Gilmore 2009

Gilmore is maybe the most anticapated race that Madness looks forward to every year. This year was no different. All 11 of us met in Prescott at Olive Garden for some final carbs and just to do a little more team bonding.

Saturday morning comes and we all get to the TA to drop kayaks and set up the TA before the long course meeting. As the race starts Shane, Sterling and I head out on foot to get the map and really see how the race is going to unfold. After about 2 miles on foot we get 2 short quick checkpoints and we ge to see how it is going to layout. Bike, paddle and then free land nav.

So we hopped on our bikes and go. Burned through about the first 3 miles to the first bike checkpoint. At that point we were handed an additional map with 8 additional checkpoints. Shortly after bike checkpoint 3 Sterling started to cramp in his calfs. It only got worse for him and moved up to his thighs as we were burning up and down the trails. I could tell he was hurting and as we were on our way back to the TA and getting one final checkpoint I offered to tow him to relieve some of the pressure off his legs.

Once we hit the TA we switched into foot gear to race out to a mystery event. The event was good. Each team member puts an arrow on an 18" x 18" square. I went first and took one shot to hit the square. Sterling and Shane weren't as good of a shot as me though. About 20 arrows later were heading back to the TA again.

From the TA we went directly to the kayak drop to get the paddling going. At this point Sterling was doing much better. I had mapped out the boat points they had to be gotten in order. We went from one end of this small lake to the other and then back again. I think we probably did 4 miles on water.

Got out of the water and raced to the finish line. What a day. Seems like every race is just as trying and hard as the last.