Solely 4 groups cleared the multi-discipline course, which coated 115+ miles in a 30-hour time restrict.
Mari Chandler, Brian Mayer, and Justin Bakken of Group Toyota Tundra gained their second consecutive U.S. Journey Racing Affiliation (USARA) Nationwide Championship in convincing trend on Saturday. The win put them on prime of the rostrum forward of a few of North America’s greatest journey athletes within the elite Coed Division.
This yr’s 30-hour championship race coated greater than 115 miles between Mammoth Lakes and Bishop, Calif., with 38 groups finishing phases of biking, paddling, and trekking. Toyota Tundra, the winners of the 2021 championship, proved their versatility in a aggressive area.
To finish the course, journey racers should navigate tough terrain utilizing a map and compass alone. No GPS units are allowed. Checkpoint flags are positioned all through the wilderness. Because the racers discover checkpoints, they punch in and transfer ahead on the course.
This type of racing requires pace and endurance plus the mindset to push by means of sleep deprivation on an in a single day course. Groups should keep collectively for your entire race, working to seek out checkpoints and transition areas marked on units of topo maps.
Groups who “cleared the course” obtained all attainable checkpoints. That objective took first-place Toyota Tundra a complete of 25 hours and 28 minutes. Second-place Bend Racing — together with ultrarunning athlete Max King, Jason Magness, and Amanda Bohley — cleared the course in 27:09, and the third-place crew, composed of triathletes Alyssa Godesky, Matt Cymanski, and Will Luppino of VERT, cleared in 27:22.
Just one different crew, the all-male GearJunkie squad, completed your entire course, reaching the feat in 28:12. With their efficiency, GearJunkie’s Stephen Regenold, Kyle Nossaman, and Ryan Braski gained the male division championship, forward of second-place Ibex and third-place Los Padres Locos.
Nicki Driscoll, Karyn Dulaney, and Abby Perkiss of Rootstock Racing completed sixth general and first within the feminine division, adopted by Misplaced Arrow Sports activities in second place and BRF Barf Racing in third.
Through the occasion, the race course and GPS-based monitoring of every crew was dwell and viewable on-line. Maps and replays of the groups’ actions are viewable on the USARA web site.
2022 USARA Nationwide Championship: ‘Actual and Committing Journey’
The course, in line with Regenold of Group GearJunkie, was among the many extra various in current reminiscence, together with alpine terrain, desert sections, river crossings, paddling, and the deep canyon of the Owens River, which many groups negotiated at night time.
“The canyon trek was a spotlight,” Regenold mentioned. “It was an actual and committing journey navigating downriver in swift water and round cliffs for hours in the dead of night.”
The race began Friday, Sept. 16, at 8:30 a.m. with a hike up Mammoth Mountain to the summit. Groups’ bikes have been pre-staged on the height and awaiting arrival. A descent on Mammoth’s technical downhill trails led to a forest path system after which gravel roads towards the primary kayaking leg.
Groups paddled for 3-4 hours on Crowley Lake. A trek on the south finish of the lake then led to a grinding 3,000-foot climb on the bike to a sequence of checkpoints above 10,000 ft.
Racers loved an enormous descent from the high-elevation checkpoints and towards the Owens River Gorge. Close to the highest of the canyon, groups dropped their bikes and descended on foot into the canyon. The 7-mile part took groups 5 or extra hours to finish.
After that, racers accomplished a remaining bike leg and a 6-mile paddle on the Owens River, after which a run from the takeout to downtown Bishop, to cross the end line.
USARA government director Michael Garrison mentioned the race — the primary nationwide championship to happen within the U.S. West for greater than a decade — achieved the group’s main objective of showcasing the nationwide attraction of the game.
“The course was huge, bodily, and lovely,” Garrison mentioned, “showcasing all that this superb space has to supply. We additionally had a race director who executed a really difficult point-to-point race format flawlessly.”
Journey Racing within the Highlight
Journey racing rose to prominence within the Nineteen Nineties with the launch of the Eco-Problem, a televised race that pitted athletes towards huge distances and the weather. The primary Eco-Problem sequence led to 2002, however journey racing has continued to evolve and develop for many years.
The USARA Nationwide Championship was the fruits of a season that featured almost 100 USARA-sanctioned or -affiliated races throughout the US, starting from 2 hours to six days in size. 1000’s of racers competed on programs that required mountain biking, paddling, and path working, utilizing maps and compasses to navigate unmarked routes.
Garrison credited the assist of USARA’s 2022 headline sponsor, Toyota Tundra, and its official media accomplice, GearJunkie, for making the season a hit and serving to to develop the game nationally. He mentioned the 2022 USARA Nationwide Championship was the fruits of a yr of relentless work to make the game extra thrilling for racers and the viewing public.
“Considered one of our most important targets for this race was to proceed to evolve and enhance how we deliver the game of journey racing to the plenty,” Garrison mentioned. “We had a devoted media crew that did a implausible job protecting the race. We couldn’t have executed that plan with out the assist of Toyota and GearJunkie.”
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