Race Report - GMARA Hard Fall Adventure Race - 27 hours by Ashley Eaton

“Sunday morning, not long after sunrise, we were grabbing a small cluster of mining CPs and ran into a team of two teenage girls, racing with their brother and dad. The girls told us how cool they thought it was that four women were racing together, and that they wanted to race like that when they're older.”

Team #407: Women of AR at the start location in Rowe, MA

Race Team (left to right): Abby Perkiss, Ashley Eaton, Mari Chandler, Nicki Driscoll

The 27-hour GMARA Hard Fall Adventure Race was hosted at Mount Snow in Dover, VT.  Leading up to the race, in a series of unfortunate events Kit broke her wrist during a mountain bike race. An x-ray and ortho appointment later, it was clear the team would need to find a new teammate and Kit would take on a new role - cheering the team on from the volunteer ranks. We felt strongly about staying a team of 4 due to the packrafting sections. The team chat was lively, but one name kept coming up - Mari Chandler. After a few messages and promises of pretzel snacks, Mari was in! 

This Women of AR (WAR) crew was truly a dream team. Collectively this team has over 55 years of racing experience and has raced in over 300 races! 

This feels like as good a place as any to express the immense gratitude and respect I have for these women. While I began racing in 2013 with Kit at the yearly GMARA events (Bitter Pill and Frigid Infliction), really my AR journey began this year with more focused training and new goals. I watched as Abby and Nicki, alongside teammate Karyn, led an all-female Rootstock Team to a national championship in 2022 paired with an impressive overall 5th place finish. This year, I was lucky enough to be at the World Championship in South Africa and watch Mari and her team Vidaraid push their limits to secure a second place finish. I am so grateful to race alongside these badass women which feels like such a fast track for my personal AR journey. 

Okay, let's talk about the race. The team woke up at 5am to a misty mountain morning, vibes were a mixed bag, the team didn’t sleep great. It sometimes feels like getting a good night's sleep the night before a race is a bigger challenge than the race itself.

Stage 1 - Don’t be late (cleared ✅15/15)

The team divided and conquered, sending Abby and Ashley to the cars with overnight bags while Nicki and Mari headed to check in, grab maps and a table.

Pre Race Briefing at Mt Snow, Dover VT

Reviewing the maps and course layout, it quickly became clear to the team that it was unlikely the course was clearable. Running through time estimates of each leg, and weighing the estimated time per checkpoint in each leg, the team made a game plan for which points to consider dropping, with many possible strategies depending on timing later in the course.

The key element of stage 1 was making sure you didn’t arrive at the packraft prior to the dam release. Due to the high volumes of rain in the region, the dam was to begin a release at 11am and continue throughout the day. With maps marked, Abby made a last minute pack change and Ashley and Mari attempted (and were thwarted) to get seats at the front of the bus. About 40 minutes later, the teams were dropped at the race start -  a dead end dirt road just over the VT/MA border in Rowe, Massachusetts. 

The team cleared this section, snagging all 15 CPs. This felt like our “settling” stage, everyone eased into a steady state and Nicki dialed in on the maps. The trek ended with a swim across a small river to the TA. Everyone loves a swim. In fact not true, Mari dislikes them the most, followed by Ashley. Nicki and Abby seemed okay with it. The team is mildly convinced this is where they got the gift that keeps on giving - poison ivy.

Stage 2 - Splish Splash (cleared ✅2/2)

The team made quick work of getting the packrafts setup and transitioning into the first paddling section. Since this was a whitewater section, we threw our packs and paddle bag into the Ti-Zip. Paddling teams were Abby/Nicki and Mari/Ashley.

Eaton & Chandler on the Deerfield River

The entertainment on this paddle was top tier. There were dozens of guided river rafting boats and individual “booze cruise” tubers free floating, few with any actual paddling equipment, making it a true game of frogger to navigate some sections of the river. We did however enjoy a little Tom Petty “Free Falling” along the way and Mari kept me from paddling over a tuber in a spot where “I thought we could make it through”.

A quick portage around some serious whitewater, Abby and Nicki opting for a top of the head balancing act with their boat, and the team was back on the water headed towards CP17. At one point, there was a mild moment of panic as Abby called back to ask if we had the passport… we did not have the passport. Turns out she did in fact have the passport. Stay tuned for a fun finish line passport prank.

