ARC Outventure Barrie

ARC Outventure Adventure Race

Horseshoe Resort (X-Country)

Saturday October 13th

Wind + Rain + Cold + A Bob Miller Designed Race Course = 1 Awesome Race

Just like in Collingwood, the conditions for this past weekend’s ARC Outventure Race in Barrie were less than ideal, however, that did not stop a solid group of enthusiastic adventure racers from gathering at Horseshoe to tackle the final Outventure race of the year.  My wife Meagan and I decided to team up for this race and with every race we enter our goals were simple: have fun, race hard and finish strong. 

The race began with a quick 2.5km running loop through the trails in and around the chalet and it spread the racers out. As we hit the first CP and headed back to the TA, we were running in 2nd and feeling good. The transition to the bikes went smoothly and we were off to tackle 17km of wicked-awesome (nice eh?) singletrack that weaved up and down and all around the forest. Tough climbs, slick logs, exposed roots and mucky switchbacks challenged even the best riders in the field and even cost one rider a pedal! With the rain pelting down and the temperature hovering in the low single digits, we hit all of the CP’s on the bike and headed back to the TA to drop the bikes and begin the final 6km run to the finish. The last leg consisted of a couple of climbs through the forest combined with open stretches of double track with 2 CP’s to track down.  With the 2 CP’s bagged, we headed home. With the finish in sight, Meg started to sprint (ouch) and we finished a strong second, our first top 3 finish of the year while racing together……a nice way to finish the ARC season.

In addition, one of my AHS athletes Elyse Nieuwold (only 14 years of age) entered the female solo race and won it!! Way to go Elyse!!

Big thanks to Bob, Bernie, Jonathan and the rest of the ARC crew for a great racing season and congrats to all RF athletes who raced both the enduro and the outventure.