Team Yoga Slackers raced in USARA Nationals last weekend! We had a great time. The team was Jason Magness, Sara Dallman and myself competing against 77 other 3-person co-ed teams. The race was held in the Ozarks of Missouri near the small town of Potosi. Potosi is 70 miles south of St. Louis. The entire area was awash in Fall colors.

Getting Ready To Race

Race headquarters was a YMCA camp (YMCA of the Ozarks) complete with lodge, cabins, activity fields and a small lake. The race started at 7:00AM with two of us running to the canoe and the third running up the hill to get the race passport. Sara opted to do the run, so Jason and I would be in the canoe. It was 29 degrees that morning. The canoes had ice on them and a thick mist was rising up off the lake. We had to paddle south about a mile to the end of the lake and pick up Sara (after her 2 mile run). We sprinted to the canoes and were one of the top 10 teams into the water. Looking back, dozens of racers were fighting for canoes and space to put in, so we were glad that we had sprinted to the boats. We paddled hard to the south end of the lake. As we approached the shore, I looked around and saw the 70 some canoes paddling hard through the mist. It made me think of the invasion of Quebec with all the boats in the early morning mist. Once ashore, we found Sara with no trouble, and then paddled back north to pick up two lake checkpoints before taking out back at the lodge.

The YMCA Lake

Fall Colors

After that, the team had to get 11 checkpoints in any order on foot. It took about 2 hours to find them all and get back to the lodge. We left the lodge on our bikes in 12th place, but not until Sara grabbed all the attention at the lodge by having her first bike crash (trying to get across the sidewalk). She was fine, but embarrassed. The bike leg was going splendid when Jason caught a sharp rock with his front tire and ripped the side wall open about 2 inches. Needless to say, the tube blew out as well. In the course of fixing it (three times), we ended up with a $30 patch (a $10 and a $20 dollar bill), some duct tape inside the tire, and finally a ring of duct tape around the tire and the rim. The patch held but we'd lost 45 minutes and about 15 spots. It was frustrating sitting by the trail working on the tire as team after team pedaled by.

We finished the bike leg, dropped our bikes at a campground (to be picked up later on our way back through), and started trekking. We mostly ran the entire next trek - about 10 miles - to a small lake and the second paddle leg. We arrived at the leg tied for 10th with about 5 other teams. We quickly got into the water (what there was of it) and started paddling. It was about 4:00pm. We had hoped to finish the paddle before nightfall, but low water and tons of fallen logs slowed us way down. We were constantly having to get out of the boat and pull it through shallow water or lift it over a large log. Several times, we opted to stay in the boat and play .extreme limbo.. Fun fun! Especially when Jason decided at the last minute to step over the log instead of going under it. He quickly stood up and attempted to step over the log - only to realize he was going to have to step ON to it! So, the boat started to float past him and he fell headlong back into it - right on top of Sara. I frantically grabbed paddles and ducked under the log just making it.

Halfway through the paddle, we reached checkpoint 13. It was 20 feet up in the air on top of an old telephone pole. Wow!!! It was close to dusk and we barely saw it. Once night fell, we knew teams would be missing this one (and several did). The last hour of the paddle leg was in the dark and we all took turns being the one to get out of the boat and step into the freezing water to pull it over obstacles. We exited the river at 8:00pm shivering but not completely frozen. The temperature had dropped significantly. It was probably only in the high 30s now. A fire awaited us at the take out which we partook of briefly and then started running to warm back up. This leg was a 10 mile run back to the bikes. We had lost five or six spots in the paddle so we ran hard to make them up. Some of the checkpoints in the run were a bit tricky to find, but we got them quickly, so we picked up the spots we'd lost.

We reached the bike drop around 11:30pm once again in a 5-way tie for 10th place. Realizing this, we quickly transitioned and sped off down the trail towards the finish line - about 30 more miles of single track and gravel road away. We made checkpoint 23 in 10th, but then made a 15 minute navigational error - up the wrong VERY STEEP gravel road. We descended and then went up the right VERY STEEP gravel road. That cost us the 15 minutes we had gained on the other teams.

We reached checkpoint 25 (the last CP) with another team (Bike Iowa II) and knew there'd be a sprint to the finish - now only two miles away. We exited the woods ahead of them and entered the YMCA grounds heading for the lodge, but it was 4:00am and the roads and paths around the property weren't on the map. So, we'd speed down the road to an intersection and then have to figure out which way to go. And Bike Iowa II would catch up. Finally, we could see the lake and all six of us sprinted hard for the finish - well, as hard as we could at 4:15AM after racing for over 20 hours. Jason missed seeing a short (3 foot high) light fixture until he crashed into it. The fixture's wooden housing exploded everywhere and Jason went over the handlebars (thus christening his brand new bike). Bike Iowa II beat us in by 30 seconds. Jason and his bike were fine. The light pole was not.

All in all, we had a great race making only one significant navigational mistake. We finished in 14th place. 9th place was only 20 minutes ahead of us. 18th place was only 25 minutes behind us so 10 teams finished in a 45 minute window. We were happy to be one of them!

Mark, Team Yoga Slackers

Team Yoga Slackers After The Race