The third annual NOC 30 hour adventure race was held on Saturday, March 10. Sixty teams assembled at the starting line in Appletree Campground near Nantahala Lake at 6:00am Saturday morning. Each 3-person team, made up of male and female members, received 6 maps and the race directions consisting of UTM coordinates identifying 20 checkpoints. Teams are required to stop at each checkpoint and have their passport stamped. The goal of race is to find the quickest way from checkpoint to checkpoint traveling on roads, existing trails, forest service roads, overgrown trails, or simply bushwhacking through the forest.

My team, AdventureNC.com, was anxious to go Saturday morning. The race started with an 8-mile trail run from Appletree Campground to the Nantahala raft put-in. We rafted 8 miles down the Nantahala River to the NOC, made a short portage around Big Wesser Falls, and then paddled 4 miles to the Hwy 28 bridge.

Teams changed into bike gear and fueled their bodies for the next section of the race, a 56-mile mountain bike ride. My team was in 17th place, but we are all strong bikers and knew we could move up in position.

The bike leg took us on Needmore Road, twisted through Burningtown, and climbed a forest service road to Burningtown Gap. The climb was mostly pushing and carrying our bikes as the elevation passed 5000 feet. We hit snow and mud covered trails as the sun set and had to put on warmer cloths, attach our lights, and fill water supplies. Food was running low but we thought we only had a few hours of biking left. Little did we know that the toughest part of the race was just ahead.

Passing Wayah Bald we headed down overgrown forest service roads and trails. Navigation was tricky and we had to watch our maps and compasses. A surprise awaited us at the Nantahala Lake. We had to put our bikes in a raft and paddle across the lake. On the far bank we carried, tossed, and dragged our bikes across boulders along the lakeshore for ½ mile. We found the next trail overgrown with rhododendron. Two miles still carrying our bikes took 2 hours. We finally found a forest service road that led us to the Bob Allison camping area.

It was 3:20am and we were cold, tired, and hungry but in 7th place. We arrived 20 minutes past the cut-off time. Our team would have to finish the race on an alternate course and could not move up in rankings. Disappointment and pain took a toll. After an hour of eating, warming up, and resting, my two teammates decided not to finish. I had trained far too hard to give up, so I went on alone.

The final leg was an 18-mile bike back to the Nantahala River and a 9-mile hike to the NOC. I finished as an unofficial team in 9th place at 9:55am Sunday morning after 28 hours of racing.

Of the 60 teams only 6 finished the full course and 15 finished the alternate course. It was just another weekend in the life of an adventure racer.