Quebec, Canada
"Endurance Adventure Raid"
August 17-20, 2006
Team SOLE Tears Up Quebec with a Win at the Raid International Endurance Event
(From left to right) Tom Zidek, Karen Lundgren, Scott Swaney and Paul Romero head to the finish line.
In just over 3 days, Team SOLE racks up a top finish amongst athletes and teams from Norway, France, England, Italy, Ireland, Canada, and the U.S.
We went to the race expecting a 3 day expedition event. Joined by Tom Zidek of Canada and Scott Swaney of Colorado, we went to the event knowing we had a fast team if we could just get through the glitches of racing as a new team. We'd all raced against each other before just never with each other - and it worked out fantastically. We worked together quickly and smoothly.
The race as we quickly learned wasn't going to be an expedition but instead a 4 stage race. Stage race means fast....hmmm... The first stage was one of the longest and with Tom and Paul's excellent navigation we found ourselves with more than an hour lead - a lead we'd be happy to have for the next four stages as teams were chasing us like the SOLE logos on our shirts were targets. So we finished the first day at 6:00 p.m. arranged our gear and maps and prepared for a 7:30 start the next day. As the leaders we were given a 5 minute head start. Stage two also included biking, running, canoeing and navigation. We finished the 2nd stage at 3:00 in the afternoon when we learned that the next stage would entail a midnight start. After stage two we still maintained more than an hour margin over the second place team.
Karen and Paul negotiate a swinging bridge en route to the trail running and ropes section.
Stage three was going to be short and fast. At 11:45 p.m. we took off like the targets we were, running a fast pace as we travelled about 5 K through some technical trails picking up checkpoints along the way. Next we would jump into a pitch dark lake taking a compass bearing to an island and checkpoint in the middle. It was DARK. We swam at first with lights and then chose to go without to keep our location hidden from the teams chasing. It worked and we arrived at the bikes with minutes to spare. The bike was fast and furious. Thank God for our Light and Motion bike lights as we sprinted down a dark dirt road forming a pace line that was certainly dangerous at the speed we were travelling. Together we were smooth and certainly a site to be seen with our bright Light and Motion lights showing the way to the finish keeping Team SOLE in the lead.
We finished at 1:30 a.m. and prepared for the 4th and final stage, another long one that had us canoeing in a river with more rock than water and then finding our way to the finish with an adventure swim (a small boat and two pool rafts was our transportation of choice). Team SOLE finished with a 1h 20min lead, and brought back to the U.S. the beautiful and enormous Raid International perpetual trophy.Viva la Quebec.
Special thanks to our fantastic crew, Joe and Lili and to Daniel and his wonderful group of family and friends for putting on a fantastic event.