WVSU Yellow Jacket — Dirty girls! WV Biker Chicks do Hi-Tec Adventure Racing
By Sean Rose
On Oct. 1, 2000, West Virginia State College professor Dr. Robin Brown Broughton competed in the Fifth Annual Hi-Tec Adventure Racing Series at Moraine State Park in Pennsylvania.
The adventure race is a one-day event that combines running, kayaking and mountain biking with special physical tests similar to those found in military boot camp confidence courses.
All contestants are part of a three-man/woman team that must work together at all times. The order and type of special events are unknown until the day of the adventure race.
Broughton was team captain on an all-women’s team consisting of her friends Amy Atkins and Sarah Crandall. "We’ve all ridden [mountain biking] together countless times and had many good times and many crazy times," said Broughton. "This is my fifth Hi-Tec race . . . twice in Los Angeles, once in New York and once in Atlanta. I thought I was through," added Crandall.
Broughton’s team, West Virginia Biker Chicks, finished in 9th place with an overall time of 4:42:37. The team got off to a rocky start, losing one of the checkpoint letters on the orienteering run. The day prior Crandall had predicted, "The orienteering will be great fun because we all have the reputation of being lost." The team lost over ten minutes re-running the section and came out of the first third of the race in 12th place.
The team made up for the loss on the second leg of the race -- 12.4 miles of mountain biking. The WV Biker Chicks cleared the bike course in almost exactly one hour gaining seven places to 5th place. Their time was as fast as the leading all men’s teams. "You are talking about three very competitive women here. We’re all great friends, but we’ll run each other off the trail . . . if they slip up for a minute," said Broughton.
Spectator Amy Tolliver commented on supporting the WV Biker Chicks, "We’ve clapped lots, we’ve stood around, we’re hungry, we’ve been anxious. We had heart palpitations a couple of times. We did!"
Between the main events, the WV Biker Chicks were presented with a number of special events, including rope swings and bridges, a human ladder and log jump. "My biggest fear, well it’s the wall . . . but now it’s the boats or swinging from ropes. No, crossing the log. It would be the log," said Atkins.
The WV Biker Chicks lost time in the Kayaks and the final three mile run falling back to their finishing 9th place. In total,the team ran eight miles, biked over twelve miles and rowed two miles on the lake.
At the finish line all competitors were presented with a Hi-Tec Adventure Race medal and many congratulations. Broughton smiled, "It was great!"
For more information on the Hi-Tec Adventure Series races, please visit http://www.hi-tec.com.
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