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Washington’s Landing is a small island on the Allegheny River just a few short miles from the terminus of this river. Historically this island was used as a resting place for livestock being shipped—via railroad—to Chicago. Today, however, there would be no resting for the 28 teams lined up to race in the VO2 Test—at least not for the next several hours.

At 9:00 a.m. sharp the race started with one member from each team reporting to the start line. That member was given all the instructions necessary to locate two “collection points”. He or she would have to find the collection points and then return with one poker chip from each to prove it. The instructions showed an oval to represent the island and a drawing of a compass to signify direction. Both were correctly oriented and would provide enough information to those paying attention.

At “GO” 28 racers took off at high speed to complete their task. Then—to everyone’s surprise—the second team member was given similar instructions to find two very different points. Now those teams that relied on one navigator were forced to complete a task with which they were not familiar.

As teams completed this opening test they filtered back into TA where volunteers handed out the next set of instructions. The first 10 teams were instructed to report to the kayaks and were faced with a two mile paddle around the island. In this paddle they were to retrieve two more collection points stashed on the shore. Both of these cp’s were “bonus points” allowing teams to strategize whether or not to complete the paddle. If a team found that they were not strong paddlers they could elect to skip one or both of the cp’s and make up for their loss in a discipline where they felt more comfortable.

All teams that came to TA after the leading 10 were given instructions to take one bike and two racers on a tour of the “Strip District”—Pittsburgh’s Grocery market place. This “run/bike” leg was designed to allow teammates to work together to cover the 4 mile distance quickly and efficiently. However, it was also designed to keep speed under control so that the racers could travel the crowded streets safely. Therefore only one rider was allowed on the bike at a time and needed to wear a helmet while riding.

At the completion of the “run/bike” the first 10 racers to finish were sent to the boats for the kayak leg, while the remaining racers were sent to the bike leg (the first 10 paddlers were also finishing and were being sent to the “run/bike”). The bike leg was approximately 12 miles long and would follow the Allegheny River—on bike path—to the Ohio River. The only catch was that the Ohio River bike path was under construction and racers had to follow a lengthy detour that gave them a tour of the North Side of Pittsburgh. When they reached the final CP they had to turn around and do it all over again ‘til they got back to TA. Though the ride was neither technical— nor hilly—it was a good test of fitness due to the pace that racers were maintaining.

Upon completion of the bike leg racers were now all grouped back together and were faced with the run leg. The twist for the run leg was that teams would use their bikes to get to the start of it. Racers would ride their bikes over the 31st Street Bridge and follow small roads and railroad bed to the 40th Street Bridge. There they would “drop” their bikes before proceeding on foot to the gates of the Allegheny Cemetery. Here they were faced with the option of proceeding on foot with the map provided at the bike drop to accumulate four bonus points within the confines of the cemetery. This is a very large and beautiful cemetery with a spaghetti scramble of roads. Difficult navigation to say the least! After the cemetery bonus section racers returned to the 40th Street bike drop, mounted their trusty steeds and proceeded to TA for the finish.

In the end it was GRR veteran John Ralston teamed with young gun Dan Snyder to take top honors with a time of 3:25:47 and 25 points. Dave Battista and Batty Boy substitute Roger Sullenberg finished second with a time of 3:24:24 and 21 points (points are king). In third place was Team Spang (Edna and husband Tim) with a time of 3:28:06 and 19 points. And in fourth place were the orienteering gurus of Team Two Guys, Three Rivers—Alexis Rzewski and Dave Torick who went off to cave, and then run in a night orienteering meet at the end of this race!

All in all this was another GRR success and we are looking forward to the second race in the Grass Roots Adventure Sprint Series at Hidden Valley on June 21st. Hope to see you there!!!