Up for an Adventurous Saturday? The Inaugural Sandman Adventure Race
Story By Billy Jason Frye
If you’re tired of the same old Saturday routine — the forgettable one where you run errands all day — why not try something different, something a little more adventurous?
On Saturday, April 2 Brunswick Nature Park will host the inaugural Sandman Adventure Race. Competitors will have four hours to race across the park by foot, bike and kayak, collecting checkpoints and completing challenges, navigating with a map and compass every step of the way. Race organizers Kristen Beckmeyer, Meredith Sullivan and Jason Wheeler say it will be, quite simply, “awesome.”
Adventure Races combine two or more endurance sports, including orienteering (finding your way with a highly detailed topographical map), cross country trekking, mountain biking, paddling, climbing and related rope skills. Races range in length from two hours to ten days or more and have been growing steadily since their inception 30 or 40 years ago.
The origins of Adventure Racing are murky, but two events are usually credited with being the father of the sport. The United Kingdom based Karrimor International Mountain Marathon — a double marathon length race where competitors carried all of their equipment, food and water and relied on their orienteering skills to reach the finish line — was first held in 1969 and many say it is the original Adventure Race. Others say New Zealand’s 1980 Alpine Ironman — a three day race featuring trail running, kayaking and skiing — was the first.
Either way, the sport attracts new entrants year after year. Entrants like cupcake mavens Kristen Beckmeyer and Meredith Sullivan, co owners of Coastal Cupcakes in Wilmington, and Jason Wheeler, a wealth consultant and CPA with Pathfinder Wealth Consulting.
“Meredith and I were athletes at UNCW,” says Beckmeyer. “We’ve always been active and competitive, but after ten years of being away from sports, we were looking for an athletic outlet. Triathlons weren’t appealing but we kept hearing that Adventure Racing was awesome.”
“We did our first race in October 2009,” says Sullivan. “It was called an ecothon and we had to kayak, run on the beach and finish a biking leg. It was great. Since then we keep looking for the next one to do.”
“We’re hooked, addicted,” admits Beckmeyer. “After that first race, we entered one a month for eight consecutive months. We’ve traveled from Florida to the Outer Banks for Adventure Races.” Beckmeyer, Sullivan and Wheeler typically compete in eight to 12 hour long races that they call mentally and physically challenging. The races demand skills in disciplines ranging from trail running to kayaking to mountain biking to route finding and navigation, and require more teamwork than other kinds of races, something that appeals to all three of them. Unlike triathlons, which don’t have a time limit, Adventure Races have mandatory cutoff times, increasing the pressure on competitors.
The trio found their friends growing more interested as they disappeared for one Adventure Race after another.
“Several of our friends wanted to try it, but they were intimidated by the eight- to 12-hour length,” says Beckmeyer. “We looked around for a race around the four-hour mark and couldn’t find one. That’s when we decided to start one.”
The Sandman Adventure Race, the first of its kind in southeastern North Carolina, will be held on April 2, rain or shine (unless thunderstorms bring the threat of lightning) at the new Brunswick Nature Park on River Road/N.C. Highway 133 near Town Creek.
“Brunswick Nature Park is the perfect place for an Adventure Race,” says Beckmeyer. “It’s a new park, so our competitors probably won’t know the lay of the land. Plus there is a great kayak launch onto Town Creek there, plenty of roads, trails and woods for biking and trekking and, of course, orienteering.”
The Sandman Adventure Race follows a classic Adventure Race formula — kayaking (2 to 3 miles), mountain biking (9 to 12 miles) and trekking (2.5 to 3 miles) — and Sullivan believes the four-hour time limit is enough to whet the appetite of interested Adventure Racers without being overwhelming.
Currently 17 teams are signed up for the race, but organizers are expecting double that by the time registration closes on March 20. They also hope to have more local teams represented in The Sandman, So far, most of their teams are from the Raleigh, Fayetteville and Jacksonville areas.
“We need some adventurous souls in the Cape Fear region to come out and try a new sport,” Beckmeyer says.
“And this is the perfect event to get your feet wet,” Sullivan says. “The race distances are balanced and the disciplines are familiar; the only challenging part for beginners will be the orienteering portion. Most people have only looked at road maps, so topographical maps are like a foreign language.”
Sullivan, Beckmeyer and Wheeler have been planning and organizing The Sandman since November 2010 and are putting the finishing touches on their routes, checkpoints and transition points. They say there is still plenty of time to brush up on your orienteering skills before registration closes, but not to worry if you’re a little rusty. “It’ll be tough, but not too tough,” Beckmeyer assures.
Interested registrants should know that The Sandman Adventure Race accepts only coed, two- to three-person teams and that each team is required to carry the equipment specified on the official gear list. The gear list as well as registration information and race rules can be found at www.thesandmanar.com. Registration closes on March 20, to allow time to order race maps.
On the morning of April 2, race check in is from 9 to 10:15 am, with a pre-race brief at 10:30 am and an official start time of 11 am. The course and exact distances will be revealed to racers just prior to race time.
Beckmeyer says anyone who is interested should come out and cheer on the teams at the finish line and enjoy the post-race celebration.
“We’re lining up a band and some food,” she says. “The one thing I can guarantee you, besides some great memories, is that there will be cupcakes waiting for you at the finish line.”
What: Sandman Adventure Race
When: Saturday, April 2
Where: Brunswick Nature Park
Info: www.thesandmanar.com
