder (utility workers are apparently more dexterous than I give them credit for). The pipe is just big enough that we can walk hunched over. Although there is some water in the bottom, it's remarkably clean for a sewer and after about 200 meters we come out the end of the drain.

From there it's an easy run into the finish where a surprisingly enthusiastic crowd greets us. The clacking of our cycling shoes on the pavement had alerted them to our arrival several blocks away. We still have to wait to see if the water balloon bonus will be enough for the second place team to beat us. Our time is 6 hours 14 minutes and when 6:30 comes and goes, we celebrate our win. As it turns out, it was the third place team that got the big bonus and it was enough to move them into second by less than a minute (what heartbreak!)

Afterwards, we are treated to a great dinner and drinks at the Marx Brothers Tavern. Every so often we hear a round of applause as another team comes in. Everybody seems in good spirits (even Olivia who is up WAY past her bedtime) and there is universal consent that it was a great race. Kate also reports that the spectator controls at the first exchange, the obstacle course, and the end of the long paddle were also nicely arranged to make it a fun race to watch. I give this one a big recommendation for anyone wanting to try adventure racing.