[EUREKA, MO.] One of the nation’s largest amateur adventure races, Alpine Shop’s Castlewood Eight-Hour Adventure Race returned this past Saturday, December 3, 2022 to Eureka, MO.
The Wyman Center served as race headquarters for the 97 teams competing in the race. Of the nearly 300 total participants, Alpine Shop was pleased to welcome 87 individual rookie racers to the start line, as well. Competitors began the morning by heading out on foot for a short trek to find one orienteering point before heading to the bike drop in Greensfelder Park in nearby Wildwood..
Teams then orienteered to obtain checkpoints throughout the 1,734 acre Greensfelder Park, before riding into the city of Eureka as they continued to find checkpoints along the way, including a trip to the Eureka Mountain Bike Park.
Teams then sprinted to Route 66 State Park where they faced an upstream paddle in which they beached their canoes on the shore to head out on foot to find three checkpoints before heading back to the boats and paddling downstream to return to Route 66.
After the paddle, teams rode to the bike relay where both two and four person teams did two laps around Times Beach where Team Kuat earned the “Blazing Saddles” title for the fastest combined lap time.
From there it was back to Wyman Center for the final section of the race: 13 more orienteering checkpoints!
For the teams that had enough time left on the clock and spring in their step, a special challenge remained: a VERY challenging 2,300 ft of climbing section in Greensfelder.
The 2022 course was on of the toughest versions of the race in years and left folks racing for a full 8 hours of fun. At the end of the day, 44 Down took home the win for the second consecutive year and cleared the course in a time of 5 hours and 29 minutes.
A big thank you to our sponsors, Optimal Performance Center, for coming out and taking care of our racers and Kuat, for supporting the rookie racer raffle. Other sponsors included Terrain Magazine, The North Face, Great Harvest in Kirkwood, and Schlafly for the post race celebration. And none of this would have been possible without Carrie and Jeff Sona in their rookie Race Director debut!
Mark your calendars for December 2, 2023! We’re cooking up a fresh course of fun!
RESULTS:
- Overall
- 4-Person Co-Ed
- 2-Person Co-Ed
- 4-Person Male
- 2-Person Male
- 4-Person Female & 2-Person Female
- Rookie
- Family
Videos
Photos
Special Features
Race Reports-send them to jsnyder@alpineshop.com!
Maps
Want More?
The best place to find more adventure races is the Race Calendar by USARA. You can review races by location and filter by race length. If you have any questions about particular races, please get in touch with Carrie and Jeff (Race Directors) since they’ve done most of these events and can help your pick one (or three)!