Sand Springs

Sand Springs Sprint Race Oct. 08



Well after the Berryman the idea of a race that would only last 2-4 hours sounded very appealing, especially one that required no navigation using a map and compass! I had recruited my childhood friend Sheldon Smith to be my teammate. We were both very excited about the race even though neither one of us really knew what we were in for.



Race day arrived and the weather was cold, but clear. The race started off with approximately a two mile run down to the river where our canoes awaited. We were able to keep a steady, but not necessary any speed record pace for the run. We made it to the canoes and were off. Sheldon and I have spent many, many hours paddling on the river growing up so it didn't take long for us to get in a rhythm and we started to make up some time. We passed a few teams and came to the mystery event of the race, a zip-line. It was a lot of fun, Sheldon stayed in the canoe and I waited in line and zipped across the river, got back in the canoe and we were off again. Next up was the technical run, or at least that is what they called it. I would describe it as more of technical climb or hike the only time that we ran was when we might have tripped on something or slid down the hill and had to run to avoid falling. We eventually made it through it and back to the canoes, paddled a couple more miles and made it to the bike transition. Having never been to this race before we weren't sure how to get to the trail, but eventually found our way up the hill to where we needed to go. The biking portion consisted of approximately a 3.5 mile lap that we would go through twice. The trail was very rough and pretty steep in places. It was very trying for those who were not experienced in riding trails or navigating through the rocks or stumps.We eventually made it through the biking, though it was a challenge. We crossed the finish line with a smile in 3hrs 40mins. Prior to this race I had been trying to convince Sheldon of how much fun these races were and that we should try a 12hr race. Well needless to say after this race, which he described as one of the hardest things he has ever done, he really had no desire to do another race for a while. Overall it was a good experience, and it was nice to have a finish under my belt.