The BOAR 6-Hr AR (2014)

The 2014 BOAR once again took place out at Seminole Wetlands Park. Last year we won the race, and with a new friend on our team, we came ready to do it again.

The Prologue

The race started with a short 1km run in order to spread the teams apart. The run was through very bad terrain. Rooted up very badly by the cattle in the area. It was during this first run that our teammate Nikki would sprain her ankle. But she is such a bad ass that she wouldn't let us know until much later in the race.

We finished the run quickly and were off on our bikes before everyone else.

The Bike (01)

We had four CPs (CP01-04) to find in this section before making our way to the Boat TA. Unfortunately, during our pre-race planning we failed to notice the nice (white) trail leading out from CP04. So we thought that no matter which way we attacked the points, everyone would have the same route. We were wrong.

We went at CP01 first, then CP04 and so on on a counter-clockwise loop. Had we attacked in on a clockwise loop we would have been able to exit the area via the nice trail next to CP04. Instead, even though we rode well and started the bike section first, we lost time got to the Boat TA behind many teams.

The Paddle

By the time we started the paddle there were several teams in the water already. We paddled well, and by the time we reached CP09 we had passed everyone and were leading the race.

Then came CP12.

We had a slight navigation issue getting to CP12. We ended up to far south of it, so instead of paddling back, we decided to trek to it. This error cost us a good amount of time during which several of the top teams got ahead of us.

The Trek (01)

After the paddle we had a very short bike ride down to the o-course, were Dr. Ron (volunteering there) told us that we were the fourth team in, seven minutes behind the leaders.

We were spot on with out navigation in this section and hit every CP (CP15-20) dead on. No issues. It was right after getting CP19 that Team Canyoneros came up behind us. We both made it to the bikes almost at the same time. It was also around this time that Nikki's sprained foot was really hurting and she couldn't run much. She had taken some Advil earlier but now she was out.

The Bike (02)

We transitioned to our bikes very quickly and took off. After a very quick stop at the Main TA, we went off in search of CP21-26.

At the very first point, CP26, we ran into Canyoneros and Cow Tipping Dwarfs.

The CPs were easy to find and by 1330 we were back at the Main TA ready to start the last leg of the race.

The Trek (02)

We didn't know how far behind we were at this point. But at the very start of the trek Nikki told us she just couldn't run. Her foot was hurting too bad. This is when she first told us she had sprained it at the start of the race. So we walked the entire last leg.

The CPs were easy to find. We once again attacked them in a counter-clockwise loop. We took a gamble on CP29 by shooting a bearing from the trail. It paid off as we came out right on top of it.

The Finish

We finished in 3rd place overall (1st place coed team). We were just 3 minutes behind 2nd place and 19 minutes behind 1st. 

Congratulations to everyone that raced, especially Canyoneros on a great win. This race has always been about speed, and this year they brought it.

Thank you to Greg, Pangea, and the volunteers!

And as always thank you to Jason and Nikki for another fun race!

----  Race Photos  (click here) ----