Team Ragged Glory – Adventure Racing, Multi Sport, Friends

The weather was nearly perfect as the day dawned for the second installment of the Circle City Sprint Adventure Race by GlobalX Racing. Julie, Steve, Bob and I (Doug) had decided on entering this race back at Planet Adventure in April. This was to be the fourth time that this particular foursome would race as Team Ragged Glory and the tenth time that Steve and I would race together.

We got maps, attended the briefing and planned our approach to the race. The race description was broken down into four sections:

Urban trek
• A run around the Circle, then to the City County building
• A 25-floor stair climb to the top for the first checkpoint
• A run to Conseco Fieldhouse
• A special test: basketball lay up shots at Conseco Fieldhouse
• A run back to the central Transition Area (TA) near the World War memorial
Bike and Orienteering
• A ride to Pleasant Run and Meridian, Garfield Park, Ellenberger Park, Brookside
Park, then Washington Park
• A short orienteering course at Washington Park
• A final ride back to the TA
Triad and Paddle
• Two people on grown-up sized kick scooters, one on skates and one on foot
(three disciplines at once = triad) from the TA along the canal and White River
to the New York St. bridge
• Another special test: inflate the two kayaks for the paddle leg
• A paddle on the White River to the mouth of Pogue’s Run tunnel just north of Kentucky Ave. using the kayaks
• A mile run into the tunnel and back to get a checkpoint
• A paddle back to the New York St bridge
• A triad up to the 10th St. Bridge, then onto the Stutz Building at 12th and Senate Ave.
• A three story rappel off the Stutz Building
• The final triad back to the TA
Urban Trek
• A three mile landmark tour run to the RCA dome, the Elvis plaque at the old Market Square Area site, the Rathskeller, and the World War Memorial
• The sprint to the finish line at the Soldiers and Sailors Monument on the Circle

Our preset goals for the race were our normal “have fun, stay safe, finish.” We added a fourth goal to try and travel fast since we knew the course well and since this is the shortest race in which we compete. Bob and Julie are fast; Steve and I are less than fast.

At 9am, a color guard presented at the World War Memorial steps and the starting gun sounded.

Julie and Bob set an aggressive pace around the Circle and to the City County Building. A stair climb is usually a bottleneck and we made the building entrance slightly ahead of the pack. After climbing the 25 floors, we came back down and headed to Conseco Fieldhouse. I was thinking of last year’s race, worried about hitting the lay up and remembering how the line got bigger each time I missed. But my worries were wasted because when we arrived there was no line and the volunteers told us that we only had to hit two lay ups. Steve and Bob made their first shots and we headed back to the TA for the bikes.

We transitioned quickly and headed down Meridian for the first checkpoint. Luck was with us because TRG had used most of the bike course for training over the years, so the landmarks and checkpoints were familiar. As Bob towed and Steve helped with a periodic push, we balanced our speed and passed a number of teams. We caught a glimpse of Team Shackleton Endurance on our heels at Brookside Park. At Washington Park we jumped off the bikes and attacked the O-course. Bob and Julie towed Steve and me and we ran the entire 2.2 mile course in about 20 minutes. As we left Washington Park for the final checkpoint before returning downtown, the volunteers told us we were in third place.

Back at the TA, we kept our transition time quick, and then skated/scootered/ran west to the canal headed toward the boats. We arrived at the put-in and as Bob changed out of his skates, Julie, Steve and I grabbed three pumps and inflated the two kayaks we would use in the paddling section. None of us noticed the open drain plugs in the bottom of each boat. We grabbed our paddles and carried the boats to the water. Both boats promptly began filling with water. Steve and Bob were smart enough to stop and plug the hole; Julie and I paddled on carrying part of the river with us. Out of the boats, we put on our headlamps and ran the Pogue’s run tunnel leg (a creek put underground in 1915) and collected our checkpoint. Back to the boats, we paddled back to the New York St. Bridge for the next leg of the triad. Shackleton Endurance had caught up iwth us by the time we took the boats out of the water.

It was here that our real race began. Shackleton Endurance got out of the TA a few seconds faster than we did. But they headed east on New York St. rather than north up the river to the next checkpoint. Steve looked at me and pointed north. It appeared as though Shackleton Endurance was inadvertently skipping the next checkpoint and heading for the rappel. A million things ran through my mind. I knew that if we could finish the race with no mistakes, we would have a good chance of winning our division.

So we immediately made a mistake. As we headed north and approached the next checkpoint, we couldn’t find our passport, which is the proof document that shows we completed the race. Steve ran up and got the checkpoint information, and then we returned to the New York St Bridge checkpoint to find our passport. It turned out that we did have the passport and that it was buried in our map case. So our only mistake was thinking we had made a mistake, and all it had done was cost us some time due to backtracking. We ended up taking the exact same route as Shackleton Endurance to the Stutz Building for the rappel.

The rappel was a race highlight. We put on our equipment, climbed the stairs and ran across the roof with the downtown skyline as a backdrop. As the fun-loving crew got us on the ropes, we saw Bob’s wife and kids at the bottom of the rappel. We went down the wall together and were able to stop for a second to be in the moment. We hit the pavement and ran back to our scooters and skates to complete the final triad leg back to the TA.

We dumped everything but some water and the first aid kit and started the final running leg. Steve and I were getting tired, and Julie and Bob towed us, running all the way. We hit the RCA dome, the Elvis plaque, the Rathskellar restaurant and the World War memorial, writing the information requested for each checkpoint clue on the passport. Someone yelled that we were fourth overall as we passed the TA on our way to the finish line at the Circle. Shackleton Endurance was returning to the TA as we passed. Tom Adams said that there was a surprise for us at the finish.

Bob and Julie towed Steve and me to the Circle steps. We let out a yell as we crossed. We had been racing for 4 hours and 56 minutes. Joe Lawson then told us that Shackleton Endurance had indeed missed the checkpoint and with their time penalty, we had won the four person coed division and finished third overall. What a feeling and what a moment. Bob’s family was there to share it with us.

We later learned the distances for the disciplines:
• The run, 25 flight stair climb, lay-ups, then run was 1.5 miles.
• The bike leg was 18.5 miles.
• The orienteering leg within the bike leg was 2.2 miles.
• The triad (run, in-line skate, scooter) was 4.5 miles.
• The paddle was 2.8 miles.
• The tunnel was 1 mile total in and out.
• The urban trek leg was 3 miles.

Congratulations to Indyrootstock.com, fastest finisher at 4 hours 26 minutes, and winner of the 3 person male division. People’s Burn Foundation finished on their heels at 4:35. Hats off to Hey…Wha’ Happened? who won the 3 person coed division and Team MATTOON who won the 4 person male division.

Thanks to GlobalX for continuing to engineer fun races at reasonable prices. Bob summed it up the best: “I feel better about our team effort than I do about winning. This was by far our best team effort. Awesome. Time to start training for the next race.”