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Description
> July 2002 - Pennsylvania
Adventure Racing - Ohiopyle, PA |
Congratulations
Congratulations to all who competed in the second P.A.R. race of the season on Sunday, July 28th. We also wish to send out a heartfelt Thank-You to all who aided in the successful rescue of Erica Snyder. Everyone’s selflessness and spirit— in this time of crisis—epitomized what adventure racing is all about. Erica herself stands as a living example of how deep our strength and courage can go and has risen above the odds and is well on her way to a complete recovery.
Start
Race number two—“Ohiopyle”—started like any other, with racers pouring into the transition area at 4:00 a.m. to claim their spots before the 5:00a.m. check-in. As the sun began to peek over the tops of the surrounding mountains, it was clear that the day would be hot and that the weather would, once again, be another element for the racers to overcome. This course was slated to be a seventy miler—up from last races fifty miles— with much of the additional mileage being found on the “ill-fated” final mountain bike leg.
Mountain Bike
Racers started the “Challenge” with a Gran Prix start to their bikes. They then sprinted the flat and fast nine-mile section of “rail trail” to CP 1—the transition to the paddle leg. Team B’More led this section with a small gap between them and the hard charging pack being led by Bill Ronalter of Team TIMEX. Ronalter and crew were charging so hard that they overshot the turn to the PC and just barely missed a major “pile-up” as brakes locked and wheels skidded on the loose gravel as everyone realized their mistake.
Paddling
In the last race, all teams were on the water within minutes of each other. The transition to this paddle leg was a mirror image of the tempo that each team set on the bike leg to the paddle. Those that arrived quickly left just as fast. Those that took a little longer to arrive maintained a more relaxed pace in transition. It was very clear that some were here to race, while others had different goals in mind and took a conservative approach to racing in the heat on a longer course. Once in the water, racers faced a long—mostly flat—paddle to the portage before the falls. They would then re-enter below the falls for a short, but exciting, white water section called “The Loop”. Here there were several sections of rapids, which were made more technical by the low water level.
Accident
Teams were bunched together rather tightly at this point, and an exciting race was in the making. In many ways this was an absolute Godsend because when help was needed, it was everywhere to be found. As teams approached the “Loop take-out”—a particularly technical section in low water with only one or two “routes” through the maze of obstacles—teams found themselves “dry-docked” on the many exposed rocks. Erica and Jason Snyder were one such team. I will not try to re-create the series of events that almost led to a catastrophic loss—not even Erica and Jason are completely sure of what happened. But I will try to give a simple explanation to show that sometimes there is no fault, and that—yes—sometimes accidents do just happen. Once the Snyder’s boat got lodged onto a rock and they were unable to safely free it, they decided to wade through the shallow waters and go to the safety of shore to get the help they needed to release the boat. As Erica made her way to shore Jason began to help another team as they tried to free their boat. Erica may have thought Jason was trying to free their own boat, or decided to help him with the other team’s boat, or just plain lost her footing on the slippery rocks of the river. In any case the powerful whitewater took her down and held her there—unnoticed—for a terrifyingly dangerous length of time. It wasn’t until someone noticed her hand above the surface that they realized what had happened. Immediately it was a flurry of activity as everyone in the area came to help. First Erica was brought to the surface. Then she was given CPR for—what must have seemed—forever. After much work her breathing and pulse were finally restored and now she had to be carried up the steep embankment to the waiting paramedics. All of this took massive man (and woman) power and for the first time in my racing career I found the true spirit of adventure racing. There were no pauses—no hesitations—nobody thought twice. Everyone jumped in and helped as best they could. If they couldn’t help they “stood by” as moral support.
Volunteers
Not until Erica was in capable hands did anyone stop to think about what they were doing. Then—and only then—did they pause, reflect, and move on. As so many racers told me, “Our hearts were no longer in the race, but we just didn’t know what else to do. We though about quitting (the race) and going home, but then we would just sit around and think about what happened.” So—in Erica’s honor—most racers carried on and transitioned to the trekking section. Here the pace dropped right along with everyone’s hearts, and the tone of the race changed dramatically. Once Erica was loaded onto the helicopter to be flown to Pittsburgh, race organizer Doug Crytzer headed to the ropes section of the course to tell personnel there what had happened. Visibly shaken, he instructed them to tell racers that—due to circumstances—the course was shortened and the bike leg was being eliminated. Not one racer was surprised by this decision, nor did anyone object in any way. Most were either involved in the rescue or at the site of the accident and seemed relieved to know that the end of this long day was in sight. The Tyrolean Traverse seemed to be just the distraction they needed to lift their spirits to get to the finish line.
More than racing
I’ve heard it said, more than once, that adventure racing is an on-going lesson for life. Get though the hardships present in races and you become more prepared to deal with the hardships of day-to-day living. I like that. It means that no matter what happens during a race—it gets too cold, it gets too hot, it rains, it snows, you run out of water, or food—and no matter how it affects you—you drop out, you don’t win, you finish 4 hours later than you planned, you finish last—there is still something to be gained by each and every race and each and every experience. You just have to look! Learn from the bad and relish in the good and pretty soon you will have trouble seeing the difference between the two. I am in no way trying to downplay what Erica and Jason have been through. I am only trying to help them—and all others involved—make some sense out of all of this. I am not trying to say that accidents happen for a reason—but what better illustration of people working together for a just cause could you ask for? And what better example of the desire to live than to see such sense of purpose in Erica’s recovery? Accidents don’t happen for a reason—but a person’s response to it does. |
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