The morning looked a little ominous as storms had pushed in around sunrise and gave way to steady showers thereafter. But by race start the rain had subsided. At 9am, the race was underway. The race started on bike, heading out of Caberfae. It was just a few miles east before racers had to cut south on a two track to find CP1. Therein lay the first hurdle for most teams. Several teams turned off too early and most of the field followed suit. Before long, a majority of the field was wandering around wondering why they couldn’t find CP1. Some teams eventually made another approach and found it in the correct location, while others never found the correct location and did not get the point. CP2 and 3 were much less eventful and teams obtained them also on bike as they made their way down to Walker Bridge Canoe Livery on the Pine River. Hafke Legal Services & JV rolled in first followed by Jagged Edge and Bill Scanlan.

At Walker Bridge, teams put on the Pine River for a 6 mile paddle down the twisty and scenic Pine River. At the take out, teams immediately had to cross the river and make their way south back to Walker Bridge. On their way, they would find three CPs on foot, eventually crossing back over on a footbridge. Jagged Edge overtook the lead on the trek back to Walker, with the Hafke’s following by just minutes. These three teams had built a half hour lead on the field by this point.

Back in the saddle, teams made their way North on another 15 mile bike leg back up toward and leading into Caberfae. This ride was on pavement, dirt roads, two tracks and even some trails as they got into Caberfae. Hafke’s leapfrogged Jagged Edge on the way back to Caberfae by just a minute. The three teams still held almost a thirty minute lead on the field with Bill Scanlan, For Better or Worse and Slicker-n-Snake Snot all trailing thirty to forty five minutes back.

Once at Caberfae teams received a new map with 10 points for an O-course. The points were largely on hilltops in the surrounding area of Caberfae. Total distance would be close to 8 miles for teams if they went after all points. Because of the length of the course, most teams were only able to go after a few points, so it really became a game of strategy at this point. The veterans of Hafke Legal Services and Hafke Legal Services JV surprised no one as they popped into the finish first, obtaining all but one CP on the final O-Course. They were confident their lead on the field throughout the day would hold up and it did as they secured first overall and in the coed and solo divisions. Bill Scanlan pushed hard on the o-course and got to within one CP, wrapping up third overall and 2nd in the Solos. Rookie racer Team Salomon KJ grabbed all but three CPs which landed him 4th overall and 3rd Solo. Jagged Edge came in 5th overall as the 4th Solo. For Better or Worse got second in the Coed division and 7th overall with Wags x 2 rounding out the top three coeds at 14th overall. Jed 2, Velo Abbas and Team Green finished 1, 2, 3 in the Male division. Bad Lasses took the Female division and Duel’s Last Stand won the Solo Women’s division.

A big thank you goes out to our Sponsors! With Salomon & Suunto having a crew on hand for the events and Jeep bringing up a vehicle for show, REI supplying the awesome performance Racer Shirts, our sponsors were well represented. We also had great prizing from Hammer Nutrition, Rail Riders, Seal Skinz, Zanfel and Superfeet. We would like to thank all of our fantastic volunteers that came out to support this event. Many of whom were also volunteers at the simultaneous 30 hour race. What a group! We would also like to thank Caberfae Peaks Resort for being such an accommodating host and providing a great post race banquet. And thank you to the Super Crew of Pine River Paddlesports Center who moved boats throughout the events.