The event kicked off on Saturday July 3rd in Fairmount Park-the largest urban park system in the country. Teams jumped on razor scooters down West River Drive along the Schuylkill River and into the heart of the City of Brotherly Love. Their first check point was at Love Park by City Hall. There they met 3 volunteers from the Gift of Life Donor Program. Each of these volunteers are long time survivors of organ transplants, and offered their time to help support this worthy cause.

Teams continued on foot, navigating around the downtown crowds who were enjoying the numerous Independence Day celebrations in the city. Old City was their next stop, where teams had to urban orienteer to various historic buildings and landmarks that helped to shape our country’s history. Racers stood at the door of Betsy Ross’s house, and the house where Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence.

Then it was back to the start where teams transitioned to night biking; out the Schuylkill River Trail that connects Philadelphia to Valley Forge National Historic Park. Teams joined the many herds of deer in the park for a long night time orienteering section that took them to all ends of this national treasure.

Team Trail Whiz (Bruce Wong, Tom Curtis, Ravi Goonerante) were the first team to hit the water for the 13 mile canoe paddle on Sunday July 4. But they could not delay, as team Our Chick is Back (Tom O’Donnell, Deb O’Donnell, Charles Scott Hottenstein) were only behind them by 25 minutes. Teams endured headwinds and currents that continued to push them upstream making the canoe paddle all the more difficult. Two dam portages and a 1 mile canoe portage at the end of the paddle section added to the fun.

Mountain biking and rappelling with Outward Bound of Philadelphia was next. Many teams could not make up for the difficult paddling and orienteering and did not make the cut off time for the rappel, and chose to take the alternate mountain biking course through Wissahickon Park.

The final checkpoints of the race included a foot section to America’s first zoo, where teams received a free zoo pass and had to find the American Bald Eagle. Unfortunately, due to zoo hours, only 2 teams made it into the zoo, with a 3rd who made it to the zoo entrance.

The race finished in Fairmount Park with a 4th of July picnic with our racers, volunteers, friends, and families.

From the start, Team Trail Whiz (Bruce Wong, Tom Curtis, Ravi Gooneratre) took the lead in the race, and held onto it strongly as they crossed the finish line the next day. They completed every aspect of the race in a time of 18 hours and 37 minutes, making them the first place single gender winner. Team Our Chick is Back stayed hot on their heels throughout the race until the mountain biking section, when a team member became ill, and they had to drop out of the race. This opened up the playing field even more, as Team NYARA (Chris Rice, Jeff Gattens, Jessica Chase) who remained only minutes behind Our Chick is Back, jumped into the Coed Team lead, finishing the race in 20 hours and 34 minutes, and making them the first place winners in the co-ed division.

The spirit of adventure racing was at its best this weekend, as Teams Platoon Fitness I and Platoon Fitness II chose to complete the entire course together as a group. They also were instrumental in helping to raise our funds for the Gift of Life Donor Program.

Team EMS/Light and Fast (Ed Gibson, Andy Frey, Kristin Zielinski) held strong throughout the race, but suffered two broken bike chains and a blown tire in the mountain biking section. Never the less, with repairs made, and precious time lost, they were determined to complete the entire race course. When the other teams had left, and were on their way home to hot showers and a warm bed, Team EMS/Light and Fast decided they were going to finish the final checkpoint section of the race no matter what. With injured knees and determined spirits, this team completed the entire course in 23 hours and 30 minutes, making them the second place winners behind Team NYARA.

First place prizes included gift certificates from Eastern Mountain Sports; free race entries to the Krista Griesacker Memorial Adventure Race on August 15th; one year subscriptions to Adventure Sports Magazine; Moonstone and Mountain Hardware wicking T’s from The Trail Boss. The top fundraiser was Platoon Fitness, who won a night on the town, with a hotel stay at the Holiday Inn City Line Avenue, dinner at Outback Steakhouse, and movie tickets.

As race directors, we would like to thank Eastern Mountain Sports, who helped to sponsor this race, and all the racers and volunteers who helped to make this event such a great success.

Bill and Anne Gibbons
GOALS ARA