Adventure Racing World Championships - Costa Rica 2013
So, here we go... the big one! Last week I returned from the 2013 Adventure Racing World Championships (ARWC). The race was a multi day expedition race for teams of four. Our team comprised Tom and Sabrina, Dave who I had raced
with previously, and me. I joined the team quite late when the original fourth
member dropped out, which left us a relatively short time to actually train
together. However, we were all fit and ready, and arriving in San Jose I felt
very excited. The best teams in the world were all there, including last year's
champions Seagate, and former winners like Thule and the UK's Adidas Terrex.
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| Team "Great Langdale Bunkhouse" ready for action |
The three days prior to the start were occupied with
preparation of kit and food for the race, planning as much as possible (we were
given the leg lengths and disciplines a few days before the start, but the maps
would be waiting for us at the start line). A few days before the start we were
summoned to a race briefing, this was the first time we had all been assembled
together, and this is when I really felt I was at the start of something big.
We were told some more information about the route and given an overview map.
As promised, the race would take us the full length of the country, from Panama
to Nicaragua. We were also given a detailed talk by a snake expert in order to
help keep us safe, particularly in the jungle areas.
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| Snake = Bad |
That evening all the teams were assembled for a parade
through San Jose. It was a great event to be part of, we walked down the closed
main road through the town carrying our national flags, surrounded by race
officials in trucks and cars blasting their horns. We eventually reached a
square in the middle of the city, where the event was declared open after some
speeches by various important people. A band of children played the drums and
danced, then came the fireworks! They were very impressive and exciting since
they were set off from ground level right next to us. Little bits of burning
ash and firework rained down on us; Health and Safety has not quite reached San
Jose. Next we were treated to a three course dinner, we hadn't expected this so
it was a brilliant surprise, especially as it came with wine!
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| Some of the UK teams at the parade |
I returned to the hotel excited, slightly daunted, but
raring to go. On the final day before the start we travelled to a nearby
charity-run park area to help with a community project. We spent the afternoon
pulling out weeds, then were given the chance to meet a member of an indigenous
tribe, whose land we would be crossing later in the race. Gringos are not
normally permitted to cross these areas so we were very lucky, and it was great
to see the tribesman, particularly as this one happened to be the best Ultra
distance runner in Costa Rica! We all participated in a dance and he sang a
song of the travelling bird to bless our journey. I think some of the more experienced
racers found this a bit of a joke, but I loved it.
Already with so many great memories, I woke up at 3am and
put on my gear for the first section of the race. At 4 o'clock we were loaded
on to coaches and set off south to the start. San Jose had not been
exceptionally hot, but as we headed south the coach thermometer rose to 34C and
we began to understand what we had been told about Costa Rican microclimates!
Thankfully the race start was at an altitude of about 1000m, but it was still
hot. After some food provided by the local community and more very welcoming
dance and musical performances, we completed all the required checks with the
organisers then sat in the shade while everyone else did so.
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| Pongo marshals the start line |
At 2 o'clock it was go time... We gathered under the
starting arch, race director Pongo shouted go, and we were off! The first
section was a "Le Mans" start, around 1km running to our bikes, which
were still packed in their boxes waiting for us. The run was as chaotic as I
had expected, the air was full of excitement and trepidation and the noise of
people shouting and cheering was nearly drowned out by the helicopters filming
overhead. We arrived at the transition in the middle of the pack and set to
building our bikes. At each bike transition we had to remove the wheels and
pedals, pack the bikes into their boxes and load them onto trucks to be
transported to the next section. Soon we were underway and riding in a large
pack of teams, making good progress through small villages and hamlets. For the
first stage of a race over a week long the pace felt fast, but we were keen to
keep moving with other teams. We had a quick stop to redistribute some of our
loads within the team and continued into the evening. The support from the
public was incredible, as we rode through the tiny towns and past houses in the
middle of nowhere there were always people outside cheering and offering food
and water, throughout the race and regardless of the time of day or night there
were always people out supporting us!
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| Just a few of the lovely Costa Rican people we met |
As we went into the night, the dirt roads and tracks gave
way to muddy paths, which steadily got worse and worse, until we found
ourselves off our bikes, carrying them on our shoulders as we climbed steep
muddy paths through our first taste of jungle. It was hard work, our bikes were
constantly caught on trees and overhanging branches and the mud was at least
ankle deep most of the way. This section took us through the first night, and after
hours the mud eventually gave way and we finished the 100 km section in just
over 12 hours. We planned not to sleep until the second night at least, since
expedition racing is continuous, so stopping for sleep means you might get
overtaken! Finding the balance of getting just enough sleep to keep going is
sometimes hard, but we were all used to going through the first night and were
feeling good so far.
