Race Report: Mission Lite 2015

Looking for a different type of racing? Something that involves canoeing, mountain biking, running, and orienteering? This is what the  Mission Lite is all about - geared toward the beginner. It seemed this year there were about a third of the participants were new to this type of racing.

 

This was my second adventure race - having done this race last year. This year, it was held at Whitewater Memorial State Park in east central Indiana. It is in the middle of nowhere really.
Mission Lite is a 4 hour race. There was also an 18 hour race going that had started 2 hours prior to ours. You can race solo or in 2 or 3-person teams. My husband (Ryan) and I were a team calling ourselves "The D Team". Our last name begins with D and I am also a fan of the old TV show, "The A Team" so it fit us.

gear list

This year we decided last minute (as in 2:30pm on Friday as we were packing up to leave) to camp at the park since it was quite a drive and getting up at 4am to arrive there by 6:30am did not sound like a fun time. I was glad we did. We ended up camping by 2 other teams that were competing in the lite, so we were able to make some new friends who enjoy doing these races.

some of the gear

With adventure racing, there is certain gear you have to carry with you at all times, some just when on a bike, and some when canoeing. Fortunately, my camelpack is smaller than Ryan's, so he carried most of the loot. Everyone had to carry food, water, and a whistle. One person on each team had to carry a pen, knife, compass, first aid kit, map, passport (paper that you stamp at the checkpoints). When riding bikes, everyone had to have a helmet and bike tire. One person on each team had to carry a bike pump and multi-tools. For the canoe, just the life jacket and paddle which were pretty obvious why everyone had to have one. 

 

Map for the race

As for what to wear for adventure races, it is a personal choice. Since you often cut through woods, I wear tights to avoid the stinging nettles and sticker bushes.Typically just a dry wicking shirt and trail shoes round out the rest of the clothes. I also spray myself with bug spray to prevent ticks and mosquitoes. I like wearing gloves when I mountain bike, but again it is just a personal preference.

When we arrived to the race area, we checked in and were given a map. There is only one map per team. We marked our points from the Master map which had about 9 check points on it. The race started at 8am so about 7:50am, Brian (the race director), gave instructions on the race. He handed out a piece a paper with our first couple of checkpoints which was the same for everyone. We had to do these checkpoints in order. The first segment we started on the bike. We were at the back of the pack starting off. The first check point was only a few minutes away and it was clogged up. The next checkpoint was down a horse trail and was still congested with all the competitors. Fortunately on the way back it was uphill and everyone was starting to space out. The next stop was the canoe where there were 2 checkpoints. We had to paddle across the lake, get out, find the checkpoint and get back into the canoe. Fortunately, this year I did not see any canoes tip over. The lake was fairly calm. 

After the canoe we had one more bike checkpoint before heading back to the transition area to drop off the bike and start the run portion. On the run portion we met up with some of our camping neighbors which was fun to see some people we knew out there. We decided to not try to get the very last checkpoint as I had run out of gas because I had poorly fueled and hydrated. I still had over half of my hydration left in my pack which is not a good thing.

 

All cleaned up - post race

 We finished finding 10 of the 11 checkpoints in 3 hours 17 minutes. We ended up 3rd overall and first in 2 person co-ed. The last point was a good run from the last checkpoint and the finish line. You get penalized for arriving after the 4 hour cutoff time so there is a bit of a strategy and need to play to your strengths. Having grown up stomping through woods, it was fun to get to do that again while hunting down the checkpoints. I also liked the strategy aspect of how are you going to get from one checkpoint to another. 

 

The Dino race was well run. Everyone was friendly and encouraging. The race even provided a bbq sandwich, fruit, and veggie tray after the race for lunch. This gave us time to talk with the other racers about the course and hear their strategies.  

 

 If you are interested in orienteering or adventure racing check out OLOU or Flying Squirrel Adventure for more information.