The 2005 edition of the western Raid the North was launched from tiny and beautiful Kaslo village, just 70 km north of Nelson, with a good portion of its 1,000 residents coming out to cheer the start of the race. With fire dancers, local royalty and the stately SS Moyie creating a stunning backdrop and one of the most dynamic race starts around, the 22 teams assembled at the start line were a taut group waiting for the gun to go off. The countdown began, the spectators tensed to cheer, and the mass bike start was underway.
Hammering out of the start chute and along the city streets to the roar of the crowd was thrilling until we rounded the second bend a scant minute later and were faced with our first climb. With legs burning and lungs on fire, we pushed up the hill and maintained pace with an impressive selection of the top teams, a fast and furious road ride that, if maintained, would have assured us a top ten placing at CP1. Unfortunately this was not to be so. With a pack-swapping incident inducing serious confusion with the passing racers, Team Stadium Dogs was left searching in the dark for one of their riders who had powered past unnoticed. When the team reunited quite a few minutes later, we were dead last. An auspicious beginning that continued to plague us right through to the end of the race.
Still on the trail to CP1, we made a quick left when it should have been a quick right and wound up on a steep descent that spit us onto the highway below. Travelling on the highway earned us a reprimand and threat of disqualification if we did not return the way we had come, so back we went along the highway, up the steep grind to our last known point, the correct turn and a morale boosting cheer from the course designer who guided us onto the right trail. From there it was a fast and fun ride down into the transition area, with us managing to pass one other team along the way and getting us to CP1 in second last place.
We started the trek just after 2:00 a.m. under the bright light of a gorgeous full moon and had only minimal difficulty in locating the left turn we needed to take to avoid a few kilometres of bushwhacking through washouts. We travelled with Team 8 Legs 1 Mind for a while until they swerved to take the valley floor route, whereas we had decided to go alpine - and it was really alpine. Several summits, many hours and quite a few miles of ridge line later, we stood at the top of what we thought was Mount Carlyle - where we needed to be - only to realize that we had bagged Paddy's Peak and that Mount Carlyle loomed ahead, with much more elevation and bouldering remaining. It's amazing how fast glee can turn to such profanity that even a sailor would blush. Even more disheartening was the realization that the shortest route was too perilous, as two rockslides had occurred earlier in the day. This left the only other accessible route necessitating a long trek down, around and up the back of the mountain, with even the goats looking at us as if we were crazy. The terrain on these summits was harsh and rocky, with the footing sketchy in most places, and the temperature at this point had climbed well into the 30's. Out of water and with sore, tired feet and aching legs, Team Stadium Dogs clambered up the last mountainous section, collected the password at the top, and began the long, stony descent to CP2.
We arrived alone at CP2, checked in, and immediately made our way to the water tap where we filtered enough water for all 4 of our packs and several bottles of electrolyte replacement. While resting briefly and digesting the Gastrolyte, Team Energetic arrived and began their filtering process. Happy that we had made up a bit more time and passed another team, we threw on our packs and started up the hill to the miner's trail that would lead us to CP3.
If we had thought for a moment that the going would get easier, we were bitterly disappointed. The trail was strewn with sharp, ankle-turning rocks that slowed our progress even more. When we hit a forest trail, our elation at the softer footing was quickly replaced by the frustration of having to navigate over the many fallen trees while swatting at the hordes of huge and hungry horseflies. Not wanting to stop and be dinner to the insects, we pushed on, contouring around the side of the mountain, until we realized that we had missed the drop down onto the road, a road that looked as if it would be rather easily travelled. A sharp left to a drop of several hundred metres of steep bushwhacking and wet foot crossings and we were on the road with a clear path to CP3. A near miss of the bridge to the transition area had us thankful we weren't moving more quickly, and we hit CP3 after 14 hours of trekking the harsh alpine environment.
Hopeful that the upcoming bike leg would be easier than the previous trek section, we made good time in transition and were eager to get back on our bikes. It was at this CP that we heard about a bear attack on first place Team Dart and also that our friends on Team 8 Legs 1 Mind had decided not to continue in the race. Medical was required for some attention to badly blistered feet and a silent prayer was said that there wouldn't be too much hike-a-bike in this leg.
