Team Ragged Glory – Adventure Racing, Multi Sport, Friends

GlobalX Racing held the inaugural Circle City Sprint Adventure Race on August 16, 2003. Racers awoke to sunshine, heat and humidity. The temperature would climb into the 90s with 90+% humidity. The word was we would be racing four to six hours and would be covering about 30 miles. We arrived at the University Park Transition Area in downtown Indy, set up our gear and headed to the stunningly beautiful World War Memorial auditorium for the pre-race meeting.

Race Directors Joe Lawson, Jerry Lyons and Greg Arnold laid out the course for us. They told us we would do:
-A half mile run to the Circle then to the City County Building
– Astair climb up the 25 floors and back down
-A run to Conseco to shoot lay ups until all the team members had made one.
-A run back to the TA where we’d hop on our bikes
-A ride to Fountain Square, then up the Monon Trail to Broad Ripple then Butler University
-A short orienteering segment on foot at the Butler Campus
-Another short ride on the bikes down the canal towpath to Riverside Park and Lake Indy for some paddling
-Another cycling leg to the Stutz Building (home of GlobalX) for some ropes
-The final cycling leg back to the TA
-A triad (one skate, two on scooter, and one on foot) from the TA to the Canal Walk, around the entire canal walk and back to the TA
-The final segment on foot to the Pogues Run tunnel, the Murat Theatre, the Scottish Rite Cathedral and the finish line on the Circle.
Whoa! There was lots of ground to cover in four short hours. We packed and planned.
We had the choice of racing as a threesome or foursome, coed or same sex. Team Ragged Glory had decided shortly after Planet Adventure in May that we would race as the same foursome: Bob, Steve, Julie, and me (Doug). The four-person coed was competitive; our friends Urban Warriors, Quest Environmental, Galyans/Accutemp and On the Move were all in the field and ready to race.
Mayor Bart Peterson opened the race, we sang the National Anthem, and the gun sounded. We ran to the circle and City County Building, up the stairs trying to conserve energy, back down and over to Conseco for the lay ups. Every time we missed more people were in line to take shots; it was frenetic. We finally got the signal to go and headed back to the TA for the bike leg.
Our transition time was excellent at the first TA. We jumped on the bikes and headed out. Bob set the pace and we headed to Fountain Square to identify what the boy on the statue was holding (an axe), then headed to the Monon Trail Greenway and up to Broad Ripple. Julie grabbed Bob’s bike tow and we made great time. In Broad Ripple, we got the next checkpoint clue (the street address of the fire station) and headed down the canal towpath to Butler.
Off the bikes at Butler, Steve’s body temperature was heating up fast. As we were collecting control punches, Steve was getting weaker. We stopped at the Hilton U Brown Theater and Steve used the time to cool his head in a sink and take in a quick bit of shade. Julie helped him continue running and we were finished and hopped back on the bikes. The team work was stellar.
Down the canal towpath we rode to Riverside Park and Lake Indy. We picked up the two inflatable kayaks that we would paddle up to the 30th Street Bridge and back for two laps. Steve immediately jumped in White River and cooled himself off; it seemed to bring him back from the dead. We paddled the two laps, seeing our friends all the while, finished and headed back out on the bikes to the Stutz Building.
At the Stutz Building were four ropes in the loading dock; our job was to climb the ropes and touch the third knot up, which was located about 12 feet off the ground. I think we were all a little worried that we wouldn’t be able to do it until we heard someone say that the ropes were just bundles of smaller ropes and that we could stick our feet between the ropes on top of the bottom knot to get started. We all finished quickly and hopped back on the bikes to finish the bike leg back to the Transition Area.
Once again we transitioned quickly. Steve and I grabbed a scooter, Bob skated and Julie ran. The sun was high and hot it was hard for Julie to keep up with the faster scooters and skates. Steve switched with Julie for a short time, and then Bob suggested Julie and I get on one scooter and he would push us while he was skating. Julie and I had experimented the day before with two on one scooter, and it was difficult. We gave it a try, however, and Bob had us going very fast in no time. Julie and I were able to get some rest while Steve scootered and Bob pushed us. We finished the segment and made our final fast transition to the last leg, a quick tour of downtown Indy on foot.
e walked and ran to the Pogues Run Tunnel, an underground conduit built in 1915 to keep Pogues Run, a creek, from stinking up downtown Indianapolis as it ran through the city and emptied into White River. The control was about 300 meters in the pitch black tunnel, which was also used in the Wild Onion Adventure Race the year before. The smell was strong but the shade was wonderful as we went in with our headlamps, got the punch, headed out and on to the Murat Theatre. Julie and Bob were feeling strong and they towed Steve and I using surgical tubing and carabineers attached to their packs. We got the Murat clue (who was the caterer whose business was located in the Murat Building) and headed to the final stop, the Scottish Rite Cathedral. We picked up the clue, and with the finish in sight, ran to the Circle and completed the race. As we neared the finish, we grabbed each others hands, and as we ran up the Soldiers and Sailors Monument stairs to the finish line, the racers who were already done clapped and cheered us on.
We ended up finishing seventh overall and fourth in our division. We joked that our middle-of-the-pack status might be in jeopardy. Peoples Burn Foundation and Urban Warriors dominated the race; XXX, Quest Environmental, True North, and Galyans/Accutemp had great races as well.
The post-race party at Rock Bottom was fun; and we were sorry to see Julie head back home. We look forward to next year’s Circle City Sprint Adventure Race and a new 24 hour urban race in downtown Indy from GlobalX. Thanks, guys, for a super fun course and the free sauna treatment all day.