Adventure Racing in Saskatoon

by Howard Hemingson

Race Director

This summer saw the ACC Sask Section and Prairie Dog Racing hosting two adventure races in Saskatoon. The Urban Adventure Race was held on Saturday, June 11 and the Gopher Chase was held on Saturday, September 17.

This was my third year organizing the Urban AR, which has been occurring off an on for the past decade or so. The Urban Adventure Race is a rogaine-styled race during which teams have a set time to find as many checkpoints (CPs) as they can. The race was based out of Gabriel Dumont Park, which is located on the East side of the river in Saskatoon. I had hoped for a canoe leg this year, but it was not to be since the river level was way too high. Twenty-three racers making up ten teams entered the race. Entries were lower this year, but I’m blaming the Bridge City Boogie, with its 6000+ entries, that was the next day.

The race started off with a 2 hr running leg which sent teams looking for CPs along the East riverbank, in the neighbourhoods of Exhibition, Buena Vista, and Nutana, and downtown. There were several strong running teams in this race with one team (Interrobang!?) reaching all of the running CPs and several others only missing only one CP. Teams then started a 2 hr bike leg that took them North to the trails in Sutherland Beach and along Whiteswan Dr. The bike leg proved to be more difficult than the running leg, since fewer CPs were reached.

Team Interrobang (Scott Theede, Kyle Gunderson) built on their lead and went on to win the race. Krat’s O’Shay (Jay Stark, Sheri Stark) finished second, which makes three podium finishes in row for them. Third place went to Strueby Sandwich (Shanna Strueby, Drew Bell), and Drew continued his tradition of losing a place due to accrued time penalties :-) .

The inaugural Gopher Chase adventure race was held in the fall. I’m hoping the Gopher Chase will be a stepping stone for bringing the Prairie Pitch back. The Gopher Chase was a point to point race with running, biking, and paddling and was meant to take between 7 to 9 hrs. Unfortunately, I've never organized a race like this before and the winning time was 9 ½ hrs. Some teams were unable to do the last running leg (I think some were OK with that). The race was based out of Victoria Park and had 11 teams consisting of 25 racers (there was even a solo racer!).

The race started with teams biking to the Arts tower on the U of S campus where they had to run to the top floor. They then continued on bike to the West riverbank on the North end of the city, where a repel challenge was set-up on the river bluff. From there, they biked back to the U of S campus where they did a trail run along the river. Teams then biked around campus and then returned to Victoria Park. From Victoria Park, teams paddled downstream, going ashore at the Bessborough for an obstacle course challenge, and then returned to Victoria Park. Racers then biked up to the Sutherland Beach trails and then through the city’s Northeast neighbourhoods. The racers then completed a mini-orienteering challenge in the Varsity View area before biking back to Victoria Park. The second paddle stage then took the racers upstream to the South Train Bridge and back. At this point, the race turned out to be much longer than planned and so the last leg was varied for some teams. The top two teams proceeded on foot to Diefenbaker Park where they played a few rounds of disc golf and then they ran back to the finish at Victoria Park. The next group of teams traveled to Diefenbaker Park on bike, while the last group of teams got an early head start on the post race BBQ!

Team Carbon Fibre (Barret Dunbar, Scott Theede) won the inaugural Gopher Chase, and this was Scott’s second win this summer! Dribzz (Geoff Meinert, Dan Guenther) came in second, while Lion’s Roar (Kristen Seimens, Andrew Jahsen) were third.

All in all, the Gopher Chase was a success. I had a few set backs, primarily making the race too long, but the racers didn’t appear to mind too much (or at least they complained behind my back). The paddle stages and the challenges, especially the repel were highlights for a lot of people.

Results from these two races can be found on the ACC Sask website and pictures can be found here. Planning is already underway for the 2012 race season, with the Urban Adventure Race and the Gopher Chases both returning. A winter race is also in the works and will coincide with Wintershine Festival this February.

See you on the trails!