The second team to complete Primal Quest Badlands presented by SPOT is Salomon/Crested Butte, crossing the finish line just moments ago. The team will also now wait to see where they will fall in the official standings once all of the time credits and penalities are taken into consideration. Congratulations to the entire team for completing the toughest adventure race on the planet!

Team OrionHealth.com is the first team across the finish line of Primal Quest Badlands Presented by SPOT.  They were immediately greeted with pizza and ice cream and interviewed by the local news stations. They will now await the arrival of the next teams and the awarding of time credits and assessing of penalties to see if they will be named the official winner of this year’s race.

Photos by Wouter Kingma

The past few days have been busy ones out on the Angostura Resvervoir. The teams have pretty much come and gone now, and have completed the swimmig and paddling orienteering courses. The weather has made this one of the more interesting CP’s on the course, ranging from sunny and warm to cold, with high winds, and torrential rain. Through it all the teams have stayed focused and in good spirits, as have the volunteers who have been manning the checkpoint. Below is a photo of the logistics team beginning the clean-up process and beneath that are a couple of volunteers trying to stay warm on one of the cold nights.

While top teams picked their way through the moonscape of the Badlands, the remainder of the pack arrived at Lake Angostura for the FaceLevel Swim Orienteering and the Warren Windows Lake Orienteering on Kayak. 

It’s Day 6, and the impact of spending so much time on bikes and on foot is starting to show. No one is immune – reports from the field hold that Anna Berthelson from Team OrionHealth.com has severe blisters all over her feet. She’s lucky, though – she has only the last bike ride to go.  Several teams at the Lake are evaluating their strategy, trying to figure out the best way to ensure their hobbling teammates make it on the long trek through the Badlands.  Team Big City Mountaineers arrived at the lake after a long, long trek – and one member immediately sought out medical to find out the best way to relieve the swelling and blisters on his feet.  He said his team was willing to skip the swim and kayak if it meant they make it to the Badlands. The medic recommended he elevate his feet overnight to help counteract the swelling.

Medical staff works on a racer's feet

A member of Team Archipela cried out in pain when he had one of his teammates remove his shoe after the swim.  They called for a medic, who had to cut the racer’s wetsuit from the ankle to the knee to keep from sliding it over the blisters.  The team overnighted at the Lake in an attempt to help him heal – and were still at the Lake the next morning. 

A spirit of camaraderie permeates these racers, who consider themselves more partners in the race than competitors.  When the mixed team of Spanos/Big City Mountaineers realized they had lost a map, they asked Team Patent Docs for a glimpse at theirs, and devised their route accordingly.  When Patent Docs came to a guard station where the State Park transitioned to a National Park, they realized that the path was different than what the teams had discussed.  They quickly drew a map and posted it on the guard shack for the other team to find. 

Carol Farmer of Team InnerStrength focuses on the Warren Windows Lake Orienteering Section

The team found the map, but still had difficulty finding their way.  Eventually, they collapsed in exhaustion on top of a mountain.  Their timing could not have been worse – the wind started to pick up as they attempted to rest, and their exposed position made it impossible to sleep. One team member recounted the hallucinations he had for the first time in an adventure race. He said he saw a group of four racers standing in a circle, all illuminated from the back.  They were discussing which way to go, when they started to spin. As each spun around in a circle, the group began to float away from him.  Not surprisingly, the team chose to sleep once they arrived at the TA.  Their luck did not hold though, as shortly after their arrival, the wind again started to pick up at the Lake and they again had to contend with the forces of nature.

Weather at the Lake TA has wildly fluctuated.  The previous night, teams huddled under U-haul trucks, or even in the outhouses, to get out of the downpour.  Teams on the lake during calm periods, usually in daylight, have breezed through the course.  On windy days or at night, teams have struggled.  One racer commented that the map looked significantly different from the lake now – perhaps an indication that the map was made when the lake was at a different water level.

Team Native Eyewear expressed their gratitude to race organizers for allowing them to continue the course with Team SOAR after they were disqualified for being outside of visual range of their teammates.  Like most racers here, they have sacrificed just about every area of their lives for the last 10 months, as well as considerable race fees and money for gear and travel, to prepare mentally, physically, and organizationally for this event.  Joining up with Team SOAR has been a highlight for them.  If there was an AR prize for “Miss Congeniality,” Team SOAR would likely win it. Every team has only positive things to say about them and they are frequently smiling and effusive on the trail.  Tracy Evans has done a few expedition races and feels it’s more accessible to the general public than they realize – “I’m a daycare provider and a mom.  I just like to play a lot.”  This combination of modesty and good humor draws other racers to the team and has singlehandedly saved the Primal Quest experience for Native Eyewear’s Valerie and Shawn.

The blended Team SOAR-Native Eyewear is all smiles after the FaceLevel Swim Orienteering Section

Positive attitudes alone won’t move them from checkpoint to checkpoint though — these racers now face another cutoff for tomorrow.  They need to make it to Scenic, SD by 7am, or they will be forced to skip the trek through the Badlands, pick up their bikes, and head home.  The ten day limit for racers now looms large, as they have much distance to cover on their weary bodies and, for some, blistered feet.