On the upstream approach to CP 17, we waved to our friends Adventure Enablers as they were exiting. We opted to attack this point via coasteering (to ensure we didn’t miss it) on foot and then hopped up on the road to run back to be most efficient.

Stage 3 - Up a hill (cleared ✅1/1)

With the packrafts packed up and the paddle bag dropped off the vibes were stellar (except for Mari almost forgetting to put her bike shoes on), super secret pretzel rounds were shared and salt tabs were taken.

We started the next leg off a little deflated - no, literally. In the time the bikes were loaded into the truck for transport the night before and staged, Abby's tire had lost a significant amount of air so we took some time to get that pumped back up before we headed off to bike uphill. 

This is where a crucial theme of the race began - storytelling. We rolled through the lush countryside, searching for license plates to see if we were in Vermont yet or still making our way through Massachuettes, listening to various race stories ranging from hilarious to horrific and everything in between.

Honorable mention for this section is the quintessential white capped mushroom on the mountain bike trail near the TA. It was clear that teams had been making an effort not to crush it. Nicki rolled by first saying watch out for the mushroom, I squirreled around it next, followed by Abby. Mari made a whooping noise which at first I thought meant she had crushed it but she later confirmed she had also avoided it. Spoiler alert - when we passed it again during the individual O courses, it remained intact! Nature is neat!

Stage 4 - SUP dude (cleared ✅SUP:3/3, O:9/9)

This was a great section because it was fast and fun. The team rolled into the TA with a shared top priority - fueling. I pulled out the ultimate AR candy grab bag - skittles, sour patch watermelon and mini starburst. We dropped our gear and glided off on some pink and turquoise paddle boards!

The team finishing the stand up paddle board section on Pelham Lake

We made quick work of clearing this section, taking various positions and stances on the SUP’s. This little pocket of water was peaceful and it felt like a treat to glide around snagging CP’s. I pitched a research study to Nicki about the potential shifts in brain chemistry when being on and in water… Nicki and I both caught our rudders in a shallow spot and got launched forward but remained on our boards.

Back on land we divided up into two smaller teams - Nicki/Ashley and Mari/Abby and divvied up the CP’s.

Northern Loop

Mari and Abby took the four northernmost points on the map, reflecting as they got started that these looked suspiciously like the more physically challenging cluster and congratulating Nicki on figuring that out while no one else noticed. After a bit of a false start that involved a tennis court and a rather confused family, they moved through the section smoothly, save for one checkpoint on the creek that offered an instructive reminder of how much navigational confidence (or lack thereof) can make or break a section – when you know where you are, it’s easier to know where you’re not. They wasted fifteen minutes attacking and re-attacking before Mari finally spotted the flag tucked behind a patch of vegetation on the bank of the creek. They ran back into TA, hoping that their foibles had given Ash and Nicki a few minutes of rest, and were surprised to find themselves only in the company of Jeff and Matt, half of the Adventure Enablers foursome, who had been waiting for their own teammates for 45 minutes. Mari and Abby set to work transitioning, and hoped that Nicki and Ash had been spared a similar fate.

Southern Loop

Nicki later remarked as we climbed to a “view” checkpoint at the peak of a mountain that maybe we should have given this one to Mari :) As we were AR shuffling back to TA, we were psyched to hear from a couple outgoing teams that they had just passed our teammates! We made it back to TA a few minutes behind them. Mari and Abby are amazing teammates so naturally they had filled our bike bottles.We tossed on helmets, checked bike lights, and Abby made friends with one of the little race directors Emma Martin by leaving behind a snack pack. With some encouraging words from Kit (or possibly she was telling us to hurry up) we were off!

Stage 5 - Up a bigger hill (cleared ✅2/2)

If I am being honest, I only remember biking uphill on this section. Okay, there were a couple other highlights, the first being the “middle of road junction” CP which Mari deemed her favorite CP before we even got there. We hypothesized about what exactly that clue meant, it lived up to our expectations. This CP was also a highlight for Nicki and I because we hadn’t realized when we left the previous TA that Mari and Abby had taken their pants off. So by the time we reached CP 31 - we were toasty. I declared after taking my pants off and feeling like a new person that I would never wear pants again. As night fell and the daylight slipped away we carried on to TA5, minding some seriously sketchy bridge crossings and following the call of the loons. 

