This years Sea Otter was a first for the adventure racing community. With the assistance of Todd Jackson (Big Blue AR Series) the first annual Thule - Sea Otter Adventure Race was held at the Laguna Secca venue. We were excited about this race because of the long standing Sea Otter MTB and Road biking tradition, the expo booths and the networking with other great riders. It’s not often in AR that we get the same fan-faire that is seen at Sea Otter. We mooched a camp space off of our teammates friend’s team, The Breakouts (thanks guys!).

The course was a bit shorter than what were used to. We really don’t get warmed up until the 6th or 8th hour. But because of that, it was to be a fast race! We started off with a run to our kayaks and a paddle up the shore a few miles around a bouy and back again. Nothing too crazy.

Once back on the beach we had to dead-lift our boats back t0 the parking lot. For me, the most difficult part of the race! We hoped on our bikes and after a quick map check we were off down the bike path north along the shore.

Around Dunes State Park we headed under the highway and towards the old military base. Once on the backside of the base we finally reached the fire roads and single track. I think Adam and Donato were happy because all the road riding on MTB can be annoying. But hey, this is AR, we could be carrying them! For the next couple hours we zig zagged around the Fort Ord trails. We were allowed to pick up the checkpoints in this section in any order. We had a pretty good path and were making smart navigation decisions.

There were other riders practicing for the XC race to be held the following day all over the course. Because there are no set routes in AR, many times we opted to cut trail, go up when most riders were going down, swim against stream, what ever it took to get us to the CP. I think they may have been annoyed with us. But here today was our race!

The approach to the transition area at Laguna Seca was uplifting. Tons of people visiting the expo cheering us oin as we pulled in and transitioned to our running gear and then we bounced off for what looked to be a short run/trek.

Thats exactly what it turned out to be. A very short navigation with some running and trekking. We finished that in about an hour and a half. The on home to the finish.

The DAs are primed for primetime, come June!! Below is a press release detailing more fun in store for June’s Raid.

Canada’s premiere expedition adventure race, Raid the North Extreme, has reached a deal to air a one-hour high-definition special of the event in prime time across Canada on Global TV.

In partnership with ATV Productions of Vancouver, Frontier has focused on taking adventure racing to new heights on Canadian television, and the vision is becoming reality. Film crews, shooting in High Definition, using helicopter and aircraft support, will capture the action, the drama and the emotions as teams traverse the incredibly rugged Northern BC terrain.

In addition to airing on Global TV, the one-hour special will be broadcast on mentv and the Xtreme Sports Channel in Canada. The race will also be featured in an episode of Wings Over Canada, seen in syndication around the world.

Internationally, the race will be seen on PBS in the United States, and will air with several international broadcasters as well.

The wilderness of Northern BC is made for TV. Teams will be paddling vast inlets that puncture the majestic Coast Mountains, under a Summer Solstice full moon. They’ll trek up thousands of metres of elevation, above the clouds, to snow covered ridges that roll on for miles, alongside pounding waterfalls crashing into the valleys below, draining glacial meltwater to the Skeena River, where 24 ft tidal changes swell in and out of the Pacific. Competitors will mountain bike ancient first nations trails, or long-abandonded mining and forestry roads, to forgotten valleys and passes.

“This type of coverage is ideal for this event,” says race director Geoff Langford. “There are incredible stories of determination and team dynamics that a broader audience will be fascinated by, and we put competitors in places that require aerial, high-definition shots to truly capture the immensity of it all. Viewers watching prime time Global will be blown away by this sport, this part of the country, and the entire experience.”

Nearly thirty teams of four from across North America, and from as far as Singapore, Australia and Brazil, are signed up for Raid the North Extreme to date.

And what a course it will be. Teams will test themselves on a course designed by Lawrence Foster (Team Holofiber), designer of the 2004 AR World Champs course in Newfoundland, and one of the most internationally competitive racers in North America.