Overall it was fine, part. during the race. Only negative - I did feel the Friday briefing could have been conducted in a more timely and efficient manner.

First of all, let me reiterate that the race was a blast, and that everyone involved, from the organizers to the rappel team to the volunteers did a great job! Thanks for making my first race a fantastic experience.

The only comment/suggestion I'd add to those made by others would deal with the short vs. long course decision. Not knowing the terrain and not having prior race experience, I defaulted to the short course. However, I would have preferred to have to make cutoff times during the day/night in order to continue on the long course, instead of having to make the decision up front. If you don't make the times, you default to the shorter distance.

Other than that, thanks for a great weekend!

Jeff Macklin, Team Army Buddies

this race rocked. i loved all of the long trekking. i think rich has done a great job directing these races and i wish there were more of them throughout the year.

i want to make a small disclaimer before i continue: even though the teams i speak of in these comments have lost some of the respect i had for them (in one case most of it, though i'm sure they couldn't give a flying #$%@), i still consider them to be incredibly fast , much faster than our team in fact, and most likely in much better shape than i can hope to be in in the near future. nothing i say here is meant to indicate that i think otherwise.

Regarding the cp13 business, it seems that all of the teams that tried and failed to find it were basing their nav off of an unreliable unmarked trail (indicated in dashed red lines on the nynjtc maps or dashed lines on the usgs, which i never completely trust) or 'features' on the usgs (don't even try telling me those are always correct). This one was really basic folks, use a landmark and shoot a bearing. The only reliable landmarks within 1 square km were either the tip of tocks island, the top of a ravine or the corner of a substantial power line as it turned and headed almost due east. The power line was perfect and it's what we used. First you have to go down the trail to just under 400' and you'll hit the powerline turn. Shoot 158 from that corner and you will find cp13 at about 730' according to Sam's Suunto. Can't totally trust the altimeter so i'd say we found it pretty much right where the utm said it would be, +/- on the elevation, which i'd say is reasonable, especially since the area was not super dense, and the marker wasn't totally buried or hiding which means it was easily visible from 20 or 30 meters.

As far as looking for manned or unmanned points, i sure the hell don't recall reading in the race rules that the manned or unmanned status of every single point will be made known to the racers prior to the race. that's one of the huge and fun aspects of adventure racing. it's in the name of the sport for crying out loud. there are no totally sure things, so don't assume anything. the people i see complaining about not knowing about points and trails and whatnot might want to consider either taking up another sport or getting their act together in this one. it's mainly due to such complaints that nyara has gone through almost 3 race directors in less than 3 years. An ar is not meant to be tri, an o-meet (where those points better be EXACTLY where you say they are, or a nice pat little hand holding tea party with everyone happily knowing where to go and 'don't worry you won't really have to use your brain much at all other than to connect the dots on your maps.' However, i know that the bbar sprint series is really trying to prove me wrong on that last point as they are still calling their races ar.

do i sound a bit pissed about this?? jeez, i wonder why. can't really talk about the full deal right here and now. but here's part of the reason: some really sore loser on one of the top teams had the gall to tell me that maybe we just got lucky when we found 'lucky' 13. i'm glad that guy has a good paying job so probly has several nice watches because i would never even consider giving him the time of day after that comment. yes i'm a bit sensitive to such rude and disrespectful offal coming out of someone's mouth while going across a river in a little rubber raft.

there was no luck involved in finding that point. the luck came from racing against several top teams that couldn't think outside of the box enough to do some basic nav. i've recently learned that one of those teams only spent half an hour looking for the point then threw in the towel (along with all the rest of the teams that were in their entourage. at least some of those spent several hours looking!! So team rrrrrrrr got lucky that morning in that no one else thought to figure out another way to find the point. we actually passed them going the other way on their way to 14 as we came into the area. it took us less than 3 minutes to figure out how to find the point and less than 30 minutes to execute and start high tailing it to 14 for the 11am cutoff, which we made with 40 minutes to spare as we BUSHWACKED the whole way back to millbrook, saving our knees from alot of unnecessary ups and downs on the AT.

