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The 2009 WAR was
held yesterday. Officer Pearson did an awesome job of organizing. A
challenging course awaited the recruits. The battle ground was Chadburn
Lake that many of you may remember from the COC long distance in 2004.
There were 13 two person teams as well as individuals doing PEACE.
This year's adventures included The Skirmish, a score section where
team members could split up to collect 100 pts worth of controls, The
Photo Control, The Water Boil, which the teams had to complete before
receiving their second map and finally the dreaded yet anticipated (for
the possibility of winning beer oh yeah, and t-shirts) Chilkoot Lager
Climb.
Prior to the race, there was some musings about which squadrons
would rise to the top. My Friend is a Pro (JWOC athletes Colin Abbott
and Lee Hawkings) were feeling quite confident that their fitness and
tons of recent nav training would put them over the top. Meanwhile the
ringers from "outside" were Patrick Goeres and Chris Piller who have
done a ton of adventure between them. No one could discount AR veterans
Denise and Greg McHale. Among other races Denise just won the Rock and
Ice Ultra this past winter. Throw in a few fast local runners and it
was bound to be exciting.
The results
The field spread out fairly quickly. The
Skirmish was after only the 3rd control. Runners crossed over the Miles
Canyon Bridge, split up to complete this section on a 1:10000 topo
variation of our Ear Lake map. Colin and Lee nailed this part. Colin
was barely back to control 4 for a minute before Lee arrived. Meanwhile
Denise McHale and Chris Piller waited and waited for their partners who
had done considerably more. The chase was on. The next time the top two
teams would see each other was at the Water Boil. Colin and Lee were
leaving as Patrick and Chris were just starting. At one point the gap
was almost 10 mins.
Maybe sensing that overall victory was slipping away, at the
Chilkoot Climb Piller was said to have uttered, "I want the
t-shirt!(not the beer?)" Fortunately the open hillside from the edge of
Chadburn Lake up to the top of the ridge allowed him to keep within
sight of a charging Patrick going for the win on the coveted leg.
It looked good for the young lads until very late in the race. On
the last control before the finish, they veered off on their bearing
making a costly 5 min mistake and allowing Patrick and Piller to slip
on by and collect perhaps the hardest earned $325 of their lives. The
two teams were separated by a mere 1:23 after over 3 hours of racing.
Earning the $325 for top co-ed team (4th overall) were the McHales,
last year's overall champs. Having only one navigator cost them dearly
as they lost about 30 mins on The Skirmish. They remarked that the
navigation was definitely ramped up for this year's event. Still, half
the purse ain't too shabby!
11 of the 13 teams became Veterans.
The courses are on route gadget for those that are interested.
The results and splits are on the website (link above).
# - BL - 6/2/09; 8:40:54 AM -
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