Stage 6 - To deflate or not to deflate (8/14)

We rolled into the TA to an unexpected surprise, grilled cheese! While the photos may make it seem like I raided the tent like a drowned raccoon, I can assure everyone that I was getting them for the entire team. Abby got us checked in and we went to work on prepping our paddle gear. We kept packs out (rather than in the Ti-Zip) so we could easily transition to being on foot and reduce having to deflate/re-inflate the packrafts.

Up until this stage we had cleared each section and had been on target with our course projections, relatively matching the estimated full course projections . Rolling into this packraft/trek stage we had already determined that this was where we would need to start making decisions - which points would we drop in hopes of snagging other points later in the race that might be more time effective? Abby and Mari chatted briefly about the psychology of in-race decisions and the mental shift when you start to drop points.

We set off from a very swanky put-in and made our way to our first CP. It should be noted that post grilled cheese greasy hands are not ideal for paddling. We made it across to the peninsula and docked our boats South of CP36, with a plan to out-and-back CPs 36, 38, and 39 on foot. We started for CP 36 “Top of Boulder Pile.” Now if you were dot watching at this time, you may have been yelling… or heard us yelling all the way from Vermont. This was a little rough patch for us. We were unable to initially find CP36 so we opted to carry on to connect with the next CP38 Rootstock. This point had been replotted during the pre-race briefing. While Mari and Nicki had marked the change on the map, it also gave us some trouble and we walked up and down multiple faint reentrants. We had high hopes in utilizing some spidey sense to find that one given the love for rootstocks on our team, but no luck. At this point we were feeling quite unsure about exactly where we were, so we opted to shoot for CP39 at the water's edge, re-orient ourselves, and hit 38 and 36 on the way back to our rafts. Following Nicki’s bearing and the growing sound of the peepers, we were able to coasteer and find CP39, finally putting us back on the map to re-attack 38 and 36. We snagged 38 and walked right by 36 but didn’t see it (even though we were so close our tracker pinged). Lesson learned when someone says “oh that looks like a boulder pile,” and the clue is boulder pile, check it out even if the pace counting is a little off. We decided that it was time to cut our losses and move on.

Honestly, I’d like to rename this section marine debris and shark mylar balloons. As we made our way around the peninsula, it was a huge bummer to see how much marine debris was scattered both in the forest (in the form of mylar balloons) and washed up on the shoreline as Mari shared a sad story about a girl, her dog, and a lost balloon. Don’t ask her about it. It’ll just bring up painful memories.

We snagged a few more packraft CPs and then opted to portage the boats up the trail from CP37. We left our boats at a trail junction and headed out to CPs 40 and 41 on foot. At CP41, the trouble continued: mis-counting reenetrants, we ended up attacking CP41 too far to the Southwest, and wandered around finding many knolls, but never one with a flag on it.  Abby shared her teddy grahams, Mari did a little bouldering, and we collectively decided we hate knolls. We again decided to cut our losses, and AR shuffled back to the packrafts to complete the portage down a trail to the water, and paddled back to the TA to hop back on our bikes, snagging one more paddle point along the way.

Stage 7 - Up an Even Bigger Hill (cleared ✅2/2)

Yes, another uphill biking leg. This section felt like a steady climb up to the TA through the idyllic country roads. By the time we hit this section it was full on night, Abby was a little sleepy and I gave some incorrect information about sunrise. Thankfully Mari still had a few stories left to share so she got us through the climb with her tales. We reached the TA after more bonus uphill and overnight volunteer Kit was there, dancing us into TA7/8.

Stage 8 - Night Nav Anyone? (3/10)

We made quick work of this section, executing on our plan to snag three points relatively close to the trail system and drop points that would require significant time. Utilizing the trail systems we grabbed CP53 “cellar Hole” and CP 54 “cemetery north edge.” Huge kudos to Nicki and Mari on this latter point. The trail that was mapped going nearly all the way to the point disappeared early on, and after some micro-nav it reappeared higher up the spur. We reached the end of the trail, which seemed to align with the map, but we needed to do a little micro adjusting to get to the point. This was a neat CP and Mari deemed this also her favorite (one of twelve favorites along the course). We headed back down the trail to snag CP 55 “under a large rock overhang.” While we had no trouble navigating here, Nicki nailed it, it was something of a scene. I had a mild hallucination about a big rock, Abby and I were laughing hysterically about it, and then Mari confirmed there was actually a large rock as well as the CP. As Mari was punching the passport, we heard a loud thunk and she came running out from the overhang with goosebumps talking about a falling buddha statue.

