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Team Necky Kayaks at the finish line! Photo courtesy of Garrett Madison

As we comfortably zoomed into TA 3 it felt like a bit of a circus. My dad was there to greet me and a lot of people were milling around. Someone told us the race was cancelled because of a death, and the story quickly unfolded of how Nigel Aylott, the Australian racer on team AROC had suffered a fatal injury. Our perils of enduring the exhausting race were quickly put into perspective when we realized how fortunate we were to be together and well. No doubt our parents were a bit concerned during the hours prior when news of the death spread and our team was unaccounted for. Nigel had died at 4 pm the day prior, and after that time the race directors and course officials were frantically trying to sort out the incident and pull teams from the course. Many had been alerted and were told to go directly to TA 4, where a small funeral would be held for Nigel, and meetings would be held to determine the fate of the Primal Quest. I remember fondly taking a shower at the campground and eating steak my sister had brought from home, eating chocolate and other delectables, and being slightly thankful the race had temporarily stopped so that I could enjoy a longer and warm nap that day.

The funeral was a beautiful presentation from some of Nigel’s close friends and teammates who sang a song about him in his honor, and then all those connected threw roses into the Skagit River to say goodbye. Later in the day after a barbecue the Aussie and Kiwi racers sang a rendition of "I come from a land down under" commemorating the qualities that made Nigel a special person to all of them. A captain’s meeting was held and each of us asked to give our opinion of what should be done with the race. I candidly thought we should keep racing in the spirit of Nigel. Not surprisingly most captains thought the same, and the race was scheduled to restart at midnight. However, teams would be staggered 10 minutes apart with one hour between places 10 and 11, then another hour between places 20 and 21. We prepared our packs for the early morning start, and then crawled into the trailer for a good sleep.

At the start it was pouring rain and cold in the darkness. We set off and I soon realized that I should have worn waterproof pants; my lower half was quickly soaking and cold. Then the tube in my front tire blew out and we stopped to replace it. I have to say; our spirits were a bit low at this point, mostly due to the fact that teams hours behind us were now minutes behind due to the restart. We were passed by two teams, but then held our ground until the bike drop off.

Here we would hike a short distance to a lake and then navigate off trail to another lake and up over a ridgeline, then down to an abandoned trail to an abandoned road which would take us to the ropes section. A cameraman whose physical prowess made him able to stay with us on the course accompanied us on the hike. He was fun to joke around with, but we were probably a little distracted by his presence. Even so we made good time through the woods to the lakes, but getting over the ridgeline was tricky. Several teams were looking for the correct gulley that would lead to the top of the ridge, as there were several that looked ok from below but would cliff out near the top. The dense foliage and shrubs made discerning the steepness very difficult until you were actually up in the gulley scrambling around.

When we found the right gulley several teams were already in it and loose rocks became a problem. We waited until the team above us was out of the rocky area, and then made our move up. A bottleneck of racers formed at a tree stump that blocked a portion of the narrow and steep gulley. It was our friends from Crested Butte, and I helped one of them over the stump by pushing up with my hands on his buttocks, a funny sight indeed.

We scrambled up to the top and then navigated our way down to the old roads. These roads that were no longer in use had been partly washed away in spots and were grown over by alder trees, but easier than plain bushwhacking. We stopped for just a few minutes here and let two teams pass us, a bad move on our part because this would set us an extra hour behind at the conclusion of the ropes section.

We arrived at the ropes and met the race officials who recorded our team number and told us we had a two-hour wait. This section was scheduled late in the race where teams would probably be spread out and avoid the bottlenecks, but with the restart clumping everyone together, the mandatory staggering of people on ropes made for a traffic jam. We took the opportunity to lay in our emergency blankets and nap, and as I did I was disappointed we lost the two places, because now we would be much further behind.

My thoughts shifted as we ascended the vertical lines when Brent, who was on the line parallel to mine, remarked on how awesome it was to be hanging hundreds of feet above the ground in the dark, climbing upwards, meanwhile watching the headlamps move around below. It was a very cool experience and I regained my good spirits by focusing on the positive. At the top we met another race official and rappelled down, stopping to say high to Michael and Cathy who were coming up. At the bottom we walked down the slippery rocky to the trail and headed towards TA 4.

As we trudged along the 14 miles I became sleepy and would be walking fine one minute but then all of a sudden be stumbling in the ditch. It was the same pattern of mental fatigue where my brain would temporarily shut down consciousness for a few seconds. Finally I decided to keep one hand on Brent’s backpack to direct me along the trail, and this allowed me to walk with my eyes closed and I felt as if I was sleeping. After half an hour of this I felt much better and ate some chocolate covered espresso beans that really woke me up.

We connected with a paved road leading to Darrington, the TA, and had only a few more miles to go. Cathy’s feet were in bad shape with torn blisters, so I offered to carry her for a few minutes. Just before daylight we arrived at the TA, but found our support crew in bed. They had waited up all night for us but badly needed some sleep themselves and had just turned in, so when I started making racket in the trailer they arose and unselfishly began reheating the food and offering drinks.

They were so good to us; I don’t think any of the racers will ever be able to repay our support crew for their limitless donation of time and energy that really made it possible for us to compete. Without them we would barely survive.

