Berryman Adventure 2004

Note: Both Big Shark Racing and Gateway Adventure entered Berryman. This report is written from the point of view of the Big Shark team.

The Berryman Adventure race bills itself as the Midwest�s Premier Adventure Race with the tag line of �A Real Ass Kicker.� By the end of this year�s edition, we would agree with both claims.

Although the time limit is 36 hours, it is clear from the course maps (distributed the night before) that the winning time will be less than half of that. Our team (Big Shark Racing) consists of Adventure Race neophytes Brad Baum and Doug Nishimura along with Yvonne Deyo and myself. Brad and Doug are both solid triathletes but neither have ever attempted a race this long.

The competition is fierce. Present are 2-time USARA champions Team Traveler from Arkansas. The Witness team from Iowa already has a USARA win this year. The local favorite is the Gateway Adventure team, which has considerably strengthened their solid 3-person squad (Jason Coleman, Jeff & Carrie Sona) with the addition of David Frei.

Nobody wants to get out of bed when the alarm goes off at 4:30AM, but we manage to get ourselves packed up for the drive from Bass River Resort to the start at Council Bluff Lake. We arrive with not much to spare and scramble to setup our transition area. Then we hustle down to the beach for the start at 6:45AM.

The first leg splits the team. Two people canoe the length of the lake while the other two run the trail along the shore. Yvonne and Brad head off on foot while Doug and I take the boat. Doug is still getting into his PFD when the race starts, but we know better than to panic over a few lost seconds so early in the race. We are the last team (of 27) to put in, but by the first buoy, we�ve moved into the top 10. By the top of the lake, we�re in a cluster of three boats about a minute behind the leaders (Traveler and Gateway).

To our surprise, the runners haven�t arrived yet. Apparently all the inlets added quite a bit of distance to the shoreline trail. We grab our gear from the boat and head down the trail to meet them. After about 5 minutes we come across the first runners heading back. Yvonne and Brad are only a minute behind the leaders. We trade them the paddling gear for the map and continue heading back towards the start. Yvonne and Brad will paddle a shorter route (they don�t have to round the buoy), so we assume they�ll still beat us back.

By the end of the run we�ve passed Gateway and Witness to move into second, or so we thought. David managed to find a shortcut through the woods to put Gateway into the lead. Naturally, he tosses a taunt my way as they head out (apparently the Buckley-Frei death match is still on!) While I�m a bit miffed that we gave away some time by not paying more attention to off-trail options, I�m also pretty pleased that we�re still with the leaders. Brad and Yvonne had the presence to run back to the car and get everything we need for the next section, so we only spend a couple minutes in the transition. We head out on the trek still in third.

By the first trekking control (Checkpoint 3), we�ve caught Gateway and spend the next few minutes side by side hurling insults at each other. It�s a long steep climb to Checkpoint 4 atop Johnson Mountain and after a while we all shut up and focus on the task at hand. By the summit, we�ve opened a small lead on them and after a long road run to Checkpoint 5 we�ve caught Traveler as well. We run with them to Checkpoint 6. Unlike Gateway, who greeted our presence with friendly barbs, they are all business. Of course, we just met them last night (they had the adjacent cabin), so we take no offense at their silence. Leaving #6 we take the lead and after a bit of trail running, head into the woods. Although the trail we�re on does eventually lead to the Checkpoint 7, it takes a much longer route, so I�m surprised when Traveler doesn�t follow us. Looking back as we head up a steep ridge I can still see them on the trail. They have stopped and appear to be re-thinking their decision. After a bit, they move on down the trail.

Alone in the lead for the first time, we keep a good pace over the ridge and pick up the trail again on the other side. After two more Checkpoints, we get back to the car at 10:57 AM, truly amazed that we�re doing this well. Our inexperience shows in the transition where we spend a full ten minutes getting ready for the mountain biking. Even though they arrive three minutes later, Witness manages to beat us out of the transition. Traveler and Gateway, who come in together seven minutes back, also trim the gap considerably. We compound the problem by choosing the slower route to the first biking control. Halfway there the routes converge and we see Traveler and Gateway ahead of us with Witness completely out of sight. First to fourth in less than a mile; welcome to reality.