If you really want to hear about luck: the kid standing at cp2 was clearly NOT where he was supposed to be. either his gps was screwed or he was because the point was plotted to be in the middle of a circle and he was well east and north of that circle. But guess what folks, we never ONCE bitched about that point to anyone. we took it with a grain of sand like the other teams that fumbled around for an hour.

damn i'm really disgruntled as now i'm gonna answer another point from the comments page:re: the trail leaving the bottom of the rappel. every team that left that area was told to hug the side of tammany, i think it states that in the passport. If they plotted ref2 correctly it meant teams had over 550 meters, more like 600 m of trekking before they would hit the flagging and the rope assist up over a small rock face and then be on their way to the bonus 11's.

that's all for now. i've vented enough for today. do what you will with the email, but it sure would be nice if at least one of you read it, and i don't mean rich, denise or betsy.

robert wrazen, Team Rrrrrrrr

First, a HUGE thank you to all the voluteers, without whom the NYARA races would not be possible. We racers REALLY appreciate it!

While I did enjoy the race and would do it again, I did have some comments.

1. The mythical "grey dot" trail was not "flagged" as it said it would be in the passport (nor was it actually much of a trail to begin with!). It was - sort of - marked with two small rock cairns (at least at the very bottom), but no flags. This would have been fine, if only someone would have told us that. We actually saw the cairns, but we walked right by them (and continued on for another 1/2 mile or more down I-80) since we were looking for flagging. In the end we wandered up and down I-80 (with several other lost teams) for about an hour before deciding to go all the way back to the canoe take out. At that point, a race official/volunteer told us the trail was not flagged, but was marked with cairns. Who know how many other teams were told about the cairns the FIRST time they left the canoe take out, but not having the right info given to us the first time definitely cost us over an hour.



2. The directions leaving the rappel seemed very unclear, the "real" route was very hard to find (we never did), and there seemed to be several route choices thjat teams were taking. A LARGE number of teams seemed to lose a LOT of time (hours!), and I saw some teams taking some rather significant climbing risks to try to locate or follow what they thought was the right trail. Difficult navigation is one thing, but dangerous rock climbs in the middle of the night are another. I know it is the racers responsibility to judge the risks and stay within their limits, but in terrain like that (especially when other options for getting up/down are extremely limited), I think the trail either needs to be far more clearly marked, or the directions to find it need to be worded better.



3. We looked for a safety volunteer at Smithfield beach, but never saw one.



4. This was my third NYARA race, and in all of the previous races, our team has always finished in about the same time as the "stated" length of the race. Therefore, I assumed that this "24-hour" race would actually take our team roughly 24 hours, and that the leaders would probably take 18 hours or so. This is what I was prepared for and this was how we paced ourselves during the race. In the end, it seems that even the fastest teams on the advanced course took MUCH longer than 18 hours (even longer than 24 hours). Even if we had been able to finish it would have taken us far longer than that - even if we had not been lost both before and after the rappel - and that was with a paddling section that actually took much less time than was expected. I definitely enjoy a challenging race, but this probably should have been called a 28-30 hour races rather than a 24-hour race.

Jim Weber, Team JAM

Wow! What an adventure!

THE GOOD... Great balance of risk, endurance / fitness, mental skills; great location and great course; kudos the the volunteers.

THE BAD... should have only one course for 25 teams - we chose the short course hoping to compete against more teams; CP13; more real food for early finishers.

THE UGLY... check out those pictures ; )

Thanks for a great race!

Jesse Sturino, Team 2 Dogs and a Fearless Flea

Overall Excellent. Thanks to the volunteers. Only comments:

• some team were told at CP9 where the grey dot trail was ("look for cairns") others were told they wouldn't see any markers. given the significant dangers of the area, i think the entrance should have been flagged or, better, glow sticked.



• some teams were told at CP12 that CP13 was unmanned. others were not. if it was mentioned in the pre-race meeting, ok, shame on me - i missed it! Otherwise, I think it was well placed as an orienteering point - proves what we should have known about trail map accuraccy vs USGS!



• if anyone lost a hat and bike gloves, send me an email heppo@paw.com - found at the top of trail down to CP13.

John Heppolette, Team Hype

NYARA you came up with near perfection on your first 24 hour race. It was just as technically demanding as it was fun. The volunteers were fantastic, and the race staff have outdone themselves. I was so impressed with the Venue (Thanks to Delaware Water Gap Personnel). Even though i couldn't breath from racing so hard at some points, our team still stopped to take in the spectacular views from lookouts & waterfalls along this race.

The optional CP11's were a great addition to the race. It gave us a chance to use navigation skills to potentially beat other teams that could outrun us on trails. The rappel spoke for itself. 600 feet above the river will send a chill down anyones spine. As a result of the quality of the race and the fun i had, i won't be missing any more NYARA races.