After a short nap we readied ourselves on the mountain bikes for the final day of racing. We rode extremely hard, led by Michael who was on fire, though a system of logging roads for just three hours until arriving at Rockport, our second to last TA and the same location as TA 3, where the funeral wake was held for Nigel. Our crew had barley enough time to arrive themselves and set up camp for us, but fortunately we had an hour of mandatory down time to prepare the kayaks for the 51-mile paddle down the Skagit. We needed an extra half hour to ready ourselves with all the proper gear, and launched into the glassy river with sun on our faces.

It was a nice treat to be paddling such a smooth section of the river, granted we would pass through some class II rapids, but for the most part just beautiful scenery. I was back in the rhythm of paddling hard for 20 min. then drinking some of my energy shake, or eating a granola bar. The body burns so many calories during an around the clock endurance event that we literally couldn’t eat enough. All told we ate the equivalent of about six meals a day, but the body couldn’t replace completely what we were burning so we each lost a little weight.

At the end of our paddle we disembarked at a boat launch used by fisherman, and when we pulled ourselves out we immediately were chilled, so we changed into dry clothes for the 11-mile portage across to the saltwater. We all had wheels for the kayaks, but some had different configurations than others and our system worked pretty well. Team Nike had the best system of all because they thought of using rollerblades to propel themselves faster and use the momentum of the moving kayak. We tied the boats to ourselves with nylon straps and jogged all the way to the last TA where friends and family awaited.

We gorged on hot food while Brent discussed with the race official the desired course of travel, as the fog was rolling in and they wanted the kayakers to stay out of the shipping lanes. Soon enough we were off and paddling to the finish on Orcas Island, but it would be awhile before we arrived.

This was perhaps the weirdest of the sections because we were really tired and on the water at night, not the best situation when the water temperature is in the low forties and freighters are cruising all around. It didn’t take long before sitting in the boats in the dark to make us sleepy, and staying awake became a real challenge. We pulled our boats together to talk for a minute and saw another team paddle up. They were team Vignette from Texas and had raced in several Primal Quest races. We tried to make small talk with them to help keep us awake but they were not interested, they clearly wanted to pass us and get to the finish whereas we just wanted people to keep us awake and chat with. They were soon gone, and we were left to ourselves.

	"I was worried because everyone was sleepy and dealing with a capsized boat would be no fun, and our coast guard lights on the front and rear had just burned out..."

One of the Primal Quest patrol boats met us to see how we were doing. They were always looking out for the racers, and they cheered us onward toward the finish which seemed a long ways off still. After paddling around several islands another boat met us and instructed us to meet at Strawberry cove where we would be escorted across Bellingham channel to Orcas, the biggest and most dangerous channel. On the way to the cove everyone was falling asleep except myself, strange because I had always been the one to fall asleep until this night, probably because I was really scared of what could happen if one of the boats flipped. I was worried because everyone was sleepy and dealing with a capsized boat would be no fun, and our coast guard lights on the front and rear had just burned out. Luckily we had our headlamps with us, so by shining them at the boats they could see where we were. I have to say it was creepy paddling around in the dark, going near steep rock cliffs wondering if we were really where we thought we were. I took the liberty of being the loud and obnoxious captain by constantly barking at my teammates how they were doing, which partly made me feel better. The escort took us halfway across then had to leave, so we paddled the rest of the channel alone. It seemed to take forever, but we finally made it across to the other side.

I suggested that we go ashore and sleep a bit, not that I was tired but rather scared of accidents. Cathy and Brent thought I was crazy and I guessed they were right, or at least determined to reach the finish without stopping. We shot along where the current was moving fast near the shoreline. Brent’s crack navigation came in handy here as he led us around the rocky coastline and into a harbor where our last checkpoint lay. Upon paddling into the harbor there were many lights at the perimeter, and we really had no idea where to go, so I suggested the brightest light. As we neared the light, old ships and run down buildings appeared and we all thought we were in a "never-never land," it was a serious mental delusion. Rounding the last corner into Eastsound bay was a pleasant surprise, and we saw the lights of Rosario Resort in the distance. The lights didn’t get any larger for a long time, but as the morning light filtered down we finished our paddle to the cheering of Michael’s dad on the shore. When we jumped out of the boats and ran across the finish line as a team it was a grand moment for all of us. We had just completed our first adventure race!

Dan Barger and Maria Burton, the two people responsible for creating most of Primal Quest were there spraying champagne on us and we gave hugs all around. A cameraman filmed for a few minutes as we each had a few words to say before we left to take showers and meet the rest of the support crew that had just arrived on the ferry from our last TA. As we all shared a breakfast I basked in how wonderful the situation was, how the warmth from our family and friends that had turned out to unselfishly help us spread through all. It was truly a magic moment of success all around, based on the foundation of teamwork from all.

The feeling of a pampered Olympic athlete returned when my dad and Brent’s dad informed us they had rented a hotel room for the team over the next four days for the conclusion of the race and the awards banquet and party. We said our good byes and went to the plush beds of this five star resort, truly enjoying the comfort of sleeping on a warm mattress with sheets and blankets. The next few days were spent lounging around and sorting gear, socializing with racers from other teams, sleeping, and eating large amounts of rich foods. Our favorite breakfast was croissant French toast that Michael’s dad cooked every morning, our metabolisms so powerful that we almost instantly burned off the calories. Between visits to the hotel spa soaking in the therapeutic tubs we would wander the resort grounds and beach reflecting on what a wonderful experience it had been.

Postscript: Team Necky Kayaks finished a respectable 18th, not bad for first time adventure racers. They are already planning to do the Primal Quest again in 2005.

-- Written by Garrett Madison