Hi all. It’s us again. Hoping to have another Magnificent chat. For continuity sake, we’ll just call this chat #2. If you forgot about the first chat - you can relive that magnificence here.
We’ve got some things to get you excited about. Or maybe it will sound more like a warning - depending on your penchant for hard things. And come to think of it, maybe it is both. So yeah - time to pay attention. Grab that coffee again and dig in.
Safety First
Our health and safety auditor wants to make sure that as adventure racers signed up for our event, you know what you’re getting into. We’ve assured him that you do, but he’s suggested that, just to be sure, we let you in on the introduction to our Health and Safety plan. We’re not ones to question the wisdom of auditors, so here you go–
The MAGNIficent is an Expedition Adventure Race involving teams of 4 travelling together via foot, mountain bike, and boats (kayaks or packrafts primarily) on an unmarked course, often in remote and challenging terrain. The risks associated with such travel are one of the big draws of the sport, which demands teamwork and sound decision making in the face of significant uncertainty. Teams will often take 4 or more days to complete a course, choosing when they sleep and pushing forward along the course through most weather.
Because there is no marked course (teams are allowed to choose their own routes between checkpoints), the event is spread over hundreds of kilometers and spans up to a week (or more) in duration, and by design it tackles challenging and remote terrain; the primary emphasis in creating as safe an event as possible (given the event aims as stated above) involves four key categories: Participant Responsibility, Mandatory Gear, 2 way communications, and emergency response protocols.
‘Adventure Racing Risks’ include the assumed risks inherent to the sport described above. A partial list of these risks includes: negotiating challenging terrain (potentially during periods of challenging conditions including extreme heat, cold or weather events), river crossings, open water paddling, whitewater paddling, bluffs/cliffs, high speed descents on mountain bikes over potentially difficult terrain, getting lost, extreme exhaustion and/or sleep deprivation and the potential associated reduction in cognitive function, poor hydration and/or nutrition, waterborne illness, general overuse degradation (blisters, trench foot, tendonitis), and/or acute injuries.
Hopefully none of that came as a surprise. If it did, well, now you’ve got time to find a replacement!
Hike-a-Bike
There will be some, and who does not love a good hike-a-bike that allows you to access terrain with your bike that it might never see otherwise. The entire course design team has done this magic section and we loved it. But the thought of doing it again was not quite so lovely. Not your typical hike-a-bike. We have some serious tips and changes we’d make if we were ever forced to do it again. We thought we’d share them with you in detail, but then we thought that that might take away one of the awesome parts about old school adventure racing where advantages were gained by crafty thinking. So we leave you with a picture. Infer from it what you will. Remember, we didn’t say push-a-bike.
There’s no perfect solution in terms of the right bike–an ultralight hardtail might feel good when you’ve got it on your shoulder (or back) but punishingly inadequate as you do a long descent down rutted singletrack.
Packrafting
You’ll get to know your boats pretty well over the course of this little event. If you’ve used packrafts before in an adventure race setting but never understood what all the hype was about, well, get ready for a bit of an education. As an ‘adventure’ vehicle there is really no better tool–packrafts changed the nature of expeditions for us years ago, and we’re bringing that change to you in the MAGNIficent. You see packrafts are not only ultralight watercraft, but they are also portable and can carry big loads. You’ll get to carry them twice, have them carry you three times and your bikes once as well. Here’s what to look forward to:
Packraft/trek
There will be one stage with a significant packraft carry - without many transitions between paddling and trekking. During this stage you will encounter some pretty serious (but short) bush sections regardless of your route choice so we’d suggest not having packrafts exposed to poky things that might make them less airtight by the time you get to blow them up and take a rest. And things might be easier with 4 piece paddles stuffed neatly into a pack. Those longer 2 piece paddles seem to draw extra attention from the bush lawyer (see chat #1).
Bike-rafting
At some point, you’ll need to attach your bikes to your boats. Many (most I hope) of you will have sleek high performing ultra-light tandem packrafts with lots of lash points (at least 4) at front and rear–perfect for attaching your bike. It will be a multi hour paddle with these bikes on your boats so it’ll be best if your setup makes both the bikes and you comfortable. If you end up hitting your bike frame with every paddle stroke, those hours will go by much slower (both in reality and in your poor suffering mind). There are lots of ways to do this, but the best one is the one you actually PRACTICE before the race. Don’t worry, there won’t be any significant rapids or rocks to bash, so your bike will be perfectly safe, so long as you keep your boat right side up (which should be easy). We like to use ski-straps for things like this, but YMMV.
