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It’s Monday morning and the sky is crystal with a bright sun, and I think…”How lucky am I?” I look left and right and see nothing but pristine white snow drifting into big untouched piles of glitter. Occasionally I see a deer track here and a rabbit track there, but no real sign of man. That is, not until I look directly in front or behind of me. Then I see the gnarled evidence of mountain bikes wending their way through the snow covered course I had marked days before. In these tracks I can clearly see the struggle brought by the depth of the snow. But in these tracks I can see a lot more. Here’s the spot where somebody not paying attention to the course marks went straight instead of right. Here is where they caught themselves and headed back to the marker. Here’s a spot where somebody skidded toward a curb and…ouch…”endoed” into a pile of snow. Here’s a shortcut that resulted in a missed collection point (cp). And…wait…here’s a “snow angel”. Ben and I are having the time of our lives breaking down the race course from the weekends activities and—though it’s “work”—I can’t help but think how much better this is than being back home at the “grind”.

The 2008 Two Below Duo was, like last year’s race, blessed with a last minute snowfall. Also like last year’s race the 2008 version would include three stages and a prologue. This year’s prologue included a quick climb up the rock wall to collect as many points as possible in two minutes. After rappelling down the rock wall, racers tubed downhill—two to a tube—as quickly as possible to the paint ball shooting area. There they scored one point for each target hit while limited to five shots per teammate. After shooting they collected their tubes and ran back uphill to their bikes for the Hummer obstacle course. Here they scored points for each obstacle cleared without touching the ground with a foot. Then it was a mad dash to the finish line. The event was clearly dominated by Team Abominable Snowmen—John Ralston and Chris Welsh—who outscored everyone in each discipline for a total of 33 points. Second place was Team Flicknett—Jeff Flickner and Melissa McNett—with a total of 28 points.

Stage one—the second event of the Two Below Duo—was the much awaited Biathlon. This took place at the Nemacolin Woodlands Rifle Academy. In this event teams would run a one mile loop over varying terrain. On each loop each teammate would get two shots at two clay pigeons at one of four shooting stations—each lap a different station. One point would be scored per hit at station one, two points per hit at station two,…..etc. up to four points per hit at station four. Nemacolin was generous enough to give each racer individual shooting tips with plenty of practice shots before the start of the race. All shooting was done with 14 gauge shotguns to keep things even. The Rifle Academy is a beautiful facility made even better by the newly fallen snow. Successful or not every team came away with a great experience and even more respect for the sport of skeet. This time it was the climbers of Team Bivy—Justin Dix and Sid Weisner—that squeaked out a win by virtue of a strong showing on stand four. Their point total was 43—enough to move them up overall but not enough to take the lead from the “Snowmen” who scored 42 points in this event. Team Spang—Tim and Edna Spang—also had a very strong showing by scoring 39 points.

Stage two—the third event of the TBD—was the nighttime navigation. This took place in and around the wooded areas of the ski slopes. As darkness fell, racers congregated at the ski lodge to hear the rules and learn the tricks of nighttime navigation. In this event teams would be given three hours to travel just over two miles to find 5 control points (CP’s) and their corresponding way points (WP’s). At each control point was a playing card concealed in an envelope. On the way to each CP was a WP that had a poker chip. At the end of the event the racers would combine the chips and the cards to gamble their way to bonus points in a game of five card stud. In the meantime they had to navigate their way through total darkness with the aid of headlamps, compasses, and—in some cases—GPS units. The GPS units were to be used for pinpointing only and most racers relied solely on their compasses to complete this “dead-reckoning” test.

This time it was the dynamic duo of Team Spang that dominated with a total time of fifty-five minutes and fifty-five seconds to collect all CP’s and WP’s. The outdoorsmen of Team Bivy took a slow and steady approach and collected all points in 1:31:11, while the “Snowmen” pushed their way through in 1:03:49 but missed one of the WP poker chips. However, they more than made up for it by pulling the winning hand and riding it to the finish for a total of 49 points. This created an almost insurmountable point total. With only the duathlon left they would be difficult to beat.

The third stage, and fourth event of the 2BD, was the duathlon. This run, bike, run event would take place on the snow covered trails of the ski slopes, golf course, and Hummer course. Total mileage would be one mile run, 10 mile bike, and 2 mile run. Given the conditions, this would be a tough race. The course was well marked but to assure all racers followed the markings properly 16 collection points (cp’s) were placed in strategic locations on the course. These cp’s were well marked and easy to find—IF the markings were properly followed. An attempted short cut could end up in a missed cp. Team’s times were combined with their point totals and their placement was based on this.

After two hours and thirty-six grueling minutes it was the leg strength of Team Flicknett that brought them across the finish line first with all available points. A mere twenty three seconds later it was another co-ed team—Team Spang—that finished with all available points. Rounding out the top three was Team Bivy with all points and a time of 2:52:52. Meanwhile Team Abominable Snowmen—having finished much earlier one point shy of the total available—were back on the course looking for the missing point. They finally returned without it in a finishing time of 2:56:42—well within the point total needed to secure the win.

Overall it was the Snowmen dominating with a point total of 179. Co-ed Team Spang showed incredible strength and team work for a total of 159 points. And newcomers Team Bivy rounded out the top three overall with 157 points. In the co-ed division it was Team Circa Navigation—Wayne Thorniley and Betsy Monroe—taking first place honors. While the father and son team “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure”—Ron and Clint Hartle—topped the all male division with 142 points. In the all female division it was Team Avalanche—Beth Perry and Anna Thorniley—that took first place with 109 points.

The 2008 Two Below Duo was absolutely the best and most fun race that GRR has yet to produce and we need to thank those of you that came out and supported us by racing or by volunteering your time. We also have to thank Nemacolin Woodlands for all that they do for Grass Roots Racing and thank the Rifle Academy for their generosity and expertise that combined to make the biathlon so successful. We look forward to seeing all of you next year for winter racing at its finest!