» 2008 Renegade Sprint Adventure Race

Whether you are new to endurance sports or not you have probably never seen a Renegade Sprint race. That’s because this Sunday October 19th, 2008 was only the second ever race of this type. Now, the idea is not entirely new and other events are like it but this one has it’s own twists. Start with your basic triathlon format but change out the swim for a “paddle” section where you (or your whole team if competing as a team) have to get an inflatable raft and a truck inner-tube through the out and back course. Then add in challenges and obstacles all around the race. Finally, the biking section is a mountain bike course and finish it with a trail run. If you are competing as a team you have to stay together as a team the whole time. Now your slowest teammate determines your finish time.

Photo by Bryan and Jamie Sheasby

Frank G. Bonelli Park
The race took place completely within Bonelli park. The park is filled with various terrain mostly consisting of tall, sandy, chaparral covered mountains complete with copious amounts of jack rabbits. The centerpiece of the park is Puddingstone reservoir which provided a perfect place for the paddle section of this race. The valleys consist of perfectly groomed grass which made for a perfect finish line festival area. Let me go back to the mountains. Did I mention that they are tall and sandy?

The Format
Most triathlons split up the start into waves. This race does something completely different. There are three groups. One starts on the paddle, the next on the bike, and the last on the run. Then they rotate through each part of the race in that order. This meant you might start the trail run first and do the bike last. This brings a whole new dimension to the race. No matter which section the participants did last they always ended the race by running across the finish line.

The Paddle
This part of the race was probably the most difficult part for teams and for individuals. Each three person team received one inflatable raft, one inner tube, a paddle and a piece of rope. It was up to the team to figure out how to use it all as the race rules stated that team members could not be more than 10 feet away from each other. Most teams put two people in the inflatable raft, tied the rope from the raft to the inner tube that another team mate rode in. This would have worked out fine if the paddle that they were given wasn’t so dinky. It took a good twenty minutes for the teams to go out and back in the lake. A lot of team members decided just to swim alongside the rafts, this was usually considered “taking one for the team” as the water was quite cold. After coming back from the paddle each individual and team had to complete an obstacle course on the beach. The number one rule was that no rafts were allowed to touch the sand. The obstacles consisted of jumping over a large piece of plywood, crawling under a net and walking along a balance beam all while carrying your raft. After this most people were covered in mud as they had to crawl in the sand after exiting the water. This made the transition take even longer because most people had to wipe off all the sand and mud before changing into their biking or running gear.

The Mountain Bike Section
The mountain bike section was difficult enough that most people walked at least part of it. There were no places on the course that were unable to be ridden but there were definitely technical sections mostly consisting of downhills which led to smooth rocks and then soft sand. The entire course was either horse trail or double-track fire roads. The course was marked fairly well with the exception of one section that was ambiguous. Still the participants had maps and hand held GPS units were allowed. All along the course were checkpoints where the athletes had to punch their cards with special hole punches with different pin-outs. The mountain biking section was punctuated with five major climbs and the ups and downs took their toll on the participants.

The Trail Run
The trail run took the athletes up and across a ridge line which runs right through the middle of the park. Running three miles may not strike some as a long run but running three miles up arduous hills is a completely different ballgame. In fact some athletes thought this was the most difficult section of all. Fortunately, the run was not entirely up hills and some of it was on paved pathways.

There were over 50 teams participating in this event. Todd Lounsbury was the first single participant across the finish line and Ptcul8r was the first team across the line.

Since this was a sprint event it drew participants young and old; fit and out of shape. At this event more than any other I could tell that the participants were happy they didn’t have to ascend any more hills on the day.

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RESULTS

INDIVIDUALS
Todd Lounsbury 1:53:44.30
Jeff Dimagee 2:22:44.12
Scott Grant 2:22:44.85

TEAMS
Ptcul8r 1:55:03.23
Los Conejos 2:13:20.60
Mutany Crossfit 2:17:08.04