Patagonia: Race Report #1

This is the first in a series of columns reporting on my experience in the Wenger Patagonian Expedition Race, a weeklong adventure race last month, February 9 – 17, in the archipelago of Tierra del Fuego in Chile’s Patagonia region.

By STEPHEN REGENOLD

My head is still spinning. The experience has not yet sunk in. Last month, after almost seven straight days of racing — and hundreds of miles traveled on bike, foot, and kayak — Team GearJunkie.com completed the Wenger Patagonian Expedition Race in Tierra del Fuego, Chile, and managed to grab a fourth place finish. The team, which included myself and three teammates, a woman and three men who traveled together the entire race, traded jokes and encouragement. We shared food and drafted in line on the bikes. We huddled together for warmth at night.

In adventure racing, the clock never stops. You set out from the start line geared up and ready for long days — and even longer nights — of perpetual motion. During events like the Wenger Patagonian Expedition Race, an annual competition that is one of the longest races on the planet, some teams might go 48 hours between sleep.

This year in Patagonia, we luxuriated and slept one hour the first night of the race, surrendering at 3a.m. on the floor of an abandoned farm shack after a hard day of trekking and mountain biking. The alarm on my wristwatch pierced the dark air before dawn, a shrill beep that got us up and hiking again toward a checkpoint still miles south over arid terrain.

We ate “breakfast” on the move, Clif Bars and cashews washed down with electrolyte drink — the first sustenance on a typical 6,000 or 7,000 calorie day. When done, we ran in a line as the sun rose, jumping cracks in the dirt, the expanse of Tierra del Fuego falling forever ahead.

You go on like this for days. Your mind shifts, your focus narrows. In an adventure race, things get basic and primal. It’s you and the land and the task ahead. Eat. Drink. Bike. Trek. Paddle. Navigate. And repeat.

continued on next page. . .

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