Spending time in the woods in early May in Ontario is always a gamble, with pesky little blackflies potentially lying in wait! But I wasn’t going to let that stop me from participating in the 2nd edition of Challenge the Shield Adventure Run at the Georgian Nordic Outdoor Activity Centre in Parry Sound. This would be the first time Rebecca and I entered this race. We participated in the 1st edition of Challenge the Shield Adventure Race last August, which was held at the same location but added canoeing and mountain biking to the mix.
We registered for the 6-hour race (there is also a 2-hour version), where racers would try to find as many checkpoints in the woods as possible within the 6-hour time limit, with a stiff 100 point penalty per minute over the time allowed. Pro tip: don’t be late! Checkpoints varied in point value depending on the difficulty in finding them (25 – beginner, 50 – intermediate, 75 – advanced, 100 – expert, 200 – backcountry).
Each racer was given 2 maps, which not only showed checkpoint locations, but also out-of-bounds areas due to private property, sensitive ecology or forbidden routes/roads. Each team had to use a cell phone app called MapRun, which operates in the background and tracks your route, confirming with a beep that you reached a checkpoint (but you need your sound on to hear it!). However, each team also used a paper “passport” that was punched at each checkpoint using a unique punch, and this is what would be handed in at the end of the race to tally scores. Pro tip: don’t lose your passport!
Because it was raining when we arrived at the race site, most teams sat in their cars to plan out their routes. Some people brought tents, chairs and tables to do their planning. Our goal for this race was to work on our navigation, and in particular to use map and compass to take bearings and bushwhack more, and use trails less (unless of course they were the more direct route). With either method, it’s important to pace count (i.e. count your steps) to know how far you have travelled. You cannot use your watch’s GPS to measure distance. Sometimes we get distracted and lose count! Often we look at the harder off-trail checkpoints and doubt ourselves, defaulting to covering longer distances by trail when a shorter bushwhack would be more efficient. I haven’t been orienteering much lately, so I wanted to get some practice in and rebuild confidence.
During the short pre-race briefing (just a few minutes before the race was to begin) we realized that we would have to change our planned route (which we had highlighted on the map) because we had incorrectly assumed where teams would be crossing into the western section of the course (pro tip: never assume!). So we made a last-minute decision to follow our route in a counter-clockwise manner instead of a clockwise one, and to start bushwhacking right off the bat.
Stage 1: Stayabove Nutrition Trail Challenge
From the start teams followed a 1 km flagged route, with the fastest team rewarded at the end of the race with a prize. From the end of the flagged route we then had to find our own way to CP100 (backcountry), which turned out to be another 1 1/2 km or so away on a hilltop near the Nine Mile Lake dam. This was a recurring theme – most checkpoints were described as “hilltop” or “small hilltop”. When in doubt, look up! And then climb.
Next it was time for Stage 2, where we could stay on map #1, or venture further away from the start/finish on map #2.
Stage 2: Scramble Challenge
We decided to head west on map #2, and used bearings to get to CP61 (expert) (there were no trails in the area anyway). Our navigation went well, so we did the same for CP54 (advanced) and then CP53 (advanced).
We used a combination of bushwhacking and trail for CP51 (advanced), bushwhacked to CP43 (intermediate), and then encountered our first frustrating moment of the race while looking for CP42 (intermediate). We reached the trail junction we were looking for, but our bearing would have had us going into very dense brush, which we knew would be very slow going and difficult. We continued along the trail, hoping to find a smaller trail to take a bearing from, but the trails we found didn’t make sense. And there was so much water in what was supposed to be a marsh that we actually doubted whether we were where we thought we were. Eventually we aborted CP42, not wanting to waste any more time. Comparing my GPS track with the race map now, I can see we were right where we thought we were originally and would have had to go through the brush or somehow edge around it.
While trekking through the forest we saw fiddleheads galore, as well as scat from deer, moose, and bear! There were beautiful lakes, and classic Canadian shield views like the one below.
We crossed a fair number of marshy areas, including very spongy ground that we were never quite sure would support us. At one point I sunk below my knee and heard the suction of my shoe… thankfully I was able to pull my leg (and shoe!) out and we skirted around that area.
Stage 3: The Relay (optional, to be done at any point after CP100)
From the aborted CP42 we headed for Stage 4, The Birch Bark(ley). We had already decided to skip the optional Stage 3 (The Relay), where team members would run a short relay, with one person finding 2 CPs and the other person one. This was also the location of the bag drop, where 6-hour teams could have extra food or water waiting for them, so we realized that unless we were desperate we wouldn’t access our bag during the race. We weren’t too worried, because we were each carrying enough food and water for the conditions (in really hot weather we would have needed more water, but we were carrying water purifying tablets and had squishable water bottles with water filters in them just in case). Had we done this stage we could have scored an additional 200 points.
We followed trails all the way to CP69, where the Birch Bark(ley) would begin, with a short trek off trail to grab CP44 just before we got there.
Stage 4: The Birch Bark(ley) (optional, to be done at any point after CP100)
If you’ve never heard of the Barkley Marathons, which this stage of the race is very loosely modelled after, check it out. CP69 was a manned CP, with a volunteer directing teams to do this section in a clockwise or counter-clockwise direction (each team was sent the opposite direction as the team before). There were 5 CPs to find, and doing this section would require us to cover approximately 2 km. We had some trouble finding the first one, but then we got ourselves back on track.
In this section we were looking for books in the forest, rather than orange and white flags. We had to match the book title with a letter written on the bag it was in. There were 6 book titles, but only 5 books in the woods, so we had to find them all to be sure which title was the extra one.
After finding CPs 69a, 69b, 69c, 69d, and 69e, the volunteer checked our page and we punched CP69.
Next we headed for the shore of a lake, which we planned to follow around to CP45. It all seemed to be going so well, until the tiny beaver dam we crossed led us to an area where we couldn’t find what should have been an easy to find checkpoint. We eventually realized that we had missed the beaver dam we were looking for and had actually crossed further north than intended. Sigh. So we aborted CP45 in favour of hopefully making up the points by adding other checkpoints later on.
From here we headed for a couple of easy on trail checkpoints (CP35 and CP33), and then bushwacked to CP66 (expert) and CP46 (intermediate), and then to an easy on trail checkpoint (CP36).
At CP36 we sat at a picnic table for way too long trying to figure out which checkpoints to go for as we headed to the finish line. We did NOT want to go overtime and lose our hard-earned points. At the same time, we didn’t want to show up at the finish too early when we could have gotten more points.
In the end we went for 47 (intermediate) and 67 (expert). Our navigation between these 2 checkpoints was dead on, having us cross multiple trails and head for a marsh as a mid-way marker.
From there we ran to the finish, arriving with around 17 minutes to spare. We had covered around 21.1 km. After changing into dry clothes, we enjoyed the post-race meal of pizza, cookies and pop while waiting for the awards presentation.
While it did rain on us in the early part of the race, mostly it was just overcast. It was only when the sun came out 5 1/2 hours into the race that the blackflies really made an appearance (not counting the one I swallowed near the beginning of the race!).
I really enjoyed this race. It was so nice to see so many familiar faces out in the woods! We met a team at one checkpoint from New York state – they were impressed with how friendly everyone was (it was the woman’s first time racing in Canada), and with the number of female teams!
The race was extremely well organized, and I highly recommend it. Thank you Mike, Wil, Starr and Katta, and all the volunteers for a great day in the woods!
Follow me on Facebook: Kyra on the Go: Adventures of a Paddling Triathlete
Follow me on Twitter: @kyraonthego
Follow me on Instagram: @kyraonthego
Kyra On The Go 