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| Slow going carrying bikes through the jungle |
Leg 2 was the first kayaking leg. I am not a particularly
experienced kayaker, and I knew that I would find this part of the race tough.
Two of the three kayaking legs were in the first few days of the race so I
hoped to get them over with as quickly as possible. However, expedition racing
modifies your perception of normal time, and "getting them over with
quickly" would see me paddling for much of the next three days. The first
section was 65km. From the start at the south east corner of the country we had
now crossed to the Pacific coast on the west, and the paddle would take us up
the Golfo Dulce. Looking back at the photographs of this section there were
some spectacular islands and coastline, but unfortunately I can only remember
how hard it was. I don't mind running, trekking, or biking for a long time as
things change - gradients alter your cadence, there are corners, and it gets
harder or easier, but paddling is continuous. Psychologically I find this
really tough, as I know that once I'm paddling that's all I'm going to do for a
very long time. I tried to work on my technique, arms straight - punch the
monkey, stab the fish, punch the monkey, stab the fish...
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| The first paddle |
The boats we were using in the race were inflatable double
kayaks, which have their advantages, but are pretty slow and numb boats to
paddle. We were required to carry a pump with us, and after 17 hours of
paddling, at the next transition, we deflated the boats and packed them up to
be transported across the Osa peninsula ready for the next stage. We would be
carrying all the rest of our kit with us on the 27km trek across the peninsula,
but as we were now into the second night we found a place for a 4 hour sleep
before getting started. We also found somewhere selling Empinadas (sort of
Costa Rican pasties), which were really good.
Loaded with gear and with paddles, bouyancy aids and other
assorted kit strapped to the outside of our packs we set off into the early
morning darkness. Being near the equator, the daylight hours in Costa Rica are
essentially 5:30 to 5:30. Not long after setting off up the track daylight
began to creep over the horizon. We were in good spirits and seeing a tree
sloth making its very slow way across a telegraph wire over our heads was a
brilliant sight! We plodded on up the peninsula in the rain, our feet were
starting to suffer from the wet atmosphere and we could all feel a few blisters
developing. We knew before the race that keeping our feet in good order would
be critical to reaching the finish line, as was proved when last year's world
champions, Team Seagate, were forced to withdraw and hospitalised with foot rot
later in the race. We crossed the peninsula in just over 13 hours, looking at
average speed this is clearly very slow, but considering our loads, navigation,
terrain and battered feet we were going reasonably well.
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| Loaded up with paddle gear for the peninsula crossing |
Next, transition 3 and back into the boats. Well, sort of.
Before we could actually paddle we had a 10km kayak "portage". We re-inflated
the boats, loaded them onto the trolleys we had carried from the last
transition and started to drag them slowly towards the water. It was tough
going, we had hoped to load the boats with our paddling gear but eventually had
to carry our packs and leave the boats empty. We worked in pairs, two of us
moving a boat on a trolley each. All teams struggled across this section, using
various methods to move the boats. When we hit big bumps our boats would slip
off the trolleys and we would have to stop and strap them back on, which was
frustrating but nowhere near as hard as the time a Brazilian team we passed
were having - their trolleys had broken so they had deflated the boats and were
trying to carry them by hand. With one team member hobbling with a swollen
ankle this left three people to carry two boats, one particularly gnarly
looking man lifted the kayak up and carried it on his head for as long as he
could at a time, before dropping it and collapsing for a rest, then repeating.
When I spoke to him he said "We can't do this, it will kill us".
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| "What's that between my toes?"... last section of the portage |
But they, and we, did, and we eventually reached the kayak
put-in. With the boats in the water we still had some work to do before
paddling, and dragging the boats through small channels of swampy water felt
like a dangerous thing to do. We had been warned about sea snakes and as I
wriggled barefoot through the mud and overhanging branches I was certainly
looking forward to getting back in the boat and paddling. This desire faded
soon after it happened. It was a beautiful evening as we started to paddle
though, we were now in the tidal channels of the Bahia Coronado and knew that
some of the checkpoints in this area were only accessible at high tide, since
they were located in narrow mangrove channels. At this point our race began to
unravel. We set off up one channel, believing that at the end of it we could
get through to a control, but when we got there we found the way barred by a
large fallen tree across the mangroves. We climbed over the tree and pushed the
boats under, but soon after discovered it was impossible to go any further. We
turned around and planned to take a route we had seen other teams heading for,
but met another team on the way who told us that many top teams had tried and
failed to get through. Mistakenly we believed them and planned a different
route, a long paddle against the tide up a river. This meant going away from
the first controls to access later ones, then turning around to come all the
way back down the river and collect the first ones. This all meant that the
planned 55km paddle became more like 90km of paddling against the flow, and
necessitated hours spend in the mangrove channels waiting for the tide to rise.
