It’s not possible to run 27 hours straight without several of those being in complete darkness. That’s what teams at the Hard Fall experienced as they arrived at the Harriman Reservoir for a challenging stage of the Hard Fall. Set across the reservoir are checkpoints that can be accessed both by land and boat. Armed with inflatable packrafts, racers will have a lot of decisions to make when assessing how to attack this section of the course. Many teams will strategically drop points on this stage in order to maximize their time over the remainder of the course. A transition area with a warm fire and fresh grilled cheese sandwiches provided a brief respite for teams as they transitioned back to their bikes for another excruciatingly steep climb up to the Green Mountain National Forest land where the most challenging trek of the race lie.