Gold Rush 24 Hour Challenge 2006  see results below.

The race started at Horseshoe Rec Area where teams climbed the steep and rocky Maxwell Hill for checkpoint 1 before rushing to checkpoint 2 on the lakeshore and back to the boatramp to launch kayaks and canoes. Teams 'Sputnik', '40 and over' and 'Sundawgz' wisely skipped CP1 and were first onto the water. The 9 mile paddle to Bagby Rec Area was broken by one hiking section. At Bagby,  True Grit and Thin Air had pulled ahead of the pack. Here, ACP1  at the start of a long bike and hiking leg, teams had to get themselves and their bikes and gear across a narrow arm of the lake. True Grit swam a loaded raft across. Teams piled bikes onto boats and paddled over with a crew member to retrieve the boat. 40 and Over  led out a long rope so their boat could be retrieved.

Once across the lake the teams cycled up the Merced River Canyon. The route began with a sandy hike-a-bike but improved to nice single track for the 5 mile ride to the climb site. The ascent, a jumar assisted scramble, allowed teams to display their athleticism and the 120 ft rapell allowed them to display their boldness. Leaving their bikes the teams hiked the rough and brush filled North Fork Canyon, with darkness coming on and then  looped back to the main Merced Canyon via a steep descent of Cadillac hill and a hike back to the climb site. A second rope course in the dark greeted the teams who then retrieved their bikes and set off to complete the easy ride up the main canyon on a good dirt road. That easy ride contrasted with the steep 2000 ft ascent of Briceburg grade and onward on rough trails to Black Mountain summit. A four mile downhill ride finally took competitors to ACP 2 after the long chilly night. True Grit led by a brief 18 minutes over Thin Air  when they arrived at 11pm. The remaining teams trailed in during the ensuing 8 hours.

A cycling leg led to a short orienteering loop on foot around the Bower Cave area and back on bikes to ACP 4 where Thin Air had narrowed the gap to True Grit to only 9 minutes. At ACP4 the lead teams had time to do a 12 mile leg with one bike per team. Teams reported that the bike was of little help to their progress!  It was here that True Grit hammered home their advantage and emerged at 9:28 with what would be a 90 minute lead.

A seven mile, mostly downhill, bike leg took teams toward the finish. After a day and a night with hardly a sight of a building the route explodes out of the woods to the small historic town of Coulterville and the finish.

Thanks to 'Kool N Fit Sport' , 'Hi Tec Sports' , our registration host ‘Oakdale Garage', Coulterville Community Club who provided the finish venue at the Old Schoolhouse, the Stanislaus National Forest, BLM, Merced Irrigation District, Stanislaus Rugby Club and to our great volunteers.(Careey Young, Austin Stahl, Charlie Johnson,  Charlie Kharsa, Dale Ghaner, Mike Galas, Dwayne, Brien Crothers, Nelson Snyder, Greg Stahl, Rex Nixon, Heidi Ryan, Mike Ariza, Ray Nichol, Johnathan Crane, Joshua Mabie and  Fraggle )

Thanks from Team Karma