Leg C: Out of the Pan, Into the Fire

Transition Area 2/3 at a remote campsite with zero cell service.

If a 44 mile rolling gravel route weren’t enough of a challenge for teams, the race provided an extremely difficult orienteering section situated about 2/3 of the way through Leg B. Racers who were exhausted from the bike leg would find themselves in thickly vegetated forestland with faint or nonexistent trails. The Northern section of the roughly 15 mile loop was particularly challenging. Many teams spent several hours searching for checkpoints here, only to come up empty.

At the front of the field, top navigators were doing top navigator things though. Rootstock Racing, led by navigator Nicki Driscoll made swift and efficient work of the Southern portion of Leg C and made a strategic decision to leave some of the most remote points from the Northern loop out on the course. Enabled Tracking tackled the Northern loop of this trek first, opting to immediately attack the tougher terrain while there was still ample daylight. At this point, Rootstock took the lead in total points by 4 CPs as Enabled Tracking made the tough decision to leave TA2/3 early. That decision would give Enabled tracking a time advantage of 22 minutes over Rootstock going into the next transition area.