Uwharrie Rumble - Queen of the Mountain

This Race Report is from Marcey, the 2010 Uwharrie Rumble Queen of the Mountain.





The Uwharrie Rumble was held on May 15-16. Saturday was a 6hr MTB race and Sunday was a trail half-marathon. Both races used the Supertree and Keyauwee trails. My goal was to win the Queen of the Mountain award which was given to the person with the best combined times for the ride and run. I didn't realize until I got to the race how easy this would be. At registration I learned I was the only female signed up to do the race solo and all I needed to do was ride one lap and run the race on Sunday in order to be Queen of the Mountain. Some people would be happy but I don't like to win anything 'by default'. So, I decided I was just going to race it just like I had planned but also have a goal to beat some of the men. I had a great ride and completed five laps, finishing in 5:29:32. All of my laps were within nine minutes of each other and my last lap was my third fastest. I carried all of my nutrition on me and only stopped once during the 5.5 hours to take a quick bio break. I never crashed and was really happy with the way I rode. Since there wasn't a big field, I sometimes had the trails to myself and could just ride and ride. LOVED IT! I ended up beating 40% of the men's field so that was a plus! My prize for winning the solo race was a $125 gift certificate to Middle Ring Cycles in Albemarle. If you ever have a chance to go there, stop by and say hi. The store is very nice and the owner is even nicer. I bought a new helmet and some lights. They have a new logo at the store and a new website www.powered-byyou.com. Check 'em out!

We camped all weekend and Saturday night was like every other time in 16 years that my husband and I camped which means that it rained and ended up flooding our borrowed tent because the rain flap became stuck and water poured in all over our sleeping bag. Needless to say, we got very little sleep. I also have a bad habit of 'riding' in my sleep the night after a race so I spent the night jerking around while I was riding over rocks, around switchbacks and over logs in my dreams.


Sunday was race day for the half-marathon and thankfully there was a much bigger field. I decided not to have a time goal since I knew I was winning QoM and I didn't want to toast myself prior to my race the following weekend - Falls Lake Challenge. After the second mile, I realized I was feeling pretty good and tried to keep my standing goal of no one passing me that I didn't pass back. I am happy to say, my record still stands and I passed everyone that passed me, including 7 people in the last two miles alone! I felt really good and surprisingly, won my age group with a time of 2:04:37 which I was happy with on such a hard trail and the day after a 6hr race. I finished 8th overall female out of 31and 32 out of 81 male/female. My prize was a stainless steel water bottle with the race logo which is MUCH better than a medal because I am a 'function' kind of girl.

My prize for the QoM was a fleece vest with Queen of the Mountain and Uwharrie Rumble embroidered on it. The race promoter, On the Mark, was nice enough to keep the small vest that was already made and special order an xs for me!

I hope they do the race again and that more people come out next year. Great race, great promoter, great trails and great food.

-Marcey

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Gleneagles Challenge 2010

Yes, the 1st and 2nd runnings of the Gleneagles Challenge did start and finish from my garage in the Gleneagles Subdivision of Cary, NC. Last year I expanded it to a Bond Park pavilion and this year graduated to the big leagues with the Gleneagles Challenge 2010 being a Bushwhack Adventures production and part of the Checkpoint Tracker Series. For locals who have done a GEC in the past, you'll still find some things you've seen in the past (climbing up trees and going into tunnels).








Marcey and I recently completed the initial coursework and Pat and Don will vet the course soon. The course will almost be completely Rogaine allowing many options for fun, fast single track mountain biking, paddling in the clear blue waters of Harris Lake with a Nuclear Plant looking down at you, and trekking through some dense pine groves. The GEC 2010 will be a great race for beginners and will challenge experienced racers to clear the course.







And since copyright laws proclude us from using the old GEC logo, I "borrowed" from the 5-Star Gleneagles Luxury Hotel and Country Club in Scotland, we are introducing the new GEC logo for 2010. Register soon and we will see you at Harris Lake.

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BOK Orienteering "A" Event - Sycamore Scramble

Bob competed in the Backwood Orienteering Klub's "A" Event, the Sycamore Scramble on Feb the 2nd. I only participated in the Classic Red 35+ Course on Sunday, but wish I could have done the Sprint and Middle courses on Saturday as well. The weather was picture perfect, clear blue skies, and a very slight nip in the air. This was my first O'Meet at this level, so didn't really know what to expect, and arriving about 15 minutes prior to my 10:35 start time did not help getting fully read in and prepped. After registration and receiving my Finger Stick, I was put in a series of chutes to control the start. On the starting whistle, I was able to see the map for the first time and headed on my way - at a slight gallup through the woods. Things were going great until Control 8, where I completely missed it by a country mile and ended up out of the Umstead Boundary near the RDU 286 Rogue MTB Trails. I'll blame it on using a different compass than my old standby military issue compass and not paying attention to terrain, second guessing myself, and not listening to the little voice in my head saying "You are all jacked up". Anyhow, I first decided to ditch the point, but after seeing Kevin and Marcey riding their bikes on the Reedy Creek Trail and cheering me on....I decided to stop feeling sorry for myself and took a second stab at it. This time using pure terrain association and following the spur down to CP 8. Total time from CP 7 to CP 8 - 83 minutes, ARGHH!!! The rest of the course was fine except the support crew was picking up CP 11 before I got there and I had to punch it while he was holding it - making me think that CP 12-14 were already being picked up as well. Not the case, so the easiest CPs around the Sycamore Lake Cabins also took me way to long to track down.

Overall, it was fairly confusing, as it was my first attempt at a higher caliper O'Meet and is set up very different from BOK's normal events. The race was extremely well put together and the support was phenomenal. I ended up taking just under 3 hours for a 14 Control, 7.5km Course, finishing 6th in the Red 35+ Category.

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Mandatory Gear 15 HR Adventure Race

Drew, Marcey, and Bob of the Waterlogged Dogwoods competed in the very wet and cold Mandatory Gear 15 HR Adventure Race in Conway, SC. The race was well run, had great volunteers, and the course was an interesting melody of what to find in the coastal flats of SC. The weather just didn't cooperate with her 35 degrees, cold rain, and pestering winds. We ended up with an unranked finish.....you win this time Mother Nature!!!!! A full race report and additional pictures can be found on our Results Page.

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Best Ranger Competition Tryouts

Bob and Drew recently drove down to Fort Benning, GA to compete in the Army National Guard's Tryouts for the Best Ranger Competition. The Tryouts consisted of a 5 hour night land nav course with a 50lb ruck, Ranger PT Test, Obstacle Course, 12 Mile Road March, Combat Water Swim, and an unknown distance run (total of an 18 hour event). Bob ended up finishing 4th and was selected to one of the two primary teams the Army National Guard is going to field for the 7-9 MAY 2010 competition. A more detailed report and additional pics can be found at the Results Page.

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