Raft-Biking
You may have guessed at what this term implies, and you’re most likely right. Sure, nothing says bad-ass adventure like a picture of a bright packraft moving down a deep river canyon with a pair of bikes strapped onto it…except maybe a picture of a mud speckled mountain bike high on a rugged ridgeline with a boat and paddles strapped to the frame - no water in sight. So yeah, I guess we’ll get that photo too. Plan accordingly. Practice so you don’t look foolish in the pictures.
Again, it’s worth reminding you that these things are inflatable. Sure they are durable as hell, but they are still pretty much useless with ANY hole in them. So use a bit of care with how your bike sits on the boat to avoid sharp bike bits that may cause damage. Also, if strapping your boat to your bike, use care in how it connects, as rough trail can lead to extra rubbing and even a semi smooth bolt or edge could damage a boat over a long/rough ride. You will need your boats to hold air one more time.
Climbing:
There will be one section on the course where there is an opportunity to collect checkpoint(s) via rock climbing. Ropes, belay equipment, harnesses, and selection of rock shoes ( a selection of whole sizes) will be available and provided by race organizers. Teams are welcome to bring their own climbing equipment and if you have really large (US 12 or bigger) feet we recommend this. Teams will be belaying each other (under supervision) during this section, and so at least two members of your team will need to have a belay certification from a climbing gym in order to pursue these points.
In terms of NZ grades, the climbs will be between grade 14 and 18, and if/when there is a queue (we don’t anticipate much of one), climbers failing to reach the checkpoint on a climb may have to wait to try again if they are aiming to achieve maximum points from the section. Long story short, competitive teams may want to brush up on their climbing a bit.
Mandatory Gear
The MAGNIficent is part of the Adventure Racing World Series, which means that we’ll be, at a minimum, requiring you to work to their mandatory gear list. We may add or subtract things from this list in subsequent newsletters once we have more detailed conversations with our safety team for the various stages, but will make sure to provide plenty of time prior to the race for you to source any additional items.
You can count on some big stages, however, that require equipment for multiple disciplines to be carried all at once, so think carefully when you’re choosing gear to keep your weight down, or start adding to your base weight in training now so your legs can handle the extra load heading up the hills.
Teams will all get four bins/bags to use in the TAs and resupply points. Your team will need to provide these. We’ll announce the weight limit on these in the next newsletter, and we’ll focus more on weight than size. Our aim is to reduce (where possible) the environmental impact of the event, and allowing teams to use existing duffels and bins, rather than purchasing new ones just to ensure size consistency (do we need more plastic in the world?) is a small step in this direction. Whatever you plan on using, it should be ‘weather-proof’ as it may get rain wet in TAs and during transport.
Accommodation and Logistics
It’s been more than six months since many of you committed to this event, with less than 6 months until you’re actually on course with us. Exciting. That also means that if you haven’t already applied your efforts to sorting out your travel and accommodation plans, you might want to do that sooner rather than later.
Refer to newsletter #1 for all the details about options, get after it, and get in touch with our hospitality coordinator, Michelle, if you have any questions (ms.mitchell010@gmail.com).
Final Payments
We said these were due August 1st. Well, that time has come and gone, with nary a reminder to you of its approach. Sorry about that.
It turns out Andy’s time (thing 1) was taken up overwhelmingly by trying to quit his day job, progressing the Concession application, and working through the Health and Safety plan audit. Good news is that the career change is being finalized later this month and as of this writing our Concession has been granted and our H&S plan has been approved! Woo hoo!
Jason (thing 2) has had his hands full either racing himself (at least one of us gets to have fun) and now gearing up to put on his other ARWS event this year, Expedition Oregon. Some of you are even heading over to visit him in the land of milk and honey soon–good luck!
Anyway, for those of you already part of the FEAR family, you know we’re reasonably laid back. Given our busy schedules, we figured you and your crew might have busy schedules too, so if you’ve forgotten to make that last payment, don’t stress. It’ll be great if you can put it through soon though. How about we give you until the end of the month before we have Jess start turning the screws–sound fair?
Questions
As always, we welcome questions, feedback, or just a chat about things in general.
The MAGNIficent Team
Andy Magness (Race Director, FEAR president)
Jason Magness (Race Director, Bendracing)
Jess McCallum (Competitor Liason)
Michelle Mitchell (Hospitality and Travel Logistics)
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