Courtesy: Hi- Tec Adventure Racing Series

More than 250 teams competed in the Hi-Tec Adventure Race held at Cedar Hill State Park in Dallas, TX on Saturday evening July 13, 2002. Teams of three were challenged to 6 miles of running, 12 miles of biking and 1.75 miles of kayaking as well as 8-10 special tests. The event started at 7:30 pm and had competitors adventure racing at dusk throughout the night.

Elite teams battled throughout the evening with Teams Guinness emerging victorious and taking their first place spot on the podium with an impressive time of 2:08:28. A local Texas team, Team two mules for sister who? AKA Bicycl finished second with a time of 2:13:05. Team Clif Bar finished third in 2:18:18. Team Sevylor had a strong showing in fourth with a time of 2:23:06 and Team Hi-Tec completed the podium finishers in fifth place with a time of 2:33:31.

Teams were lined up at the start line with their personal flotation device and their paddles prepared to run to the boats and start the kayak. With the start of the race competitors quickly realized the boats for the kayak were floating in the middle of the lake. They had just experience Special Test #1 Swim to the Kayak. Once teams reached their floating boats, they were off on the 1.75 miles of the kayak. Upon the return from the kayak competitors were faced with Special Test #2 The Kayak Grater. Teams had to get themselves, their equipment and their kayaks through an 11-inch slot. Teams popped the plugs and deflated the kayaks to thread them through the structure and continued on to the next section of the race, the 6-mile trail run.

It had just started getting dark when the teams started filing out of the transition area and hitting the trails for the trail run. Navigating their ways through the trails with headlights teams quickly navigated the trails returning to the main site to be faced with Special Test #3 the Hay Maze special test. Teams squirmed in between the hay bails and under the cargo nets that were draped over the hay. Once through the Hay competitors were challenged with Special Test #4 Paint Ball. Each competitor was required to hit a target 15 feet down an embankment. Teams were then faced with Special Test #5, The Black Hole. Teams were provided a regular piece of paper and with the scissors given at the pre race meeting, had to make a paper structure that one team member could fit through. Following the Black Hole, Teams started on the last leg of the event the 12-mile mountain bike.

Competitors could easily be seen with the headlamps bouncing through the dark in the distance as the lights were guiding the competitors through the mountain bike course. Competitors returned from the mountain bike to Special Test #6 The Texas Swing. Competitors had to get their entire team to the end of the structure by swinging from one swing to another without touching the ground. Then competitors were faced with the last obstacle Special Test #7: The Wall. A signature piece of the Hi-Tec Adventure Racing SeriesO is The Wall and is notoriously known by competitors, as the last hurdle teams need to get over before crossing the finish line.

The race will continue to the fifth stop of the 2002 Hi-Tec Adventure Racing Series in Sacramento, CA (August 18th). Future stops for the Hi-Tec Adventure Racing Series will continue to Hartford, CT (September 8th), Richmond, VA (September 29th) and the Series final in Los Angeles, CA (October 19th).