North American MultiSport

2005 MICHIGAN C2C AR

Several of you requested I email a copy of the summary. Again thanks for the encouragement and those who followed the race on the internet as it unfolded! MJ

Infiterra Moosejaw Michigan Coast to Coast Adventure Race
The Race started in Frankfort, MI along the coast of Lake Michigan. The goal was to be the first team to the East coast under human power. The team consisted of Bonnie Rutherford, Nathan Folks, Chris Dolan, and myself. Wednesday was mandatory gear check, registration, checking of navigation skills, and a pre-race meeting.

We started the race in the water of Lake Michigan at 7:00 AM Thursday morning. The gun went off and we ran up the beach and down Main Street of Frankfort to a city park. At the park we were instructed to each inflate our single person pack rafts and make our way across a channel just within the main land. Distance around a mile. Once across we checked in to our first checkpoint and started off on a 70-mile ride. Along this long ride we hit a couple of checkpoints and finally came to our first transition area where we were able to reload food and re-hydrated packs.

We left the TA on a 35-mile trek/run/walk/crawl. Most of this trek was on the deep sand trails that northern Michigan is known for. The sun was hot, bugs bad, and the sand thick and annoying. During our long trek we encountered a 5-mile swamp crossing that took us 4-5 hours to get thru. This crossing had some of the thickest canopy I have been through.

We managed to work our way across and eventually hit a stream that was low enough to walk through. We then hit several more checkpoints by foot and around 12am came upon a "grid" of roads and trees that formed what looked like a grid on our topo maps. Every mile both north/south and east/west were roads that crossed each other. This is where the local forestry departments could test everything from fire to erosion control. The topo maps we had were printed in 1965 so lets just say there were more roads than our map showed.

So we spent a great deal of time trying to figure out where we were. It was like being on a chessboard. We final broke thru and hit the final checkpoint of the trek leg. We then picked up our bikes that the support crew had left for us and we road into the 2nd TA
around 4:30am Friday.

We decided to sleep for 45 minutes or so until daybreak in order to prepare for our 50-mile canoe. A night canoe on unfamiliar waters could prove to be dangerous. We needed the quick nap anyway and it proved in the long run to be the right choice for us. The 50mile paddle continues us across the state heading south/southeast. It was the best paddle we have seen. Clean, fast, and nice turns. I suggest anyone wanting to paddle a good river to hit the Au Sable. We final dumped into a lake and hit our 3rd TA after an 8-9 hour paddle. We wanted a fast TA and got it...in and out in less than 12 minutes. Next stage bike and Nav.

We took off on the bike and headed mostly south to a section of the forest for the Navigation or Orienteering section of the race. This is where we really put the compass and map to test. We had around two hours of daylight left so that was a comfort. We for some reason had trouble with the first checkpoint. Had to regroup and head back to a known point and restart. We did and nailed the CP. We then continued and hit the next 5 CP's with little to no problem. Upon completion of the nav section we jumped on the bikes, which had been transported from the start of the nav section and made our way to TA 4.

We made it into TA 4 sometime around the middle of the night on Friday. We had to carry most everything now including paddles, pack raft, climbing gear and all required gear for these disciplines. We then headed out on another long trek. Several miles. We found ourselves again in a swamp with thick pine trees. Miserable mosquitoes and pine needles all over us. After some time we found ourselves along a river that was to have a transverse line somewhere along it. Since it was night it was hard to see any lines across the river. We traveled what we thought was too far south according our interpretation of the map. We then headed north and eventually decided to take a quick nap of around 15-30 minutes until the sun rose so we could look for the lines. When we woke and headed back south we found that we were within 200 yards of the line the night before, we just couldn't see it! We mounted the line and swung across the 100-meter long line to the other side of the river.

We started to encounter feet problems. Nathan and I both suffered from our feet being constantly wet and even though we had socks and changed them you just couldn't carry enough of them. We both had blisters galore; we continued on.

The other side of the river dumped into... yes, another swamp. We shot a bearing and headed into it. This was even worse than the first. Heavy, thick, vegetation that slowed our progress to baby steps. I spent more time protecting my face than actually moving things out of the way. We finally after an hour hit the next two checkpoints and headed towards the pack raft section. By now my feet were killing me, I actually was walking down the hot paved road barefooted just because it felt good and dried my feet out.

We made it to the pack raft section. I say no more... it was awful... as I stated to the trees and fish during our journey..."you broke me now why punish me?". By far the worse thing I had every done. 5 miles, slow, easy to fall asleep in... just awful.

We finally finished the pack raft and had a short trek to the final TA of the race. It was around 3pm in the afternoon Saturday. We devoured a large pizza and headed off on the final bike leg of the race. It was a 10-mile stretch of mostly flat roads. We hit it hard. I am guessing around 22mph on a mountain bike. We gave what we had left in our legs since we were almost thru. This took us to the final leg of the stage and the race. A 13-mile canoe leg that dumped you into Lake Huron. The craziest canoe I have done.

The river brought you to the mouth of the bay breezeway and that lead you out into the lake. Then you had to head down the beach to the finish. The one problem is that the time of day that we came thru was for some reason very rough waters. 4-5 foot swells and huge white caps. Coupled with fisherman's lines over our heads made this the most demanding part of the race. We struggled to keep the boats upright. Having to not only steady the canoes but also keep from entangling ourselves in the clear lines overhead. We managed to the amazement of each of us. We finally crossed the finish line with our feet
wet.

We raced for a little over 59 hours and slept around 1hour +. We finished 11th out of 45 teams. We were in the top 3 for the first part of the race and most of the race battled for 5th and 6th but with bad feet and a few mistakes we dropped back. We learned a great deal being our first multi-day event and now look forward to qualifying for Nationals later this month in a 24-hour event in Pennsylvania.

Thank you for reading and thank you for all your support and encouragement,

Matthew Jourdan
CITGO/Gray Goat Multisport Racing