Saturday morning, driving south on I95 from Northern Virginia in a torrential downpour, Chris Rumohr (A-list Ambassador) and I were beginning to wonder what we would find at Pocahontas State Park, just south of Richmond VA. Weather reports were of 4"+ of rain and it wasn't looking promising, but we had faith.

After doing OAR events for nearly 10 years I am nearly convinced Don Mann has an "in" with the weather gods; torrential rains to "prep" the course and the absolutely perfect weather to race in.

We arrived to a hive of activity and moved quickly through check in and gear check. The volunteers were cheery and helpful, even though many of them had been up till 3 Am the morning before ~ one would have never known it! I love AR volunteers!

With a new twist to any OAR event I have been to and more reminiscent to multi-sport events, we were given a map, with the numbered CP's and disciplines noted on them as well as given a bit of information about the course prior to the race brief...was I dreaming?! This was too good to be true!

After a quick race brief, where additional helpful tips were given about the race course: blue trail, yellow ribbons and my favorite of the day, the emergency cell number...cell phones weren't mandatory gear and what sane AR type is going to carry non-mandatory gear. I had visions of injured racers yelling out the emergency number while randomly blowing on the mandatory whistle waiting for help to arrive.

The TA set up was great. The course did figure 8's through the TA throughout the day. The race started in a nice mud puddle (later to become the mud pit finish evolution) with the the trail run passing back through the TA transitioning from one set of trails to another. The course designers did an awesome job at maximizing the trails available with various terrains, streams, dams and some beautiful flowers out due to all the rain the day before. For once, the orienteering points didn’t interfere with the forward momentum of the race, we picked up two of them and moved on.

The most adventurous part of the mountain bike course took place within the first 1/2 mile. The racers had been told there would be a stream crossing, and even that it could be deep. It was up to each racer to determine how to approach the stream crossing though. I decided to take the cautious approach and used my bike to see what was lurking along that muddy bank in the murky, muddy water. Violating everything my bike mechanic has ever told me, I lowered my bike in and down it went...lower and lower. Scientific investigation determined it was seat post deep. We then jumped on in and swam across. After the 10 mile trail run we agreed that the swim was "quite refreshing". Continuing on winding trails that wrapped themselves up, down around and over a series of ridges along the lake we traveled 8 miles or so out to the fire road and we shot back to the TA.

Most people do not like any paddling sections that are involved in adventure races, let alone flat water paddling sections in the infamous water craft called a "ducky". For the first time all day, I was completely in my element - water involving boats! Not wading across over-flowing dams or swimming with my bike! Something that involved a paddle!

We shoved off and soon realized that the wind had picked up significantly and the ducky wanted to pull to the right. After a few minutes of paddling, I realized that in my joy of being in a boat, we had shoved off stern first. Chris and I executed a mid-water seat swap, as well as 180 degree spin and took off once again. That solved a lot of the steering problems. I typically paddle canoes and kayaks that have very distinct pointy ends but I am not making excuses. Chris and i realized this is the 2nd time in our racing career we have launched our boats in a rush and been paddling "backwards"! Problem solved we focused and started hunting down the teams ahead of us, managing to pass 6 or 7 along the way. The best part of the paddle was that it was set up as an out and back course so you got to see and cheer on your fellow racers. This was one of the best set ups of this course ~ you saw your fellow competitors several times throughout the day and there was a real fan base at the TA who cheered everyone they saw.

Landing back at the TA the last series of tasks lay ahead of us. The log PT. After 4 sets of 4 count over-head presses Chris and I realized wearing our bike helmets was a smart idea. It doesn't hurt as much to bounce the log off your head. Bicep curls are for girls, no problems there. Down on our backs for the bench press...oh no...oops! There goes the log, onto my chest! ok, start again....1, 2, 3, ouch! Don and Chris Caul helpfully informed us of the time cut-off (they hadn't mentioned that in the morning but it worked as an inspiration) and finally, crunches. Off to the ropes course. The rope stirrup crossing was a lot of fun once you got the swing of it (pardon the pun) and the cargo net went smoothly till my left thumb got stuck as I crossed over to come down the other side. With shouts of encouragement from onlookers, "come on down" I turned and said, "my thumb is stuck!" Thankfully we were wearing gloves so after jumping and moving around and trying to yank my thumb out from under the ropes I was standing on while simultaneously not throwing myself off backwards, we made it down.

"Get your packs on and get over here. You aren't done yet!"

Helpfully directed by Chris Caul, we were led to the log lined mud pit at the other end of which stood Joe and Don, smiling gleefully and holding the finish line.

Whoo hoo! we shouted, "Thelma and Louise live!" and we dove in and belly crawled our way to the other end and ran across the finish line, spitting out pieces of grass as we went.

The energy and synergy from the racers, the volunteers and the support crews was awesome! The many rather puzzled park visitors that day definitely had more entertainment then they probably bargained for and all the racers had big happy smiles all day.

I can't wait to try to the other races in the PQSS series!!!

Kraig Becker
Media Director
Primal Quest