Another weekend in March means another race for GOALS ARA. We often don’t start racing until April, but we have now raced in three adventure races before April Fools. With legs still a bit heavy from the pounding at the Swamp Fox and a trek up and down Mount Mitchell outside North Carolina, Abby and Brent teamed up with JP Bordeleau for Start 2 Finish’s Natchez Trace Adventure Race, a 12 hour event in western Tennessee. Unfortunately, it was not our smoothest race as we struggled with flats, scratched corneas, and most importantly some major navigational errors. All that aside we had an amazing time in Natchez Trace State Park and came back from our issues several times for a strong second place finish.
For an event that we hadn’t heard much about, we absolutely loved every moment of it (well maybe not when totally screwing up the nav or scratching eyeballs). The woods were beautiful as was the lake on which we paddled in the middle of the race. The biking was incredibly fun with just about every sort of terrain shy of major mountain climbs. The competition was strong, the race directors and volunteers friendly, and in general this was one of the better races we have done in a long time. If only we lived closer, we’d make it an annual tradition to be sure! Thanks to the folks at Start 2 Finish, and a big congratulations to team Los Locos for the win. Finally, a huge thank you to JP who didn’t see us at our finest but who was an amazing teammate despite the trials and tribulations.
Now that April is upon us in the northeast, we think we’ll take a break for a few weeks. Next up is the Rev3 Epic, but more importantly we have some final work to do in putting together this year’s Cradle of Liberty, a 24 hour race here in the neighborhood of Philadelphia. We’re very excited about this year’s brand new course and just bummed we won’t get to race it!
For full reports on the Natchez Trace Adventure Race, check out:
Abby’s Race Report
