TRIOBA 12 Hour

Team Mergeo.com wins the TRIOBA 12 Hour, beating DART-nuun during the trekking stage.

In the image from left: Ruaraidh Stenson, Matt Hayes, Mike Miller - Mergeo.com line-up for Trioba 2007.

In short about the race: 12 hour race with intended winning time of 6 hours. Two stages: biking (hike-a-bike and bike-whacking included) and trekking/orienteering. After the first stage our team was 12 minutes behind DART but finished 16:42 in front. Final results: here

Mike Miller:

Team in Trioba SprintAs usual a Trioba bike always starts off grinding up a long hill. Not only do I not like to do that, it is worse when it is the first leg of a race, us old guys need a warmup. However with the mighty workhorses of Matt and Ruri, they helped tow my rear end to the top (much appreciated). Not without both Ruri and I going down in the rock and ruts after nearly tangling with another competitor who failed to turn on his turn indicator before pulling out left into traffic.

Trioba Sprint: StartOur goal was just to stay steady during the race, move at our own pace and not make mistakes from being in too big of a hurry. The plan worked out well for us in the end. By CP5, DART had pulled ahead and there were three other teams jockeying back and forth. It was at this point that the first major Nav decision began to break up the groups. We made the correct turn but then started to second guess ourselves but after a quick study of the map and a short out and back on a different road, Matt put the hammer down and we continued on our way in pursuit of DART (nice job Matt, Matt nav'ed the bike and I nav'ed the run). The next area took us through a lot of overgrown roads with face slapping, head twisting, arm scratching tree limbs. The rest of the bike went smooth on the way back to the transition. We weren't sure how many teams were ahead of us at this time so it was great to see only one set of bikes on the bike racks when we returned. Our "arch nemesis" DART, was the only team to beat us in.

Trioba Sprint: StartOur transition went quickly and when we left, DART was ahead by 15 minutes. We started right out with the first of what would turn out to be many "bushwhacks", and I don't use that term lightly, as all of our shins and arms can attest to. The first 4 controls we were spot on and did not waste any time. When were were arriving at the 5th (CP 15) we had made up almost all of the time on DART and saw them approximately 1-2 minutes ahead. After punching, we just kept our steady pace and headed out after them. Within about 5 minutes we had both taken different routes and we did not see them again until the finish, so we didn't know if we were ahead or behind for sure. We noticed that some of the punches weren't activating immediately so we were starting to feel good. Going to CP16 proved tough for most teams. It forced us into another nasty bushwhack but put us where we needed to be and we quickly found it and moved on. At one point we could hear DART out in the middle of a jungle area talking.

Trioba Sprint: IncomingRuri was our our high energy/ morale officer for the day. When we found the checkpoints he would charge off to punch it and then catch up. He also provided the entertainment at times. While enroute to CP17 he was right behind me and I heard "#$%@* I got stung by a bee" (of course this was all in deep Scottish brogue which Matt and I could only understand about half the time). He asked for me to look and see if the bee or the stinger was still there. As I turned around I came face to face to Ruri's butt pointed in my face and his lycra pulled down his leg (he was standing just up hill from me). NOT A PRETTY SIGHT! Unless maybe you are his wife...which I am not. I made a quick exam and then said all clear and turned away to quell my sudden nausea, just kidding (where is a coed team when you need one). I did see later that he showed his butt to Matt for examination also. I guess that that makes us a pretty tight team now. I am sure glad he did not get stung in the front.

Ruri did an awesome job during the race to fill in all of "cracks", no pun intended. Ruri, you rock!

The next three controls included major "jungle like" bushwhacks that were a combination of compass and contour Nav. CP19 took us a little longer then it should of with a parallel knob in the jungle the held us up a little. After CP20 we finally beat our way out of the jungle for the final bushwhack and began making our way back in the direction of the finish. We just kept a steady running pace for the last couple of controls and ran into several teams struggling to find CP16. After catching CP22 it was about a 2 mile run to the finish. The weather was getting quite warm and were were all glad to come running into the large gravel parking lot to find out that YES, we were indeed the first ones back. DART ended up coming in just under 20 minutes behind us with tales of doing a giant circle in one of the bushwhacks while trying to get to CP16. The third place team ended up being well over 1h,20m behind DART.

I give credit to everyone one on the team. You guys all did a great job all through the race and we really worked like a team. Thanks for letting an old guy tag along. Doesn't this make us the NW adventure racing champions? At least for the Trioba series?

MOS (Man of Steel) (Mike M)