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June 21, 2008—The Hidden Valley Adventure Challenge was the only change made to the 2007 GRR schedule—and it had some big shoes to fill. Last year’s June race was the AFAR—A Frick n’ Adventure Race—at Frick Park in the city of Pittsburgh. That race grew into an epic event that saw many teams unable to finish. Surely an event held in the Laurel Highlands would blow the doors off of a “city race” and leave its victims crying “Uncle!” before it was even half over! Or, would it? Seemingly the GRR racers have stepped up their training because only one team—A/R newcomers “Green Governor Beasts”—DNF’d. And they were only two CP’s, a few miles, and a bunch of hills from TA when they succumbed to their better judgment and tossed in the towel so they could “live to fight another day!” With a strong racer completion rate, good weather, and a sizable turnout, we would declare the HVAC a resounding success!

The HVAC started with a “split event” that required one team member to swim approximately 400 meters in a pristine mountain lake to retrieve the first leg’s punch card. At the same time the other teammate was plotting CPs by transferring the information from one of 15 map boards to the team’s un-plotted map given to them by race directors at the races start. When each teammate had finished their task they would re-unite in T/A before heading out on leg 1—a 10 kilometer trail run. This trail run would require teams to run out of the “hidden valley”, up the ski slope to the mountain’s summit. Here they would find CP 2 (TA was CP 1) on the “Sunset” lift tower. From CP 2 they would follow one of the resort roads to the border of the Forbes State Forest. Here they would find CP 3 and the entrance to the trail system of the State Forest. Racers were encouraged to follow the trails to the next CP by subtle tape markings. However, most ignored them and chose to take the longer but smoother route of travel on the road to CP 4. Here again, racers were encouraged by tape marking to enter the trail system for the shorter route to CP 5. And again, most ignored this and stuck with the road thinking their maps showed a clear alternate route to CP 5—and this is where many faltered. The map suggested that the route was simple but many racers soon found themselves at CP 9. Since the CP’s had to be retrieved in order, these racers had to climb up the unpaved Jones Mill Run Road for more than a mile only to find the trail entrance that they could have found miles earlier if they had followed the “intended” route. A big setback indeed!

Some racers recovered more quickly than others while the lead teams—having not made the mistake—continued to build their lead. John Ralston and Christine Valentine of the series leading Team Blaze, and Brandon Kellogg and Ryan Hoffman of the McKissok Snot Rockets traveled closely together. It wasn’t clear if this would be a game of cat and mouse, or simply follow the leader. What was clear was that these two teams would continue to travel together until someone did something wrong. Clearly the co-ed team and the all male team were physical rivals.

Not far behind this “shoot-out” was Team Batty Boys—Dave Battista and Matt McKusker. Quietly navigating their way through the run course they seemed much more interested in staying error free than in catching the lead pack. Maybe they wouldn’t win this “battle” (race) but with a good result they may be in a good position to win the “war” (series).

Rounding out the lead field were three more Grass Roots Adventure Sprint Series teams. In order of their arrival at CP 9 were Team Spang (Tim and Edna Spang), Team Bivy (Sid Wiesner, Justin Dix), and team Hollyloft (Scott Angove, Melissa McNett). All were climbing well and were heading back to the summit before the long downhill to T/A.

Back at T/A, teams would repeat the start by sending one racer to swim for their bike punch card while the other teammate plotted the bike map. Once finished with these tasks they would punch CP 12 at race HQ and then follow the markers to a single track climb and CP 13. After CP 13 and the climb they would again find an entrance to the Forbes State Forest at CP 14. Here racers followed trail to manned CP 14. From there most teams easily found their way through a cluster of tightly bunched CPs leading them to the next manned CP at 19. This is where things got sketchy. Many racers assumed that the sign leading them to Cherry Trail was stating that they were already on Cherry Trail. A close look at the map—and the sign—would quickly disprove this assumption and show that they were on Fire Tower Road and that Cherry Trail was the first left at a gated trail. Most racers missed this important distinction and went barreling down Fire Tower looking for CP 20. This was a costly error since Fire Tower led them a couple miles downhill before their mistake was clear. Even upon their return it was difficult to find the unmarked Cherry Trail—despite the GRR posting stating that this trail was being used for a race!

One of the teams to pay dearly for this mistake was Team Blaze. A missed turn and two soon-to-follow flat tires made for an overwhelming barrier that would be very difficult to overcome. There were still several miles to travel and a couple more opportunities for errors, so they would have to dig deep and press on. At the very least they could limit the damage.

