Wildwood, Missouri —
The third-largest adventure race in the United States kicked off Saturday with a record number of teams gathering at the Hidden Valley Ski Resort. The race started with a surprise bus ride to the starting line at Pacific Palisades Conservation Area. Due to a restricted permit, teams competed in a road run to collect mandatory paddling gear, and then were able to start paddling canoes downstream on the Meramec River. 7 miles later, teams took out at Allenton Access Conservation Area, where they started an 11-mile bike ride up to Greensfelder County Park. In true adventure-racing style, the bike ride was “mostly” road, but featured a creek crossing under I-44 where teams were lucky to keep their feet dry. Once in Greensfelder County Park, teams dropped their bikes at Otis Brown Memorial Shelter and received a new orienteering map with 11 checkpoints. Teams collected these checkpoints on foot, and those that visited all checkpoints climbed over 1,000 feet in 6 miles. Once back at Otis Brown Memorial Shelter, teams had a 6-mile mountain bike ride back to Hidden Valley that covered a wide range of trail conditions. The course was one of the most difficult in race history, however 50 out of 98 teams were able to find all checkpoints within 8 hours.
FINAL RESULTS (now with splits!)
- Overall
- 4-Person Co-Ed
- 2-Person Co-Ed
- 4-Person Female
- 4-Person Male
- 2-Person Female
- 2-Person Male
- Rookie
- Family
- Inconvenient (special category)
- BOR (special category)
VIDEOS
Legendary Randy Ericksen
- The Paddle
- How to Cross an Interstate
- Running with the Big Dogs
- TA 3 & 4 (Otis Brown Shelter)
- Finish Line
- Recap
Facebook Live coverage – YouTube Playlist of all race updates
Unplugged Adventures – post-race recap from Jonas
PHOTOS
- Bike Drop – Dan Singer
- Start – Dan Singer
- Start – Jake Trost
- Allenton Boat Ramp – Jake Trost
- Fox Creek – Dan Singer
- Greensfelder CP 14 – Jake Trost
- Greensfelder CP 26 – Jake Trost
- Finish Line – Dan Singer
- Awards – Dan Singer
SPECIAL FEATURES
RACE REPORTS – send them in to ekorsch@alpineshop.com!
MAPS
- Clue Sheet
- Map 1 (Course Overview 1:24,000 USGS printed by MyTopo)
- Map 2 (Starting Line)
- Map 3 (Course Detail 1:10,000 orienteering)
WANT MORE?
The best place to find more adventure races is the Race Map by Adventure Racing Cooperative. You can view races by location and filter by race length. If you have any questions about particular races, please get in touch with Emily or Erl (Race Directors) since we’ve done most of these events and can help you pick one or three 🙂