The first annual Appalachian Extreme Adventure Race got underway at 8 a.m. Saturday, May 18, at Appalachia Dam in Cherokee County. Thirty-nine hours and 38 minutes later, team Pearl Izumi crossed the finish line approximately 160 miles away at Fontana Village.

The Appalachian Extreme is one of seven qualifying races for the inaugural Discovery Channel World Championship adventure race which will be held in Switzerland in September.

Fifteen teams competed for the first-place prize of free entry into the world championship race (a $7,000 value) and $5,000 to be used to pay for travel, lodging, and other logistics associated with participating in the race. Pearl Izumi will also receive another $1,000 in cash and there will be prizes for all finishing teams.

The race was hot and heavy. Several accomplished adventure race teams pushed one another to the max.
“It looked, for the longest time like there could be a four-way tie for first place. There must have been eight or nine lead swaps in the race. We finally got a little separation on the last mountain bike section,” said Bill Mattison of Pearl Izumi.

But it was only a little. Team Cal-Eco left the last transition area only 34 minutes behind the leaders. Pearl Izumi could not afford to rest. The intense competition created a scorching pace.

Race directors Norm Greenberg and Tracyn Thayer of Bryson City had estimated that it would take at least 48 hours for the winning team to finish the course. Pearl Izumi beat that expectation by a little more than eight hours.

The winning team was comprised of three experienced adventure racers: team captain Rebecca Rusch of Truckee, Calif.; Pat Harper, also of Truckee, Calif.; Billy Mattison of Vail, Colo., Rusch and Helene Mattison were their support crew.

Judy Rusch, Rebecca’s mom, said it is somewhat misleading to say Rebecca lives in Truckee.
“She has a post office box in Truckee, but since she decided three years ago that she wanted to become a competitive adventure racer she has lived out of her 1973 Ford Bronco, which she rebuilt.”

Colleen Laffey was taping the race for the Discovery Channel. She said Discovery would play out-takes from all the qualifying races during its presentation of the world championship race in September.
There was a small, heartfelt welcoming for the triumphant trio on the softball field at Fontana Village in those waning minutes before midnight Sunday. Support crews, spouses, friends, and race volunteers began to applaud and cheer when headlamps finally appeared, bobbing across the grounds of Fontana Village.

Adventure races are unique events. Parts of the course are laid out and have to be followed precisely, while at other times teams are left on their own to get from point A to point B. The latter was the case on the finishing leg of the Appalachian Extreme.

Checkpoint 24 was over a ridge, approximately four miles from the finish at Fontana Village. After checkpoint 24, teams were on their own to find the best route to the finish.

Pearl Izumi reached checkpoint 24 about 9 p.m. and it took them nearly three hours to make the dark and steep climb up and over the ridge and down into the village. Team member Pat Harper said there was some cause for concern at the very end of the race. They could see the lights from the softball field, but the most direct way to get there was through private yards. Not wishing to frighten anyone or get shot, Harper decided to knock on a door and ask permission. He said the lady who came to the door was a little taken aback at first but when she finally decided he was credible she directed him and his teammates through the yard to the hilltop where they could see the village.

Thayer and Greenberg, race directors and veteran racers, were pleased with the Appalachian Extreme. Thayer said the course was challenging. She attributed the excellent finishing time to strong, skilled teams and a high level of competition. She said they might consider lengthening the course for next year, but pointed out there were teams at least 12 to 15 hours behind Pearl Izumi.

Greenberg said, “every adventure race has its own character. It’s difficult to compare any two.” He said long flatwater paddles, strenuous uphill biking and the need for strong orienteering skills ensured the Extreme was a demanding course.

“It was exciting from a director’s standpoint, too,” Greenberg said. “There were always crises popping up but we were able to handle everything.”

Navigational and orienteering skills seemed to be the discipline that separated the teams. Directors advised participants not to take navigational skills lightly. On their website, www.racingahead.com, they warned, “You will be traveling mainly on lakes or rivers, forest roads and trails and some pavement. There will also be some ‘off trail’ sections, so don’t take navigational skills lightly.”

In a prophetic moment Friday night, after the race briefings, team Tortoise captain Nello Teer said he felt his team could be competitive, “provided we don’t make any navigational mistakes.”

The Tortoise lost its way sometime early Sunday afternoon and it was 10 p.m. before volunteers found them and led them back to the course.

Navigational errors plagued frontrunners as well. Cal-Eco was only about half an hour behind Pearl Izumi at checkpoint 21. Pearl Izumi crossed the finish line at 11:38 p.m. Sunday. Cal-Eco did not get to checkpoint 22 until 2:24 a.m. Monday.

The very experienced team Explorer, which was in the mix from early on, managed to pass Cal-Eco and Xterraparts.com/TeamPeak.com somewhere in the night to finish second about eight hours behind the winner. Xterraparts.com/TeamPeak.com was in third place after checkpoint 21 and finished third. Cal-Eco finished fourth.

Pearl Izumi said it was an “awesome course.” Mattison said the competition was intense and Western North Carolina was a great setting for a race.

The Appalachian Extreme was a three-person race while the Discovery Channel world championship will be for four-person teams. Captain Rebecca Rusch said they would be ready for the four-man world championship in September. Their regular fourth team member, Andy Lapkass, wasn’t resting on his laurels while the rest of Pearl Izumi was racing.

“He’s leading an excursion on Everest,” Rusch said.

 

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The Smoky Mountain News