McKissok Snot Rockets now had the lead to themselves, and would have to be flawless to maintain it. On Cherry Trail teams would navigate to CP 20—a “gimme” on an out and back “otherwise well defined trail”—and then ride downhill to CP21—a manned CP. From 21 teams would navigate their way up Beltz Road to Red Oak Trail and their next navigation puzzle. The map showed Red Oak following contour in a North West direction. However the more defined trail actually went uphill and in a Northerly direction. A good navigator would pick this up and follow the less defined trail. A team that was not paying close attention would follow the defined trail and travel uphill on rough surface to find themselves at a dead-end. If there was any doubt about their navigational abilities, then the Snot Rockets crushed it by making the right choice and quickly moving on the less defined trail to find CP 22. Trailing teams did not fare so well as many lost precious minutes and energy when they made the wrong turn. Team Blaze, however, avoided the scenario by punching at 21 and heading straight up Jones Mill Run Road to a pipeline that would deliver them onto Red Oak Trail just north of CP 22. A little backtrack and they found their mark. In general, this route meant more hill climbs but it allowed them to miss the opportunity for a mistake—albeit unwittingly.

Only two more CP’s remained, and one of those was at the finish line. The pressure was on the McKissok Snot Rockets and they had to continue to make good decisions if they wanted to be first across the line. CP 23 was next and the map provided very little information as to its location. The accompanying clue sheet was about all that racers had to rely on and it read “Split rail fence at end of Hidden Valley ‘Home Owner Trail’”. CP 22 dumped racers onto a trail marked “Hidden Valley Home Owners only”, so that was clue #1. However as racers followed that trail they found that the split rail was the fence of choice among HV homeowners. Fortunately there was still one more clue in the word “end”. Somehow many racers missed that and found themselves turning too early and then struggling to find the CP. For the McKissok Snot Rockets, patience prevailed as they continued on the trail—despite thickening grass—as far as they could go. Here they easily found the orange and white orienteering marker that was CP 23. Nothing left but to punch their card, follow the fence to the road, follow the road to the summit, and bomb downhill to the finish. 3:24:20 from start to finish and a long awaited first place.

Eight minutes later the Batty Boys rolled in with a finishing time of 3:32:59. Somewhere on the bike course they lost a full six minutes to the winners—seemingly all of it before CP21—but their placement was good enough to move them into first for the series. Next to finish was co-ed team Hollyloft with a time of 3:38 even. Their loss on the bike leg was limited to five minutes—but the damage before CP21 was worse than that. Apparently they finished very strongly. Following Hollyloft was team Bivy finishing in 3:41:03. After a solid run leg they lost concentration on the bike and dropped twelve minutes to the leaders. In fact they were in 8th place and 20 minutes behind at CP21. Apparently they too were very strong finishers! Rounding out the top five was team Blaze with a time of 3:42:29. Their troubles have been documented, but it will be interesting to see all the bike splits as they clearly charged back into the race to finish strongly.

Other standouts on the course are:
Team Gladiators—Josh Kabay and Dan Tack. Josh lost his derailleur early in the bike leg and ran, pushed, and was towed by teammate Dan to a 6th place finish time of 3:47:18.
Team 2 Humble 4 Ego—Ira Yavorska and Glenn Schwartz. Veteran adventure racer Glenn left the navigation duties to his 20 year old daughter-in-law Ira. As a first timer Ira led her team to a 16th place finish time of 4:39:35.
Dick Danger’s Worst Nightmare—Jennifer Phillips, Sarah George. They may have dropped from 3rd place in the series to 23rd place in this race, but Jennifer ran to 3rd place in the brutally hard, 72 mile long Laurel Highlands Trail race only 1 short week ago.
Buckskin Babes—Melissa Hess, Stacey Davis. As the Lantern Rouge winners, Stacey and Melissa were an inspiration to watch. They moved through the course steadily and with few errors. New to the sport these two are clearly in it for the long haul and will only get better over time.

In summation the Hidden Valley Adventure Challenge has to be one of our favorites to date. The venue and format were extremely challenging and beautiful. This made it easy for us as there was no need to spend time or energy adding anything else to the mix. Add to that the beautiful weather and a top notch group of racers and you have all the elements neededfor an awesome race. It just keeps getting better and we can’t wait for the next one!

Be sure to join us for the Moraine Adventure Dash on July 19th at Moraine State Park. See you then!!