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ARC Enduro Adventure Race - Haliburton - June 7, 2003

Post Race Review

 

 The Start
On a slightly overcast, but warm morning on June 7th, 2003, over 250 participants, volunteers and spectators eagerly anticipated the start of the ARC Enduro Adventure Race at the Haliburton Forest in Ontario.

This year’s race marked the 5th anniversary of the start of the ARC Series, and the fifth year in a row that our first summer Enduro was taking place at the spectacular lakes, trails and wilderness that make up the Haliburton Forest.

The ARC Haliburton race has been acknowledged as the most challenging and fun one-day wilderness adventure race in the province, and it was great to see the return of many loyal teams and racers who have attended this race for the past five years.

The race started at 10am sharp, as the teams ran up the North Road, on their way to the paddling put-in at MacDonald Lake.

ARC Enduro Adventure Race Photos

 Paddling
The first teams to arrive at the paddling put-in at MacDonald Lake, were able to quickly grab their canoe, paddles and water safety kits and head off to the east end of the lake.

As the ‘pack’ arrived to get their canoes, there was an increased level of noise from the teams as they yelled instructions at each other, and battled to get their canoes in the water without tipping.

Within 15 minutes everyone was on the water, and heading toward the first CP.

 Portage
The paddling section of the race involved navigating a series of three lakes, and this meant that teams had to portage their canoes from lake to lake.

The first take-out at MacDonald Lake, required the teams to drag their canoes through approximately 500m of wet, muddy swamp, and then portage their canoes along a 3km road to Upper Pelaw Lake.

From Upper Pelaw Lake teams paddled to Little Redstone Lake, and continued to the northwestern corner of the lake for the take-out. Then it was a long uphill portage to the first Transition area (TA), back at the Home Base, where the teams picked up their bikes.

 Biking
The bike ride started off on some fairly tame roads and trails, but before long teams entered the single track riding for which the Haliburton Forest is famous, however this year with all the rain that the area had experienced this spring, these trails were extremely wet and muddy.

Many racers were forced to push or carry their bikes during sections of their ride, and this inconvenience was only compounded by the abundance of bugs that hung around their heads.

Despite the mud and bugs, teams loved the challenge of the mountain biking that few other areas can offer, and everyone seemed to have a smile on their face as they reached the CP's.

 Hiking
Halfway into the mountain bike portion of the race course, teams reached TA 2, where they dropped their bikes and headed off into the woods on foot to find two CP’s on the hike section of the course.

Although two checkpoints may not seem like many, with the forest in near full bloom, the mud under foot, the undulating terrain and of course the bugs, finding the CP’s was a challenge for all teams.

Both of the CP’s on the hike section of the race course were located near or ‘in’ beaver ponds, and at one location, a team member was required to swim out to a sign in the middle of the pond to recover a code that was then written into their passport.

 The Finish Line
Upon their return to TA 2, teams were required to continue on their bikes, along some of the most difficult bike trails in the Haliburton Forest until they re-emerged for a very quick ride on a gravel road to the last CP, and then up and along a dogsled trail, past the Wolf Centre, and into the finish at Base Camp.

The top Coed team (Salomon AC) finished in time of 4hrs. 3mins., followed by Team Wired/Axis Gear and Team Trekkers.

The top Open Male team (Team Diabetes) finished in a time of 4 hrs 44 mins, followed by Maximus and Rogue Runners.

Team Great Big Cramps, Lost in Place and City Slickers were the top three Masters teams.

Congratulations and thank you to all the Teams and Volunteers that participated in the ARC Enduro Adventure Race.

A special thank you to all the sponsors and supporters of the race, including:

Haliburton Forest, Soles Custom Footbeds, Superstands, Vector Bar, Rub A535, Naya and Ford of Canada.

For complete ARC Enduro Adventure Race Results


 

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