Great Seal Adventure Race at Lake Hope Results

The Great Seal Adventure Race at Lake Hope began for us the day before. We decided to set the entire course on Sat.  This is the first time we set an entire course in one day prior the event. Whew!! It worked!! We finished setting the course at 8:30pm Sat. night. After that we  planned on setting around a campfire and eating and chatting all night. To our surprise another challenge cropped up. THUNDERSTORM!  Remember we are both over 40 and don't tent camp any more...Chuck forgot the hotdogs!!.....The tent is on a hill....everythings wet....no campfire....no hotdogs...no soft bed.....NO SLEEP... Let's say it together "CHALLENGING"!!!! We finally gave up on sleep about 5:30 am and got up to set up for the days event. We were camping near some racers and when we got up Team Triad was gone....bailed out...whisk away in the storm...moved to a motel...who knows..just gone. By now the storm was long gone and shaped up to be a beatiful Lake Hope morning. So off we went after packing up and draining water out of everything we had. Oh yea...no fire...no hot breakfast! So we go anyway..set out signs...set out canoes...set the last water checkpoint....set up the table and scoreboard...no big challenges yet...maybe the day is going be perfect!?!? We get to 7:30 and we are ready for registration sign-ins and racers begin to trickle in. Gets to 8:30 and we are missing many racers that signed up. I guess they had some challenges arise and could not make it...or the storm scared them off. Oh well the race must go on! 8:45 everyone arrived at the start line ready for the 8 hour challenge. Promptly at 9am the racers were sent on their way. The first leg was a trail run which required them to follow the Sidewinder trail for more than 3 miles with some twisties and climbs. While on the run 5 CP's were availible to collect 10 points each. We had an option to bail out of running after collecting only 2 CP's. We had a few choose this option and returned early to get ready for the paddle section. The ones that punched all 5 CP's began returning in about 36 minutes. We thought the run would seperate the pack..well it did by a minute or 2. We knew we had a strong race group and it was going to be a close finish... the challenge was still in the early stages. Next was the padlle...the teams were required to use canoes instead of their own ultra-light 3,000 dollar investments (sorry). This will keep an evenly matched paddle section. Solo's were able to use their own watercraft. The racers tranistioned out of the cove near the start line in some pretty flowering lilly pads. While on the paddle 5 CP's were availible to punch. Again only 2 were required to be ranked. If all 5 CP's are punched 4+ miles should be covered. Cp's 21, 22 and 23 were easy to find and get to. Cp's 24 and 25 were a bit more challenging due to the pretty lilly pads that are attached to the lake bottom by a rope like stem which tends to get wrapped around your paddle. At CP 24 everyone was required to beach the boat and run a "O" course on the penninsula. Chuck and Mark awaited racers here where they traded the paddle card with the "O" card and off they went. And still a really tight race, see the time splits. Cp 25 was strategically placed up the feeder channel of the lake, hidden behind cattails and undergrowth. This was a challeng of finding the correct channel. We had to move this CP due to a newly built beaver dam upstream. The "O" course was the third event and began at the paddle CP 24. Again 5 CP's were palced on the pennisula and only 2 were required to be ranked and must be punched in numerical order. A 3+ mile trail runs the perimeter of the peninsula and we used this as our guide since we had to keep out of the cabin area at the center. Since all CP's were only about 30 yards off the trail we upped the challenge factor by using 3" CP markers that were a dull orange. You can be a few feet away from these and still not see them. This proved to be pretty cool, we planned on this to take about 45 minutes if your navigation was right on. See the time splits, only 2 teams and 2 solos made it at estimated times. Once they finished.... back to the boats...finish paddle CP's....then back to transition to bikes. On the mountain bike section 5 CP's were placed on the trail system and only 2 were required to be ranked. Racers were able to choose their own route and collect CP's in any order. Lake Hope's trail system is one of the best in the state even after a night of pouring rain. Racers were able to travel about 12 - 20 miles collecting CP's. Looking at the time splits biking seemed to be the event that began the seperation of the group. Once biking was completed racers transitioned onto the rogaine finish.  