We felt strong coming off that trek breaking into a little prancing pony AR shuffle. Morale only increased when Mari busted out some vegan marshmallows, and tried to convince us that they are the best caloric intake you can get based on weight. Before we could decide either way, we were back at the TA. We did a little invasive species management, brushing off our bike tires, and then we were off!

Stage 9 - Finally, a mostly downhill bike. But with a lot of up. (2/6 but *2 points were canceled)

It felt great to finally do a little cruising on the bikes. For me this section kind of felt like we were high school kids cruising around our sleepy little town on a summer night. We were greeted by some lively spectators at the town center with the statue. Abby insisted on closing her eyes for 1 second while Nicki switched the maps. We pushed through to dawn and arrived at the trail system where we snagged a few points and enjoyed a little technical riding. We planned to also snag some points on dedicated MTB trails, but the trails were blocked off when we arrived, having been closed just minutes before due to the wet condition. With only a few kilometers to go to the final TA at Mt. Snow, Mari’s bike had a chain ring issue so she biked the last bit ever so gently to keep her chain from jumping.

We made it to the base of the ski lift where we dropped our bikes and made our way up to snag the three “mine entrance” checkpoints on foot. While I carried a “3lb” GoPro during the race, this is the sole fruit of that effort - 1 photo (for those that don’t know Mari is a bit of a weight weenie so I didn’t dare ask her to carry it). It's hard to tell but these CPs required a lovely little wade into a water-filled mine shaft.

At one of the mining CPs Abby had the sweetest interaction when we ran into a team of two teenage girls, racing with their brother and dad. The girls told us how cool they thought it was that four women were racing together, and that they wanted to race like that when they're older. It was so perfect, and totally made the case for why Women of AR needs to exist.

Stage 10 - Just in case you have some time to spare (10/11)

We had planned to get as many points as possible on this Mount Snow trek section, knowing we would have a good sense of our timing, be close to the finish, and that some teams might be slowing down having seen the finish line. Teamwork was the dreamwork on this stage, while Nicki navigated the last few points, Mari, Abby, and I shared the passport rotating who punched it.

We worked our way up and about Mount Snow, enduring some heavy rainfall. At one point we went down a relatively steep slope where I (for safety and entertainment purposes) felt the need to narrate everything so we didn’t have any 11th hour injuries that kept us from the finish line. Mari later recalled it as: "ok there's a small rock here, and careful a big log, and another rock on your right, and a 4' tree there, and a big drop, and another rock, oh and another hole, and it's really slippery here, careful right here, ok there’s a tree at a crazy angle, and really stabbing spikes on that raspberry bush...."

We were almost able to clear this section but left one point stranded to ensure we hit the finish in time. The team crossed the finish line together, in great spirits and honestly feeling pretty stellar.

Now it should be noted that for the entirety of the race either Mari or Abby held the passport. I may have punched a CP but I ALWAYS gave the passport back to literally anyone because I have HUGE passport anxiety. For whatever reason, when I punched the last CP I put the passport in my own pocket. We reached the finish line and I handed over the passport somehow without Mari noticing. Then for a few harrowing seconds - she was in sheer panic as she thought she lost the passport. Whoops, sorry Mari! :)

Later after the race, Nicki heard the two girls from the mining CPs talking in the bathroom, about how great it was to see all-female teams on the race course and how they’d like to race on an all women's team someday. So grateful for all the Women of AR that were out crushing it at the Hard Fall and the Women of AR sponsorship which has afforded the team an opportunity to increase visibility and competitiveness of women's teams in AR.

The team finished 5th overall with 60 CPS.

17-18 AUGUST 2024

Host location: Mount Snow, VT

Race Team: Mari Chandler, Ashley Eaton, Nicki Driscoll, Abby Perkiss