Team Member: Brian Madden/ SF Adv. Racing

Race Name: Blue Ridge Adventure Race

Race Date: 4/10/10

Race Placement/Time/Qualification: 10 hours 20 minutes

Tell us about your race (limit 500 words)…: Chris Celka & Jen Henry & I with Curtis Henry as our support man took on the BRAR this past weekend. We all met up at the team meeting/dinner in Blue Ridge, GA on Friday night to plot our maps, plan our route & get race instructions. They called this race the 3 State Challenge this year & we quickly figured out why. Early on Saturday with a chill in the air, Jen would start on foot in Copperhill, TN (3.5 miles), Chris would start in NC on bike (7 m) and I would start on the Toccoa River in GA for a 4 mile paddle. We would all meet up at a riverside park in McCaysville, GA and start the rest of the race together.

It was a neat start & everything went fine even though I had never paddled a 17 ft canoe solo in moving water before. We met up & took off for a 2.5 hour paddle that had only one mild error. We quickly transitioned to bike/trek section into the mountains for the rest of the race still in decent position.

But alas, a nav error (or 2 or 3) on my part had us chasing the clock the rest of the race. So, after a multiple mile bikewhack up the side of a mountain all in bike shoes, a hilly 20 mile singletrack/forest service rd/street ride we picked up our final CP. We then had to ride 1.5 miles on railroad tracks to get to a spot where we had to cross the river to the Finish. 1.5 m on a map may look tiny but try riding on RR tracks sometime. It is just awful and my teeth are still rattling.

Our final placement (20thish) may not have been what we hoped for but it just wasn’t my best day with map & compass. However, the weather was beautiful, it was an interesting course in an area most folks haven’t seen, the race staff and other racers were all great, my teammates & support were really top notch and it was a great 10h20m workout. So, in AR, where speed isn’t the only factor, sometimes like in life, you take some lumps, have to learn some lessons, find the bright spots and move on to the next one.