5 CP's were ready to be found by the top racers. Only 2 were required to be ranked. Some CP's were easy to find but proved to be challenging to get. CP 51 was placed on and island in a swampy area created by beavers. This was set before the previous nights rain. We heard many stories of swimming in waist deep muck to punch CP51. CP52 proved to be a navigation challenge if you look for it from the bottom. This was the deal breaker for a few racers and some had to look for 30 minutes or so but found it.We verified the location while picking up and we are 100% certain it is correct. The rogaine CP's were about spread out and required dead on navigation and the ability to run long distance. 2 teams and 1 solo were able to locate all 5. The 4 hour course began at 1pm. We ran this event freestyle. Racers were able to pick up CP's in any order by any method. (one team pushed the limits) Each team could play to their personal strengths. After talling points and times we announced the winners after a very delicious cookout. We gave out prizes provided by Polar Bottle and Pricepoint. What a finish!!!! What a CHALLENGE!!! Congrats to all that finished the challenging course. Thank-you to all the participants, volunteers, Lake Hope and sponsors. We believe this event was very successful.       Gamera & Godzilla 8 Hour Team Division TEAM NAME                #         TRAIL       PADDLE       O COURSE       BIKE       ROGAINE       TOTAL       GAMERA & GODZILLA 311 50 50 50 50 50 250 4:42 SLIGO 312 50 50 50 50 50 250 4:46 RIDERS UP 309 50 50 50 50 30 230 4:14 TOPO ADVEN. SPORTS 306 50 50 50 50 30 230 4:45 OUT OF REACH 302 40 50 50 50 10 200 5:00 TRAIL TRASH 310 40 50 50 50 20 187 5:13 TEAM CLYDESDALE 301 40 50 50 50 20 184 5:16 SWITCHBACK 308 40 50 50 20 20 180 4:37 Time Splits TEAM NAME # TRAIL PADDLE O COURSE BIKE ROGAINE TOTAL RIDERS UP 309 0:38 1:06 1:12 2:21 1:57 7:14 SWITCHBACK 308 0:37 1:08 1:12 1:55 2:45 7:37 GAMERA & GODZILLA 311 0:37 1:01 0:46 2:27 2:51 7:42 TOPO ADVEN. SPORTS 306 0:36 1:09 1:03 2:26 2:31 7:45 SLIGO 312 0:43 0:58 1:07 2:38 2:20 7:46 OUT OF REACH 302 0:37 1:13 1:16 2:59 1:55 8:00 TRAIL TRASH 310 0:36 1:08 1:07 3:41 1:41 8:13 TEAM CLYDESDALE 301 0:37 1:09 0:45 3:35 2:10 8:16 _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ "Flyin' Squirell" Stephanie Ross 8 Hour Solo Division NAME # TRAIL RUN PADDLE O COURSE BIKE ROGAINE TOTAL Final Time STEPHANIE ROSS 323        50 50 50 50 30 230 4:59 KATHY JO 314        50 50 50 20 50 220 4:46 JAKE ELMER 315        50 50 50 50 20 220 4:49 GARY DUNHAM 318        50 50 50 50 30 207 5:13 BILL PLESSINGER 317        50 50 50 30 20 200 4:47 COAR 330        20 50 50 40 20 180 4:47 BILL DONNELLY 325        50 50 50 20 20 176 5:04 JON RAUSCHENBACH 313        50 50 0 50 10 160 4:46 TODD JENISTA 326        20 50 50 40 20 147 5:23 DNF JIM DILL 320        30 20 20 20 0 90 4:49 DNF Time Splits NAME # TRAIL RUN PADDLE O COURSE BIKE ROGAINE TOTAL JIM DILL 320      1:08 0:53 0:47 1:47 DNF 4:35 KATHY JO 314      0:47 1:23 1:25 1:05 3:06 7:46 BILL PLESSINGER 317      0:55 1:13 1:00 2:27 2:12 7:47 COAR 330      0:17 1:09 1:14 3:23 1:44 7:47 JAKE ELMER 315      0:37 1:10 0:50 3:15 1:57 7:49 STEPHANIE ROSS 323      0:42 1:00 0:51 2:45 2:41 7:59 BILL DONNELLY 325      0:42 1:15 1:15 1:39 3:13 8:04 GARY DUNHAM 318      0:36 0:56 1:13 2:15 3:13 8:13 TODD JENISTA 326      0:17 1:39 1:23 3:00 DNF 8:23 JON RAUSCHENBACH 313      0:37 2:13 0:46 2:49 2:07 8:32 _______________________________________________________________________________________ Team Emmitt   "Let's go swimmin'" 4 Hour Event NAME # POINTS TIME       Finish   TEAM EMMITT    327   140   3:50   4:50 BILL MENKER 319 140 3:59 4:59 RIELY MCPHEE 328 120 3:07 4:07 MIKE DYCUS 329 110 3:29 4:29 TEAM MCCOOL 303 110 3:42 4:42 TRAIL TROTTERS 305 90 3:37 4:37