We used the time to sleep, but being unable to get out of the boats it was
uncomfortable and pretty miserable. During the 37 hour section I got out of the
kayak once, to crawl up a stinking mud bank towards a tiny wooden shack we had
seen. We had run out of drinking water and hoped to find some water which was
at least fresh (meaning we could purify it). We had seen crocodiles in the
water so weren't too keen to get out, but it was worth it and we were rewarded
with lots of cleanish water.
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| Mangrove-y hell |
Some time on Friday morning we finished the paddle, quickly
cooked some hot food and had a sleep before getting ready for our next stage, a
101km bike which would take us up to the middle of the country. There was
actually some really great riding in this section. To be honest we knew that
after our long paddle we were unlikely to make the time cut-off in a few
sections time. This was disappointing and we certainly hadn't given up hope of
doing so, but somehow this section now felt like more of a long ride out with
friends than a section of a race. I'm not sure we moved any slower than we
otherwise would have, but we had a great time on this section. The only
disappointment was the "superman" zip line which was part of the race
route, but had been closed when we arrived at it due to another racer injuring
themselves on the way down. This was a particularly bitter disappointment as it
was at the top of a massive hill! The ride was very hilly; Costa Rican road and
track builders don't mess around with hairpins zigzagging up and down hills -
they go straight up. The constant undulation meant switching from full granny
gear to top gear at the top of each hill, then back again in the valleys. The
section took us nearly 23 hours, and finished with a particularly cruel hill up
to around 1400m, where we reached the mandatory four hour stop at the midpoint
of the race.
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| Mid camp |
We rested, ate and packed for the next section. We had been
told that the "big trek" would be the hardest section of the race,
which after what we'd done already sounded pretty daunting, but I was excited
to get out into the mountains. By now it was apparent that we would miss the
cut off in two sections' time, but we were determined to continue. Sabrina
particularly was a good motivator and reminded us all to keep pushing on when
the race organisers tried to persuade us to miss the trek and take a shorter
course. We resisted, and at about 4am set off towards the highest mountain in
Costa Rica, Cerro Chiripo. We climbed quickly, believing that it would be a
good idea to finish the climb in daylight, but soon started to feel the effects
of altitude. We again helped each other and used bungee cords to tow when we
could. We climbed to a mountain hut at about 3000m, the day was hot and the
scenery was amazing. We arrived at the hut, took 30 minutes rest and carried on
up to our first summit, then descended and finally climbed to the summit of Chiripo
at 3820m. We arrived not long before dark, having reached the high point of the
race but still only 16km into the 92km trek.
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| Chiripo summit ridge |
From the summit, the tourist trail turns around and returns
to civilisation. We would continue on and descend, via another small mountain
hut, into the Cabecar Chirripo indigenous reserve. As darkness fell and we
tried to pick our way down the ridge from the top, we got very cold and a
couple of us were starting to get hypothermic. We quickly stopped and put our
tiny tent up. I boiled some water and made some hot food, but by the time it
was ready the guys were already all in the tent and asleep! It became apparent
at this point that our Terra Nova Laser was really not big enough for four
people, and as I crawled in on top of my team mates they made all sorts of
grumbly noises. It was not a comfortable few hours, the tent was pitched on
rocks and we couldn't close the door with us all inside, but I think I slept a
bit. I was grateful for daylight when we packed up and got going again. The
next section would take us into the indigenous reserve proper, this was a
section I had looked forward to for the whole race. We had been told that this
area was truly inaccessible, with no road access and "areas where
aeroplanes have crashed and never been found". It certainly lived up to
this, the terrain was very difficult, with steep muddy slopes and tiny tracks
through the jungle. We spent as much time on our backsides as on our feet and
within minutes we were totally covered in mud. Instinctively we grabbed
branches as we slipped down the slopes, but had to be careful, this was a snake
area. We also saw some pretty big tarantulas.
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| Indigenous settlement in the Chiripo reserve |
We passed a number of indigenous settlements where the
people were again amazingly welcoming, particularly as they hardly see any
people from outside their own community. The communities were clearly poor,
living in small wooden huts with banana leaf roofs, but everyone we saw looked
healthy and happy, and skipped quickly through the jungle in their short rubber
boots... What they thought of us in our running shoes, gaiters and tights I can
only imagine! We saw one tiny girl with a large sack on her back skilfully
sliding down the mud, I'm not sure whether the cat sitting on the top of her
bag was real or imagined. The jungle was breaking us and our kit, we reached a
river crossing at one point to find an Italian team stopped as one of their
members refused to go on. She was in tears, and the next section probably
didn't help - we climbed a nearly vertical slope by hanging off trees and
vines. Looking back down I was very grateful that the vines hadn't broken, it
was a long fall down to the river. Eventually though, the mud subsided. Early
the next morning (Sunday?) we reached the village of the Ultra-running hero we
had met before the race. He was very welcoming, gave us fresh oranges from a
tree, and pointed out the route. The final section of the epic trek started to
take us through larger villages, with schools and more substantial houses.
