XVI Red Fox Adventure Race
The Quick Red Fox
Carrick Armer / 10.06.2017
The racing has been fast and furious at the AR European Championship thus far, bunch sprints forming right from the 4km kayak prologue. The short loop, out to a small headland opposite the basecamp area with a short, boggy portage over a bund and track in the middle, started to split the pack. The fast start contained its fair share of collisions and miscommunications, especially for the teams who may not be used to racing lightweight kayaks in such close proximity to each other.
From the gun, teams Seiklushunt, Porkkala Swimrun, Team Sweden and MDK Russia powered away together ahead of the other teams, the Finns being first to the kayak portage. They were trekking strongly with the bunch, as after the kayak came a short trek in the coastal woodlands around the edges of the lake, with a short bushwhack along the coast as one nav option or a longer track route which seemed the faster way. As the racers rolled out from TA1 on the bikes, Seiklushunt managed to open a small gap, gaining a 15 minute margin over their chasers at one point, but lost out again on a small navigation error and by TA2 the top three teams were all bunched, the Finns dropping away slightly.
That early bike leg contained a few entertaining checkpoints to keep the racers on their toes. The first was a grotto/cave checkpoint, near a lake inlet, where a jumble of collapsed blocks from the formerly solid cliff face have formed small caves and grottos into which teams had to scramble. There was no technical climbing involved, but being in rigid soled bike shoes didn't necessarily help grip the rocks, as was the case for a later checkpoint, described as 'between 12m boulder and rock wall'. Another rocky, mossy scramble, just for fun!
The trekking loop that branched off the bike leg was only short, but contained a hidden gem: the most direct route to one of the CPs involved a 30m wade through a tree-filled beaver swamp. The lead teams all opted to dive into the murky mess, rather than take the 1.5km detour around (albeit on better ground and a good trail), and soon came to realise the 'marshy ground' marked on the map came to chest deep in places.
Late in the night came the stage of greatest intrigue in the race descriptions: 'board paddling'. There's been a lot of speculation as to the type of board, most people assuming SUP style or surf/windsurf boards. We're not sure anyone was expecting to be paddling 2-foot by 6-foot boards of four inch thick closed-cell foam insulation board, but the teams rose to the challenge. Seiklushunt had carried their split paddles on the trekking leg to have them for this section, but reckoned it wasn't really worth it as the easiest and most stable technique was to lie on the boards and arm paddle, butterfly-style.
In the midst of the board paddling was a 'special stage', some of the early ropeworks sections, including a zipline into an old marble quarry, paddling across on their boards, and a short roped climb to reach another of the CP units. While climbing shoes weren't mandatory for that one (they may not have been as effective when wet), at least trail runners were preferable to bike shoes!
The lead teams are now well into some of the long water phases of the second half of the race, and again there's been consternation. MDK Russia, who have been leading at regular intervals, have put a handful of small holes in their boats, after some confusion over which rapids on the maps were deemed paddleable and which weren't.
Team Sweden had made some headway while the Russians were repairing their boats on the roadside during a very mandatory portage around a dam, but both they and Seiklushunt have been moving very conservatively, portaging almost everything even faintly undulating. With the long flatwater paddle to come out onto Lake Ladoga itself, it seems a wise strategy. At least the weather is holding out - 20 degrees and sunny - to make the long times on the water a little more pleasant.
The Red Fox Adventure Race 24hr category have just left basecamp, in a loud hail of cheering from supporters, so camp is calm for now. With the 'White Nights' in full swing by now, though, I'm sure it will be another long and busy one for all the teams.
SleepMonsters
