How did this year’s USARA championship race in early October compare to the CP Tracker Adventure Racing Championship race? [WEDALI finished in third-place in the USARA race, a competing national championship event; only 16 minutes separated the top three teams in that event.]
Both events were organized really well. I think Kentucky is a great place to race and it’s centrally located for most teams to make a trip to one of the two championship events. I was surprised at how much different the terrain was between the two race locations. Western Kentucky for the CP Tracker Adventure Racing Championship had a lot of smaller features and little ridges and reentrants while Cumberland State Park for the USARA event boasted larger climbs, rock-arch features, and a greater elevation profile.
What kept you from winning at USARA?
That’s a tough question. Sometimes I feel like certain races might go one way or the other just based on luck. During a given race, navigation choices are plenty, and while some situations may yield a mental decision that could be 50/50 with efficiency (like shorter distance and slower speed, versus longer distance and quicker speed) while looking at a map, in the real world while racing one choice is usually better than the other, often for unseen or unknowable reasons. At USARA’s event, I think there was a greater likelihood for there to be unforeseen obstacles in the terrain that were not shown on the map, including 20-foot cliffs that we had to go far around. While every team certainly had to deal with these issues, I felt, in retrospect, that I picked the worse of two choices a few too many times. Our crew ran a solid race, but we unfortunately weren’t able to pull it off in the end.
What’s on WEDALI’s schedule for 2012?
We’ll likely try to do at least one expedition race and a gamut of 24-hour events, hopefully with some travel to the east and west coast areas. We’re only a few days out from the end of the 2011 season, so I can honestly say that we haven’t been thinking about 2012 at all. Just resting and recovering still from CP Tracker.
Congrats! You guys ran an amazing course in Kentucky. Will be fun to watch WEDALI again in 2012!
—Follow WEDALI on the team’s page at www.wedali.com.