There were a couple of tough climbs but the ground was harder and the going
much easier. At this point we expected to be timed out of the race at the end
of the trek, so this felt like the end. We finally descended to the medical
checkpoint, only to be met by one of the other UK teams, EnduranceLife. After
so many hours (over 60 on the trek alone) it was amazing to see them and gave
us all a boost. Together we headed up the hill to the medical checkpoint where
we were obliged to stop for an hour. We had our feet checked and ate a great
meal. Competitiveness had overcome us and we had run the last descent to break
away from EnduranceLife before the checkpoint, but after a captains discussion
we decided not to race each other.
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| Towards the end of the big trek |
However, it became apparent that Costa Rica wasn't finished
with us yet! As we headed into the final transition, we looked down at the
field and saw three sets of bike boxes - us, EnduranceLife, and the Italians.
We had at least one more section to do... After the monster trek, the prospect
of a 60km bike ride wasn't too daunting and we all imagined it would be over
fairly quickly. We completed our quickest and best transition of the race and
were ready to go just before it got dark. EnduranceLife were also about to set
off, but decided to have a short sleep before starting, so we set off on our
own. The climb out of the transition was brutal, straight up for at least half
an hour, then a slightly more undulating course for the next few kilometers but
we were going well. However as it got fully dark we all began to realise how
tired we were, and we started to struggle. This leg had only one checkpoint in
the centre, but it was a difficult one to find. We spent a long time looking
for a river crossing point which resulted only in getting soaking wet and
carrying our bikes up and down the bank. A race 4x4 pointed us in the vaguely
right direction for the control and off we went along more dirt tracks. One
member of our team was now really struggling to stay awake, talking gibberish
and needing a lot of help. Over the next few hours we all started to struggle,
talking afterwards we all felt very strange and each felt a huge sense of deja
vu about the area we were in. I remember being utterly convinced we had already
done this section, and couldn’t work out why it was taking so long. Eventually
we decided we would have one last look for the control before giving in and
stopping for a sleep. Thankfully our navigators found it close by, so we all
got into our bivvy bags for half an hour's sleep, then continued. Another
massive climb eventually led us into daylight, then a quick descent to
transition. The leg had taken nearly 13 hours and we were knackered.
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| The final bike leg |
After arriving in the transition we were taken by bus to the
last section of the race - the canopy zip line and rafting section in to the
finish. The zip line section was good fun, we were all given a harness and a
pulley device, then clipped on to cables which allowed you to fly through the
canopy. Finally we would complete a rafting section with a guide. One of the
sections we had missed was a grade 4 rapids rafting section, which was a shame
as the final section was a relatively tame grade 2. This also meant we had to
paddle a lot more than the grade 4 section! The 19km section of river took us a
couple of hours to descend and finally we pulled into a little bay near the
town of Puerto Viejo. A final few kilometers on foot and we'd be at the finish,
after so long it was hard to believe and was always going to be a bit of an
anticlimax! We walked for a while then managed to run the last section up the
road into the town, around the corner and we could see the finish field. We
joined hands as we ran onto the field and ran together across the line - done!
It had taken us 192 hours 51 minutes, or just over eight days.
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| Crossing the finish line! |
The race was an incredible experience. We were promised the
hardest world championships ever, I hadn't done a world champs before but it
seemed pretty tough to me! We were also promised a true wilderness race in the
mould of the old Eco Challenge events. The sections through the jungle and over
the mountains will stay with me for a long time, we were truly on our own and
looking after ourselves. As a team we worked well together and helped each
other through tough sections, of which there were a few. Some that will stick
with me are the pain as my bike dug into my neck trying to carry it through the
jungle on the first section, the howling wind and cold over the mountain
section, and the "sleepmonsters" during the final bike, when I saw
some very weird and frightening things in my mind.
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| ...aaaand relax! |
Finally, the few days after the race were spent relaxing and
mainly eating. After over a week of eating mostly cereal bars and sweets it was
fantastic to taste bread, milk and meat again... and the beer was pretty good
too. Overall ARWC was an incredible experience, I'm slightly disappointed to
miss the cut off and a few of the race highlights, but the race and the areas
we were able to reach were amazing. It was also humbling to see the speed of
the top teams, who had already completed the full course before we finished. An
international team Thule won this year, with the UK’s top team (Adidas Terrex
Prunesco) finishing joint third.
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