Ozark Greenways Adventure Race

May 16, 2009. OGAR comes up again on the schedule. This was our first race together as a team in 2008 and we did well and had a great time, so we were very much looking forward to this one again. Marc, Ken, Jill and I were racing this year. We had all planned ahead on making a weekend out of it, camping at the Gasconade Hills campground/resort with our families along. That aspect of the whole weekend really made it a memorable weekend in and of itself and completely aside from the actual race.

Friday night: We checked-in and went back to camp to get things together and cook some food. We had heard that a fairly nasty storm was moving through, so we were all trying to put things away at camp and prepare for it. Right before dark, the sky became really black to the west and that is when the winds began to pick up and then the rain came. The rain began around 9:30 or so and we all took shelter and tried to go to sleep. I think it rained all night long, and probably didn't quit until maybe 3 am. We got up for the pre-race 5 am meeting where we were given our maps for the first time and cluesheets. We went back to the campsite and continued to get things together. Another mandatory team meeting was at 6 am where we were given a few more bits of information, one of the most important things being that the race format had changed due to weather conditions. The paddling leg, which would have been canoeing on the Gasconade River, was scrapped and taken out due to swift water from all of the recent rains. So this meant we were only running, trekking, biking and orienteering. It is nice in an adventure race to transition to a paddling leg to rest the legs and use the arms for a while, but we would not have that luxury this time. This was beyond everyone's control and they made the right decision.

The race started out from the campground on bikes. 55 teams lined up for the start. We were moving along nicely, probably sitting in the front 10 of the pack, and unfortunately we had a flat rear tire. We all stopped to change it and I used the opportunity to take off my lightweight rain jacket and stow it away. As always, a ton of teams began passing us by. It rips apart part of my soul when that happens. I cannot stand it when teams you were ahead of start passing you by when you have a flat or mechanical. But these things happen, plain and simple, through no fault of anyone's. So there is only one thing you can do. We knew we had to hammer again so when we got rollin' we took off hard and slowly began checking off alot of the teams that passed us. We eventually arrived at a transition area and bike drop. We transitioned pretty well and took off on trails for a run. Boy were they a mess from the rain. Literally there were spots on the trail where water was flowing like a creek. Not just standing pools and puddles of water, FLOWING water. We started passing more teams on this trail run. When we arrived back at a manned CP we were told we were sitting in about 10th place and we were heading our on a Rogaine style Orienteering course to find 9 CP's.

We took off and found the first 6 of them very well, but I had some difficulty finding 2 of the last 3. There were some parts of this trek that took us through some serious bushwacking, our lower legs being sliced and diced by briars, etc. Right now as I type my shins look as if I got into a fight with 100 cats. We also ran into some of the worst 'itch-weed,' probably Stinging Nettle, that I have ever encountered. Once you ran through it the sting and burn hit you immediately like a Mack truck. Mine went away after about 20 minutes though. Once we checked back in after the 3+ hr O course trek we had another run back to our bikes. When we arrived back at bikes we were still sitting in about 10th place so we were hoping to possibly catch a team or two who might be bonking on the final 7 mile bike leg back to the Finish.

On the final bike leg we were moving along nicely and wouldn't you know that with less than 3 miles to go to the Finish we suffered another flat tire. We changed it pretty quickly though, so it was not of any real consequence. We got passed by a couple of teams while changing it but I know at least one of them had dropped a teammate and were racing "unranked" so it didn't matter.

We pulled into the Finish at 7 hr 33 minutes, good for a 9th place finish out of 55 teams. We were happy with that. We all had a great time racing this race again. We all agreed that there is still room for improvement and places where we can shave more time, but most importantly, we had a very good race. Physically we were all feeling good at the finish and nobody bonked or cramped. Good signs indeed.

Here is a link to our results: http://www.greenwayrace.org/races/ogar-2009/teams/cyclewerx/

Race report by Bryan Greaser