Adidas Terrex Sting 5 Day Adventure Race Report

By Team GOALS ARA (Mark)

Team GOALS ARA (Brent Freedland, Abigail Perkiss, Thor Egerton, Mark Lattanzi) raced in the 5 day Adidas Terrex adventure race in late August in the bonnie highlands of Scotland. There were 36 coed teams of four at the race. This race had many highlights (historical places, grand views, amazing double rainbows, peat hags, stunning lochs, etc.) and we had a great time. No one was (seriously) injured and we all crossed the finish line together in 11th place! Overview

The course was a long one: 10 stages with many sub stages. Hereʼs a list. • 1-2 hour relay prologue • 10 km run • 80 km • 6 km • 30 km trail run • 40 km canoe • 30 km mountain bike • 1-2 hour canyonning • 90 km mountain bike Total Trekking:!!155km • 10 km course Total Mountain Biking: !370 km • 70 km mountain bike Total Paddling: !!100 km • 105 km trek Canyonning: !!2 hours • 40 km mountain bike Orienteering: !!3 hours • 60 km canoe • 60 km mountain bike Race Pre Planning and Logistics

Before the race, we are given a route book. It contains a copy of the race rules, the mandatory gear for each stage, and a general overview of each stage. We used the book for pre-race planning as well as during the race to guide us along.

There is a ton of stuff to do before the race even begins. Much of the gear has to be checked and inspected by race staff. We have to assemble and disassemble bikes. We had to set up our mandatory tent and all get into it.

We also had to go food shopping, get more duct tape (three times), and get all of the gear into the appropriate bags and boxes and turned into the race staff. Weʼd see it all again somewhere out on the course and itʼs important to have the right gear for each section. We use the route book for planning and create some more concise documents that we use for packing our gear bins and bike boxes - i.e. what goes where where and what do we need to remember to take along on each stage. For example, during stage 6C (mountain Biking), we needed to carry along our helmet for the two big rock scrambles as we had no other way to get it to the start of the state 7. Packing food is critical and hard work - as demonstrated by Abby taking a break from it. We estimate how much food we will need for each stage and then bag and label it for packing. Each bag contains a certain number of hours of food. We estimate the length of each stage and pack food accordingly. Too much food is bad as itʼs just extra weight to carry. Too little presents a different problem. We go over all the and annotate them for ease of use on the course and to look at various route choices during each section.

Bike boxes get packed last as we needed our bikes to get around Stirling.

We noticed we had a lot of shoes so we lined them all up and took a photo. Race Start

The race began on Sunday night with a fun relay prologue. Each team member had to do an event solo and the final combined team time was used to determine a timeout penalty to be served later on the course.

The race officially began on Monday morning from inside Stirling Castle! We ran out of the castle and over to the famous Wallace monument and then back to our bikes. Doune Castle

The first biking checkpoint was inside Doune Castle. We cycled to it and then we were given a floor plan of the castle. The checkpoint was up on the second floor inside a large fireplace.

Doune Castle is famously known as the castle in many of the Monty Python movies.

We, of course, clapped and galloped in on our horses to get the CP avoiding all the filthy kni-nigg-its. To Inchmahome Priory

The next checkpoint was in Inchmahome Priory - which is in the middle of Lake Menteith on a small island. We had to row out to the island. Row?! Really. Brent and I demonstrate our lack of rowing training. Many kilometers of biking (and pushing) later, we reach the grave site of Rob Roy and another checkpoint. Paddling The Length Of Loch Tay

We reach the small town of Killan and the first paddling stage on Loch Tay. We arrive, disassemble our bikes and pack them away into boxes, outfit our two and carry the boats to the edge of the loch. We decide to all paddle in one canoe and tow the other one behind us with all of our gear and packs in it. We debated for the entire first part of the paddle whether this was faster than the traditional two people in each canoe configuration. In the end, we believed it was though we never did it again. It did make for a more social (and crowded) paddle.

We also paddled under the most brilliant double rainbow any of us had ever seen. There were several colors visible below the violet band! The Falls Of Bruar Canyon

After a bit more mountain biking (and pushing), we arrived at the canyonning stage. High water shortened it a bit, but it still took us over an hour to go down through the canyon which had several big jumps, many slides over waterfalls, and one rappel down a waterfall.

