The Toughest Race in North Dakota
4 Comments Published by Mt. Marcy on Tuesday, September 7, 2010 at 6:59 PM.
On Saturday I competed in a ten-hour adventure race. Teams needed a girl, so I was a hot commodity. The way it works is an hour before the race teams are given a map and then must plot their route. The race entailed approximately 30 miles of mountain biking, 10 miles of running, swimming in the Red River (ick!), rock climbing, pack rafting, canoeing, and orienteering.
Start of the race with fellow team members Joel and Erik
After climbing a tree and before pack-rafting our bikes across the river.
Transition station.
Teams had to swim to the middle of the river, climb a pillar, and then zip line to shore. My friend Lauren, who is from Ft Worth, but is getting her PhD at UND, was much more excited about climbing this than I was. Joel climbed it for our team.
Putting together a puzzle in order to get our next map.
Running to the finish
Prickly balls covered me.
The race started at 8 a.m. I stopped having fun around 3 p.m. when I had this, "why the hell am I doing this revelation?!" The worst part was swimming across the Red River. The Red is nasty, brown, and has catfish. I could not see my hands and I kept thinking that if I saw a catfish I would die.
My team came in 4th, even after we got lost which caused us to run an extra 5k.
Marcy Alice, I am SO proud of you! I'm speechless after reading everything that you had to do for the race!!! W-O-W! :-)
Photo credits?
Way to go Marcy. Very impressive! the catfish would have freaked me out as well.
you're so awesome, i can't believe it...the "what the hell am i doing" moment would have hit me way earlier. like the night before...