Ambush Adventure Racing teamed up with Appalachian Wildwaters to produce this 12+ hour race through the Gauley River National Recreation Area and the New River National River. This area in south central West Virginia is among the most rugged in the "mountain state" and proved to be quite a challenge for the racers who showed up on August 7, 2005.

The race began (after a bus ride to the put-in) with some very exciting paddling on the Gauley River. The water was only running at about 450 cfs which made for an exciting (but not too exciting...) ride. After a couple of hours of paddling, the racers stopped to rappel and learned the meaning of "vertical bushwhacking" as they fought their way to the ground through an overhanging tangle of evergreens and rhododendrons. Although there was a bit of a wait at the top of the rappel, no one seemed to mind too much as they were able to enjoy the spectacular view and cool breeze. Once at the bottom, it was back into the duckies for a short ride to the take-out, a grueling portage to the AW vehicle and then a very exposed walk across the 80' high Koontz Trestle, which some said was scarier than the rappel.

Racers now found out why they were required to carry headlights as they encountered the 3200' long Koontz Tunnel, an abandoned RR tunnel that led to a 12 mile trek along the old CSX railbed.

Next on the agenda was about 50 miles of biking on narrow, twisty and very hilly county roads. It was the beginning of the end for some teams. Sitting at the finish line, there was a point in the race where every twenty minutes or so we saw a pickup truck with bikes in the back pull ino the AW outpost and disgorge its load of racers who had had enough and got a local to drive them back to Oak Hill. For some, it seemed to be the high point of the race - stuck somewhere way out in the middle of nowhere and afraid to go knock on a door and ask for help, they were surprised by the friendliness and helpfulness of the local residents (and the offer of $20 for a ride back into town didn't hurt either.)

The final part of bike leg included a descent into and climb out of the 1200' deep New River Gorge. According to the sign-in sheets at the CPs before and after the gorge, the descent took approximately 7 minutes and the climb out, an hour. Many teams had correctly guessed at this element the day before when they were delivering their bikes to the drop point, but it was reportedly not as bad as they had imagined - just a long sustained grind to the top.

Unfortunately, by the time may teams had climbed out of the gorge, it was getting dark. Most everyone had expected to finish well before nightfall, and although they still had their headlamps used in the tunnel, they lacked the red blinkies for the rear and decided for safety's sake to make for the finish at the AW outpost.

Five teams did finish the entire course, led by Team Unsponsored, Unskilled and Unrelenting from Ontario, Canada. Jason Schaefer racing as a solo came in second, and Joe Smindak, besieged by nav errors on the highly confusing backroad network was third.