Sam Scaturro, Team Rrrrrrrr

The race was awesome. Much more challenging than I had expected. Rich, Matt, and all of the volunteers did a great job.

Chris Rice

I think everything was great except for the race freeze. shouldnt be sitting around for an hour to continue. although i understand things were out of your control.

Anon

Thanks to Rich and all the volunteers that made this race happen. I had a great time and loved the course! The single track was sweet,the trails incredible, the river was awesome,and the rappel a blast. I am pleased to hear that nobody died (drowning in the river or falling off a rock face trying to get off the mountain after the rappel) In light of the fact that it is so difficult to get enough safety people to monitor dangerous sections of the course (I didn't see anyone on the river the entire time) I think NYARA should go back to issueing 2-way radios to each team for emergency purposes.

I will definetly do this race again!

Scott Seals, Team Bad Monkey

This was our team's first 24 hour race and as a result we decided to do the "original" shorter course. The course was beautiful and had plenty of physical and mental challenges along the way. I think this race gave us everything we were looking for and the race organization was very good.

There were a few logistical issues that I will point out but knowing that this was our's and NYARA's first 24 hour race I can't really complain. The first point is that there were some rule and other changes discussed at the prerace briefing. I feel that these probably should have been handed out on a piece of paper so that there was no question as to what was said or not said. Secondly, I feel that there should have been somebody or something on the boat ramp at the second canoe take out to make it clear that that was where we were to get out. We actually went past the boat ramp after asking some people standing there if this was the take out for the NYARA race and they said no. We had to paddle back up stream and ended up loosing a half hour. Thirdly, the passport should have indicated that CP13 was "unmanned" and not necessarily on the trail as the UTM point made it appear on our maps. Without any additional information about CP13 it became a pure guessing game as to where it was actually placed. We lost 3 hours at CP13 and never found it. Lastly, there were some trail and road names used that were not shown on our maps, in particular the grey dot trail. The grey dot trail would have been better described as the rock cairn trail as that is how the trail head was marked.

All in all, I am very pleased with this race and look forward to returning next year. Thanks!

Christopher K. Bartges, Team Two Dogs and a Fearless Flea

Overall it was an exciting day 27 hours. The weather made it that much more pleasureable (if you want to say it that way). The venue made for some great site seeing along the way.

As far as the diciplines go....It was a challenging course.

The trek... was long, rugged and grueling. I couldn't wait to walk on a flat surface again after the Appalacian Trail. But, the view from the top @ 4:30 in the morning was spectacular.

The paddle...I wish the water moved faster. But that is paddleing.

The rappel...prior to that my highest point was between 90 -100 ft. So, to say the least WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Biking... not too bad. 20+ miles was adequate. Could have gone more if needed.

Water crossing...very cool. I popped the blisters I got from the paddle pulling the raft accross.

So, thats the wrap. Thanks for a great race.

Understanding the circumstances of Sunday morning, with the missing team, we appreciate the effort the organization put into making sure that the racers were ok.

PS. Where was checkpoint 13?????????

Gene Muranko, Team Adjustment

The only organization problem was waiting an hour to get on the raft crossing. But I understand there was an issue with a lost team so no problem.

I thought the event was done very well. We did the original course and it was difficult. That must be the rockiest damn section of the whole Appalachian Trail.

The issue with checkpoint 13 was the only problem. We were one of the 4 teams that hit checkpoint 15 during the race freeze. None of the 4 teams had found checkpoint 13.

We could not find checkpoint 2 either, but that was our own fault. We spent 2 hours in the woods and were all around it but somehow missed the wall the checkpoint was behind. Oh well.

The rappel was AWESOME.

Overall the race was great. Kudos to everyone.

Chris Carroll, Team Ramble On

Having this race as my first 24 hr race was a good choice. I could have searched for an easier race that I would have had a better chance finishing the whole course in but I think I would have learned less. I was definitely pushed in this race and learned more about myself, as a racer and the reasons why I race (and yes, it's not just because I'm crazy!), than any other race I've done to date. All the organizers and volunteers were very friendly and helpful and they chose an excellent team, "The Dirty Dozen", to handle the ropes section. I am looking forward to the next NYARA race I can cram into my schedule. And next time, I'll try to make sure the team name isn't so long and complicated so as to avoid confusion for the race volunteers.

Andy Atherton, Team The Space Between Madonna's Teeth