We headed out of CP3 as the last team to beat the cut off, had a quick ride to the ghost town, and located the trailhead easily to begin the long climb to the top of Idaho Peak. It was rather daunting to see the road snaking back and forth in treacherous switchbacks, but we put our heads down and got into a rhythm that got us to the top just before dusk. As gruelling grinds uphill on the bike are generally rewarded with fast and fun descents, we were a happy group upon arrival at CP4 and anticipating arriving at CP5 ahead of schedule. Then we saw the trail going down. It was a narrow and winding thread of soft dirt, roots and rocks with steep drop-offs immediately beside the trail and it was daunting to the extreme. Especially since it would have to be ridden in that almost dark zone that messes with visual perception. Better safe than sorry, and after one of the Dogs went over the bars on a sharp switchback, we walked a good portion of the trail and were careful not to step off the ledge and into oblivion.
We landed on the road at the bottom of the trail in full dark and powered our way to CP5. We quickly checked in, stuffed ourselves with hot soup and sandwiches, grabbed all the mandatory gear for the paddle leg and were ready to go in record time. The CP staff confirmed that we were ready to go and didn't need anything else from our support crew, and checked us back into the race. Then they sprung a nasty surprise by informing us of a three hour wait for boats and we needed to stay in the CP in order to be credited our wait time. Just a bit cranky that we would have this forced downtime, we retired to the field behind the CP staff's motor home and joined the other 5 teams that were also waiting for boats. The next truck brought enough canoes for the previous teams, which left us with 2 other teams that were also hunkered down to pass the wait time.
When the boats arrived just under 3 hours later, we arose from our fitful dozing and headed out onto the lake under the bright light of another full moon. With only one team on the water ahead of us, we were mostly alone for the almost six hours of paddling through the quietest hours of the night, able to see only the outline of the shore and the glow sticks on each other's canoes. The lights of the lumberyard that signalled the end of the lake started seeming closer at the same time the sky started to lighten and day broke when we were paddling on the river to CP5.
Our arrival at CP5 was greeted happily, as we were the last officially ranked team to come through the course and the volunteers could now pack up and head home. After hooking up the canoes to the sling ropes and strong-arming them across the river, we began a sharp ascent to the much-anticipated zip line and short jaunt to the next TA. The zip line offered a bit of a jolt when going over the edge and this adrenalin carried us through a quick transition and onto our bikes once again. We had been told at this transition area that if we hustled we could make it to the finish line by the 12:00 cut off and even though we had amassed an almost 3 hour credit, the thought of crossing the line by the official finishing time was exciting. With renewed vigour we attacked the trail to CP7 with the full intention of finishing this race in the next 4˝ hours.
After another long climb up to the turn off to CP7 we got stuck on which turn to take and wasted several minutes making our decision. The turn we decided to make was the right one, albeit not how it was described to us, and it was an easy ride into CP7. The volunteers at this station were as happy to see us as we were to see them, as now they could also go home after telling us it was "all downhill from here." All downhill it was indeed and we maintained an amazing pace over logging road and pavement, one that was good enough to drop us into CP8 with just an hour to go to the finish line.
We transitioned to the paddle in mere seconds, hoisted the canoes (heaven help us, one was as heavy as a Viking boat…), sprinted past the nude sunbathers to the water (which offered yet another delaying obstacle to overcome) and jumped in for the final paddling leg. Now we were on a time limit and didn't waste a precious second in getting organized for the fastest paddle we could manage. We lashed the boats together and pooled our power to get the most out of each and every stroke. The bridge marking the finish line seemed very far away, but measuring our progress using the houses on shore helped to bring it closer much faster, even though it seemed the speed boats and skiers on the lake were doing everything they could to hinder our progress by creating big waves that threatened to swamp us. No matter what, the Stadium Dogs were intent on finishing under the wire before the official cut off and we arrived on shore in a panic and with our shoulders on fire…at 12:02. Carrying the boat across the beach, up the stairs, and across the finish line added another 5 minutes and our final time was 12:07, reflecting 36 hours and 7 minutes of racing and not including our almost 3 hour time credit. It was close, but thank goodness we have that time credit for adjustment! Team Stadium Dogs finished as the final ranked team for Raid the North Nelson, which was our team's first successful 36 hour completion and leaves us no where to go but up.
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