THE OTTER CREEK ADVENTURE CHALLENGE RESULTS

...Bet those hot showers felt especially good Saturday evening!

Friday's severe storms did not deter anyone from coming out for this great event, and although it was a little on the chilly and damp side, most agreed that, all things considered, it wasn't a bad day at all. A great crowd turned out for the Louisville area's first adventure race and Otter Creek park was just the venue for it.

The race began with a 2.5 mile cross-country run to the boat put-in via a couple of out-of-the-way checkpoints. Joe Smindak came blazing in, followed closely by aaron Rourke, Ron Hart and Joe Garland. These guys train together quite a bit, and it looked like bragging rights were on the line.

After a 2 1/2 mile paddle down Otter Creek and a quick uphill run back to the Pine Grove Pavilion, it was off on the bikes for a tour of the park trails. Rain on Friday dampened the trails just enough to make it challenging, and for some reason we had a record number of mechanical failures - racers reported broken derailleurs, bad brakes and Joe Garland had not only one, but two flats, effectively knocking him out of contention for the lead. Teams had to navigate, by their choice of routes, to eight CPs along the trails without using any of the paved park roads. It took most teams about two or three hours and then it was back to ditch the bikes at the START/FINISH and then off to the rappel.

Although not 80' high, the rappel site was situated high on a bluff overlooking the Ohio River and although brief, was very exciting...especially for those that hadn't rappelled in some time. Many thanks to Bob Meredith for setting up and manning this windy site and ensuring that everyone had a safe ride down.

The lead teams raced from there to the old quarry site for the "rogaine-style finish". Aaron Rourke was there first, followed closely by Joe Smindak. They had been dueling for the lead all day and it would come down to this final element. Aaron has represented the US at the O-ringen in Sweden, but Joe works as a geologist and uses topo maps every day at work...who would prevail?

OLOU had been kind enough to supply us with regulation "O" maps for the park, so we were able to utilize some fairly subtle terrain features. Competitors had until the 14:00 deadline to visit as many of the 18 CPs as they could. The 8 CPs they had previously visited on the bike trails were worth a point each, and an additional 10 throughout the forest were worth 2 points apiece.

At 1:42, Joe Smindak blazed into the finish after "clearing" the course (visiting EVERY orienteering CP - worth 28 points). Other teams filtered in with various scores and Rourke was in right at the 2 o'clock deadline with 20 points - way more than most people, but not enough to beat Joe.

despite the cold & damp, racers stayed around to socialize and enjoy a picnic of hamburgers, chips, pop & cookies (with quite a few people clustered around the warmth of the grill...) Thanks to the staff at Otter Creek Park and all of the OLOU volunteers who made this event possible.