The sensible play at this point would be to settle into a comfortable rhythm and wait to see which team can keep a good pace going for the seven hours of biking ahead of us. But, sensible people don�t generally sign up for these types of things so we switch into full-on attack mode. The single-track trail is somewhat technical, but we press on regardless. Traveler and Gateway are overcome by the same urgency and soon the teams are getting intermixed in a mad dash along the narrow trail. We pass Jeff Sona chuckling as he�s hauling his bike out of a deep ditch. Then we come across the entire Traveler team huddled around one of their teammates recovering from a fall. Ha-ha! It�s working! We�re gonna hammer them all! Whoops...

I do manage to get my hands off the bars and out in front of me, so my teeth do not take the full force of the impact as my face hits the rock. �Wow, that didn�t look good,� says David who�s leading the Gateway train behind us. After feeling around in my mouth and convincing myself that all the white chunks are where they are supposed to be, we saddle up again. As my bike landed on top of me, it�s undamaged. Doug suggests that maybe we should back it down a notch. The last 20 minutes sure have been exciting, but I have to agree. We won�t even finish if we keep this up.

We let Gateway go and a few miles later Traveler passes us as well. Still, we�re not far off the lead and the second half of the biking has more roads and less technical trail, so we expect to make good time. Unfortunately, about this time Yvonne starts to have trouble on the hills. This is very out of character for her, as the bike is usually her best event. It�s starting to look like we might have overcooked ourselves. With only five hours down and the heat of the day ahead of us, this is a very bad sign.

Checkpoint 12 is pretty much the end of the technical trail riding for us. We get there around 1:30 PM and Yvonne is not looking well. I�ve chosen to double back  to a fire road leaving 12 (many teams miss this route and stay on the Ozark Trail all the way to Checkpoint 13). On the way we encounter the Witness team. They look surprised to see us coming the other way and we�re surprised to see them at all. When did we pass them? There didn�t seem to be much route choice as we�ve been on the same trail for the last two hours.

We push our bikes through the woods for a hundred meters or so to get to the fire road and then decide to take a break. After about 20 minutes, Yvonne is feeling a bit better so we head out again. The fire roads to 13 are a bit different than what�s on the map, but we find it OK. As we roll into the Hazel Creek campsite we are told that we are in third; Traveler has just left and Gateway is 25 minutes up the road. Witness hasn�t yet arrived. This is very happy news considering our difficulties � it appears the fire road route was much faster than the trail.

After taking some time to eat and stocking up on supplies from our drop bag at the campground, we head out the wrong direction on the trail. By the time we catch the mistake and come back, Witness has arrived. Having learned nothing from our previous experience, we again push the pace a bit. Not only does this lead to another navigation error, but suddenly Brad is cramping badly. We get back on the right trail quickly and get some separation from Witness, but Brad�s situation does not look good.

A few miles later, Witness catches and passes us, only to blow another trail junction. The importance of navigating cleanly is very obvious. I tell Doug that as much as I�d like to help keep Brad and Yvonne going, I�ve got to focus on the map � we can�t afford to make this race any longer than it is. Doug is doing the best of all of us physically and he assumes the role of pushing and towing without complaint. It�s too late to limit the damage, though. With the day getting hotter, Brad�s cramps worsen and by 4:00PM it�s obvious that he won�t be able to finish in his current condition. We talk him into pushing on to the Berryman campground where we can rest again in relative comfort. The four miles of single track to the campground take almost an hour, but he does make it.

Witness and another team catch us just before the campground, so we�re now in fifth. Our focus is no longer on placing, but just figuring out how we can get healthy again and finish. It�s 5:00 PM, so we have 25 hours to cover what should be about 5-6 hours of course at race speed. Our required gear is enough to keep us warm through the night if necessary. The only concern is that if we stay too long we�ll all start running low on food. There�s really not much we can do but wait and see.

