The 2010 season is now officially over for 麻豆社国产endurance athlete Jen Segger but her final race in Spain left a somewhat bitter taste in her mouth.
Segger joined up with South African team Cyanosis for the 2010 Adventure Race World Championships, placing 13th out of 51 teams but a confusing race structure left the team disappointed with their final placing.
"The race had promised a more traditional format this year and that appealed to me," Segger said. "At the race briefing, we learned that there would be lots of variety to this race but as the race went on, this turned out to be more complex as it meant teams could opt to start skipping legs hence, you never knew if the team you were side by side with was ranked near you or had already short coursed themselves."
According to Segger, the final times and standings leave her with a lot of questions.
"There ended up being so much confusion on the race course including our final ranking," she said.
"We are officially ranked 13th, better then the 15th that we got on the final day of the race. Lots of time credits were handed out including several to us but you wonder if those ever really got accounted for?"
Despite the difficulties she encountered, Segger did enjoy her time competing.
"There were lots of laughs on the race course with the team, incredible views from high in the mountains and the enjoyment of seeing some old friends on the race course," she said.
"So with that, I have some great memories of my time in Spain and overcoming some of the mental barriers that I personally faced during this race."
The six-day race started on Oct. 3, with a four-kilometre "urban orienteering" stage. Competitors were given one hour and had to find a number of checkpoints using a compass and map.
Cyanosis fared well in the first stage, finding all their checkpoints in 40 minutes and then headed straight to a 75-kilometre mountain bike ride. The ride featured an ascent of 1995 metres and was difficult Segger said.
"It was 14 hours of pure downpour biking in the rain," she said of the first night.
"Mentally, I was just thinking oh great, we got five more days of racing in this weather? Not gonna be fun."
From there, the race included stages of inline skating, kayaking, climbing and even more biking spread out over the remaining five days. Day two saw Segger, clearly tired, wipe out on her bike.
"I fell asleep on my bike at around 3 p.m.," she said. "And I awoke just as my bike crashed into a pile of thorn bushes, messing up my hand and sending me hard onto the pavement."
According to Segger, the inline skating portion of the race was also a challenge.
"How the hell can anyone actually blade up this?" she asked herself of the 11 kilometre vertical inline climb. "I should have been training with the Nordic athletes in 麻豆社国产on this one!"
Segger said it was an extremely hilly race, and joked that she's now covered every hill in Spain.
With all of the confusion of the race structure, Segger and Cyanosis ended up in 13th place. They had a goal of finishing top 10 and thought they had done so but peculiar rules and confusing timing may have cost them their goal.
It was the last race of the season for Segger, who now has some time to relax and plan her goals for next year.
"I can't thank everyone enough, friends, family, my clients and of course, my sponsors, who have stood beside me through a very unusual, busy and tough year! Thank you for your non-stop support!"
For more information on Segger, visit www.challengebychoice.ca.
