Multisport race draws racers, party animals

Inside NBCSports.com

Rumors
Scores, schedules
Message boards
Fantasy sports
Whine of the Week
Trash Talk
Sports odds
Game matchups
Team pages
Week in Pictures
JT The Brick
Agree or Disagree

Race maneuvering starts the afternoon before the race, when a gunshot turns loose a mad dash of contestants carrying kayaks, canoes and surf skis, all vying for the best spots for their boats on the banks of the Deschutes.

The race proper starts high on Mount Bachelor with a short uphill sprint in the snow in ski boots and helmet to the top of Pine Marten chair, where contestants snap into alpine skis and head downhill through a giant slalom course to West Village Lodge.

There they switch to cross country skis for an 8-kilometer groomed course at the Mt. Bachelor Nordic Center.

Story continues below ↓

Then it is onto a bike for the 22 miles to Bend. Jump off the bike and into running shoes for 10 kilometers on a trail along the Deschutes. Then into a boat — surf skis, sea kayaks and downriver whitewater kayaks are fastest, but also tippiest — for a half mile upstream, three-quarters of a mile downstream, and a quarter mile upstream to the takeout and a mad sprint of about a third of a mile to the finish.

Greene won last year in 1 hour, 43 minutes. The goofy teams can take four hours.

There are cash prizes for elite racers, but the most coveted awards are clay mugs that go to top finishers in each division.

“It’s a thinking event rather than putting the pedal to the metal the whole time,” Weiland said. “It’s not like the fittest guy will win, necessarily. It’s the guy who is fittest, smartest and cleanest through the transitions in that race.”

Luck has a role, too.

“If you dump your boat, you’re done,” Weiland said. “Little things like a flat tire. A race like that it doesn’t matter how fast you change your flat, you’re out of the race. I won’t even carry a spare tube.”

And don’t fall down running to the start of the giant slalom.

“You fall down there you get run over by 49 other people with ski boots on,” said Weiland. “Which is never a good thing.”

< Prev | 1 | 2