It was a bit cold as we went through it as the sun was setting, but it was a ton of fun. I think Thor loved it most of all - though you couldnʼt tell it from the permanent grimace on her face. Many more kilometers of biking later (see photo above of GOALS applying Sportslick to sensitive areas), we arrived at Mar Lodge - a lovely lodge set in a beautiful valley. The main hall was covered in antlers. We arrived very early in the morning and had only a couple hours inside. Seems a wedding was happening that day, so all the remaining smelly racers had to finish transition outside on tarps. Orienteering Course

At Mar Lodge, there was a short orienteering course. Most of the teams skipped it as the penalty was only 2.5 hours and it was going to take at least that long to do it. We decided to not worry about our final ranking and do the sections we wanted to do, so we split into two pairs and set off. Brent and I did the five nearer points that included a big climb; Thor and Abby did a slightly longer route to get all the points in the valley.

Brent and I had been betting throughout the race. At present, he owed me two beers. We bet again on whether we would beat the girls in. I said we would but by less than 10 minutes. He though more and we bet another beer. Go go Goals girls!! They were at the TA when we arrived. Three beers for Mark! The Formidable Mount Keen

The last part of stage 6 was to climb up and over Mount Keen - a behemoth of a mountain (pictured above). We began by having lunch and napping in the little town of Ballater (right). Then, as we left town, we ran into James, the race director. He thought we had gone hours ago and had told the team (now ahead of us) to pick up the next two checkpoints. We decided to try to catch them. We just did on the top of the mountain but it was a long push up. I had to carry Abbyʼs pack as penance because Iʼd underestimated the distance by - oh, 7-8 kilometers - a real moral buster. Oops. The Big Trek

We finally finished the long bike stage and were on to the massive trek across the highlands - 100 kms or so. We left in great spirits and headed up the mountain. Things got a bit tricky in the peat hags (left) and as night fell, we were slowing down. The path up was non-existent, and Abby fell into a hole and twisted her ankle. Our pace and our moral dropped.

Thor was navigating exceptionally well and we found two hard to get checkpoints (and brought another team along with us) and then descended down to a manned checkpoint at Glen Muick. We camped in the highlands - a cold miserable night as it took hours to find a dry spot, and by the time we did. It was after 3am and we were all zombies. We also realized that we werenʼt going to make the cut- off and would have to alter our plan and skip some checkpoints. It was the low point of our race. Big Scramble On Lochnagar

We ascended the mountain and then descended to Lochnagar (below) and reached the first of two big scrambles. We opted to do the first one and skip the second. We caught a few teams here that were dropping out of the race. The long trek was taking its toll on many teams.

We had to cross a boulder field (left) to get to the base of the scramble (lower left) and then up we went.

It was a glorious 360 degree view from the top and one more checkpoint in the bag!

We finished the first two thirds of the big trek and then returned to our bikes to continue onward. Had we skipped a few more optional sections, we might have finished the whole trek, but we didnʼt care. We had decided to do the fun sections and not worry about placement.

One of the CPs along the trek was an old airplane wing. We posed and a passing hiker took our photo.

At the Glen Shee Ski Station, we were lucky (?) to arrive just as the dancing man came through. Seems some crazy Brit is dancing his way along the famous John OGrouts to Landʼs End route. We paused to watch and enjoy the spectacle. The River Tay: The Last 60km Whitewater Paddle

The last paddle was down the River Tay from Grand Tully to Perth. We started it after a solid three hours of sleep! The river was loaded with fun class II and III rapids. We successfully navigated them all but other teams werenʼt so lucky. I think it was the most enjoyable 60 km paddle Iʼve ever done! All the teams started together after a time out on Thursday afternoon, so it was fun being back in the mix of other athletes. The Finish Line

The last stage was a pleasant road ride from Perth back to Stirling. The weather held and we rode into town about 6pm on Friday night to cheering and champagne.

Above is Team GOALS ARA (Brent, Abby, Thor, and Mark) have raced for about 100 hours on less than 10 hours of sleep - healthy (mostly) and very happy!

To the right is a shot of the aftermath of gear cleaning and sorting - a task that takes better than a day to complete.

Thanks to the race staff and all the volunteers for putting on such a great event! And, also, a huge thanks to all our families and friends! We couldnʼt have done it without all your help and support!