The August date of the 2010 Gold Rush 24 Hour Adventure Challenge brought High Sierra country and good weather to the race. Team YogaSlackers beat out  Nuun/FTM/Brand/Dart for the win by less than 30 minutes after 26 hours of racing. The race finished at the 2 pm cutoff on Sunday in the small village of Long Barn. Ten teams out of ten finished the course albeit with two teams incomplete. The good weather must have had something to do with it.

On Saturday morning the event started on Beardsley reservoir when the horn on the safety boat blew. Six checkpoints around the lake led to TA 1 where Big Blue came off the water first, followed 6 minutes later by 'And Loving It'.  The teams switched to bikes and set off on a long, mostly uphill ride, gaining 3000ft in the route to the Gargoyles where TA2 was located at 7400ft.  Big Blue had managed to retain their lead but Nuun/Dart and Yogaslackers had made up their deficit from the lake and passed other teams to comfortably take 2nd and 3rd places just 10 minutes behind Big Blue.  At TA2, while they admired a fantastic view of lava formations known as the Gargoyles, the teams got ready for a long tough trek.  Mavericks and Mavens were not perturbed by arriving last and stuck to their strategy by resting and cooking a meal before setting off. The trek first led over Pinecrest peak to the climb  site for a 200ft rappel and jumar back up. If teams arrived early enough they set off into the canyon of the South Fork of the Stanislaus, soon dubbed 'The valley of Death' after the rugged granite terrain that it contained. After dusk, teams were recommended and chose to take a trail that skirted the 'Valley of Death' and hit Pinecrest lake to reach TA3.

First into TA3 at the Dodge Ridge Ski resort were YogaSlackers who had a 43 miunte lead on Nuun/Dart. Following them in were Fuzzy Slippers, And loving It, Firestarters and Brazilians who had missed checkpoints on the trek. Team baarbed arrived at TA3 but insterad of checking in teh set off to get checkpoints on teh trek leg and arrived again several hours later having got 9 , 10 and 12. Teams changed back to bikes for a long night ride through the forest. Although the mileage was long there were several extended stretches of good riding on old railroad beds.

First into the finish were Firestarters followed after 3 minutes by 'And Loving It' though both teams had missed many checkpoints. Next in were Yogaslackers with a 28 minute cushion on Nuun/Dart and these were the two top teams as they had reached every checkpoint and still finished in 26 hours. Teams arrived at the scenic Long Barn Lodge Finish throughout the morning and early afternoon. Mavericks and Mavens finally got out of last place on the road and arrived comfortably before the cut-off. It was just the Brazilians who miscalculated and found themselves out on the bike course miles form home as cut-off time arrived. They finally made it at 3:33 in the afternoon, 1:33 after the cut-off.  Every team reached the finish line and all praised the course, the challenge and the scenery.

A special thanks to the most dedicated set of volunteers we could ever be fortunate enough to find - (in order of appearance!)  Kyle, Sabrina nad Audrey Richardson.    Our Lake crew of the Richardsons. TA2 crew of  Deborah Steinberg, Karina Steinberg, Bea. Our climb site crew of  Mel Tanner  and Yitz, Karin Weller and Charles and Martha and Vance Roget. TA 3    Heidi Ryan, Mike Ariza, Dale Ghaner and Mike Gallas. Our transport crew of Ray Kablanow and Rob Crisp.  Our internet liason Dennis and Char Baker.  

 

Thanks from Gold Rush Adventures

Adrian Crane, Mark Richardson, Yitzhak Gilon, Carl Suffit , Cary Gregg, Deborah Steinberg

Award Winners

First Place	Yoga Slackers
Second Place	NuuN/FTM/Brand/DART
Third Place	Baarbed

 After combing the passports and adding up, the results are ….

 (X = TA reached , x=CP reached, o= CP missed )

Team

01

02

03

04

05

06

07

08

09

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

Finish

Finish Time

Missed CP's hrs

Total

Position

Notes

Yogslackers

X

x

x

x

X

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

X

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

X

26:01

0

26:01

1st

Dart/Nuun/FTM

X

x

x

x

X

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

X

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

X

26:32

0

26:32

2nd

Big Blue

X

x

x

x

X

x

x

x

x

x

o

x

X

x

x

x

x

o

o

x

o

o

o

o

X

29:04

22

51:04

3rd

Two person

SOAR/Cygo/Fish

X

x

x

x

X

x

x

x

x

x

o

x

X

x

o

o

o

o

o

o

o

o

x

x

X

26:29

27

53:29

4th

Not Coed

baarbed

X

x

x

x

X

x

x

x

x

x

o

x

X

x

o

o

o

o

o

o

o

o

x

x

X

28:16

27

55:16

5th

Brazilians

X

x

x

x

X

x

x

x

x

o

o

o

X

o

x

x

x

x

o

x

o

o

o

o

X

31:33

26

57:33

6th

Missed CutOff

And Loving It

X

x

x

x

X

x

x

x

o

o

o

o

X

x

o

o

o

o

o

o

o

o

x

o

X

23:56

37

60:56

7th

Incomplete

Fuzzy Slippers

X

x

x

x

X

x

o

o

o

o

o

o

X

x

x

x

x

o

o

x

o

o

o

o

X

29:50

37

66:50

8th

Incomplete

Firestarters

X

x

x

x

X

x

x

o

o

o

o

o

X

x

o

o

o

o

o

o

o

o

o

o

X

23:53

43

66:53

9th

Mavs&Mavens

X

x

o

x

X

o

o

o

o

o

o

o

X

x

o

o

o

o

o

o

o

o

o

o

X

28:42

49

77:42

10th

 

Standings by category.

Co-ed

Yoga
Nuun
Baarbed
Firestarters
Mavericks

3and 4 person

Yoga
Nuun
Soar
Baarbed
Firestarters
Mavericks

 2,3 and 4 person

Yoga
Nuun
Big Blue
Soar
Baarbed
Firestarters
Mavericks

 2,3 and 4 person, incomplete, past cutoff (all teams time + penalties)

Yoga
Nuun
Big Blue
Soar
Baarbed
Brazilians
And loving it
Fuzzy
Firestarters
Mavericks