Brad spends the next two hours alternating between vomiting and cramping. It�s really hard to watch a teammate go through such agony knowing there�s nothing you can do for them. It�s even worse knowing that it was my own poor race management as captain that got us in this mess. As the sun sets, we lie down on picnic tables and try to get some sleep. Every so often, we hear another team come through. By 8:30 PM, Brad is moving around again and able to keep at least small quantities of food and water in his stomach. The temperature has dropped considerably and it�s looking like we might just be able to get to the end of this thing.

About this time, Gateway is getting to the end, having sealed the win with an outstanding bit of night navigation by David. It�s a niche skill to be sure, but if I needed someone to navigate quickly through ridge and valley terrain at night using a rough map when they were already tired, I�m pretty sure I�d take David over anybody else on this side of the world. Fortunately, most of our races aren�t so tightly constrained or I�d never beat him.

After another hour of nibbling and sipping, Brad�s ready to go. We take it very slowly, which is probably best since the darkness isn�t making it any easier for me to reconcile the mapping of the fire roads with reality (USGS maps are notorious for their �location approximate� roads and trails). We pass a couple of teams and when we reach the boats at midnight, we�re in tenth place.

We take our time in the transition area. We load our bikes and packs into the canoes, and pick out four paddles that aren�t too beat up (we have to use the race-supplied plastic canoe paddles this time since our nice Kayak paddles are back at Council Bluff). We hop in and push off into the darkness while one of the race volunteers (keeping warm the old-fashioned way) starts belting out some song about beer and farm animals.

When Race Director Keith Lay designed the course, he probably imagined a scene something like this: A team paddles along with determined strokes knowing the next team is close behind. Up ahead comes the unmistakable sound of rushing water. Headlamps are turned on high beam to try to pick out the best entrance to the rapids. Adrenaline pumps as the tired team guides the boats (top-heavy with the loads) through the chute and into the next pool. Sounds really exciting, doesn�t it?

Unfortunately, this scenario is predicated on getting some rain in the month preceding the event. While Courtios Creek never has enough water to be dangerous in the fall, this year it didn�t even have enough to be navigable. We paddle along for a few hundred meters only to run aground every time the speed of the water increases. Sometimes we can push through it by digging the paddles into the gravel streambed (I�m suddenly very glad that my carbon fiber Kayak paddle is safely back in the car) but often we have to hop out and push the boat until we get to the next pool. After six miles of this, it�s getting a bit old. The paddle takes the better part of two hours and when we arrive at Bass River Resort, I�m about ready to kiss the shoreline.

The entire resort is considered a transition area so, since we�re not in any rush, we head back to our cabin to sort out our gear for the last trekking section and get something to eat. The relative comfort of the �Cozy Cabin� (Bass River�s term for a room that makes submarine bunks look generous) causes us to dawdle a bit and we happily watch a few teams go by. After about half an hour we present ourselves at the start of the last trekking section and are told we�re in thirteenth place.

Running is still out of the question, but nobody complains when I set off at a brisk walk. Although the checkpoints are easy by orienteering standards, night navigation still gives us an opportunity to pass a few teams and end on a high note. We �spike� all four checkpoints and, despite taking a roundabout route back to camp to avoid a deep stream crossing, we finish with one of the better times for the section and move up to ninth. It�s 4:30 AM and, since I didn�t reset it, my watch alarm goes off telling us it�s time to get up.

While the middle part of the race is a bad dream that we would have preferred to wake up from, it certainly was fun to be sparring with some of the best teams in the country for the first five hours. The ability of Yvonne and Brad to recover and get to the finish was a valuable lesson in perseverance for us all. While we might have hoped for better, finishing in the top third of the field is certainly nothing we�re going to hang our heads about. I hope we can do more races together because I really enjoyed training and racing with this team.

As for the race itself, what can I say but to agree with the advertising? It�s the best race in the Midwest, and it kicked our ass.