This holds true for four Peace Corps Volunteers living in Romania. Some people would consider volunteering in the Peace Corps, leaving the comfort of your culture, family, and friends and moving for a two-year commitment across the Atlantic Ocean to a new culture and country an adventure. But for team ‘Gone with the Curent’ the appeal of participating in an eco-adventure while serving as Peace Corps Volunteers was an opportunity they could not be passed up. They jumped at the chance to explore a part of the Carpathian Mountains while testing themselves physically and mentally by participating in the 2006 Carpathian Adventure. And in doing so, put their mark in history by becoming the first American team to ever finish the race.
William Blake once said, “Great things are done when men and mountains meet; this is not done by jostling in the street.”
Team member Allan Henderson recalls “When I first heard about the Carpathian Adventure, I knew I would participate.” The Carpathian Adventure sponsored by Outward Bound (OB) and held annually since 2002, is an eco-challenge style race that is comprised of hiking, biking, rafting, rappelling, and in some year’s canyoning or caving. There are two levels for the race, beginners and advanced. The beginners’ course is 150 km (94 miles) while the advanced course is 200 km (125 miles). The race is a timed event, giving you 72 hours to complete all of the different legs of the course. It is meant to test your physical and mental endurance, your team building & negotiating, and your orienteering skills. According to the rules set forth by OB, teams should be comprised of 4 people; of whom at least one must be of the opposite sex.
Team ‘Gone with the Curent’ consists of Jamie Givens, Chris Puckart, Allan Henderson, and Julie McGranahan. They all hail from different parts of the United States and just, but they share several other things in common; they have an appreciation and respect for the outdoors and wilderness, they have participated in other athletic events and they are not afraid to challenge themselves both physically and mentally. When the team competed in the Carpathian Adventure, the teammates had only known each other for a little over one year. You would not have been able to tell during the race. Teammate Chris Puckart puts it this way “our goal from the very start was just to finish the race and we did; and in a respectable manner finishing 5th place out of 11 teams. A large part of our success came from good training and great team dynamics. Throughout the entire race we really worked together as a team, helping one another navigate the course, negotiate steep descents down mountains, carry bikes up mountains and most importantly encouraging each other when we felt physically and mentally that we couldn’t go any further.” To their credit as a team in the Beginners category; only eight teams out of the eleven who started even finished the race.
The other teammates agree that they owe much of their success to this strategy. Being separated in Romania by large distances and having different schedules; they never officially met as a team to practice. They discussed strategies via e-mail and when time permitted, team members would get together for weekend excursions. In addition they engaged other volunteers to coordinate efforts at the base camp. This support team prepared warm meals when the team returned to base camp, arranged dry clothes and the necessary equipment for the next stage of the race and gave them that extra lift of support and encouragement. They all agree that they could not have done as well as they did with out the help of the support team.
This year’s race was set in the Bucegi Mountains with the base camp located in Pioana Tapului. The hiking leg of the race, which also included cannoning and rappelling, took the teams into the Bucegi Mountains through densely forested sections and along rocky trails to Mt. Omul; the highest peak in this part of the mountain range. The biking leg took the teams south through Sinaia mostly on dirt and rocky Forest Service roads; with a climb up to Saua Dichiului and then descending to Lake Bolboci for the rafting part leg. After the rafting it was back into the Bucegi Mounatins for one more checkpoint before making the difficult climb to checkpoint 13 at Piatra Arsa. All the teammates agree that this was the most challenging point in the race. Jamie Givens recalls “I remember saying several times during that portion of the bike leg, between Checkpoint 12 and Checkpoint 13, - ‘Can I see the map?’ and ‘Who are they kidding? Nobody can bike up these steep hills.’ It was tough because we were all exhausted, but we new we were so close to the finish of the race.” “Those 5km we had to carry our bikes straight up hill was tough, but when we passed the group during that leg, the adrenalin just surged through me. I knew we were going to finish the Challenge and I knew we would finish in a good place,” Henderson agrees.
During the race there were plenty of physical and mental obstacles the team had to endure. When asked to reflect individually on the race they had this to say:
Teammate Julie McGranahan reflects “The Carpathian Adventure was without a doubt the toughest race I have ever done but also the most beautiful! It allowed me the opportunity to get to know Romania in a much more intimate way. Walking to the base camp for the first time and seeing the huge and towering Bucegi Mountains cast a shadow over everything, I couldn’t help but feel awe struck at the sheer size and might of the mountain that we were about to tackle. It was us against the mountain and all of the other competitors seemed to fade into the background. We passed so many different types of landscapes: everything from granite cliff faces to rolling pastures, lush forests, raging rivers, and even ice caps. We heard the tinkling bells of sheep, on top of what felt like the world; saw ghostly shepards in the distance; walked passed grazing wild horses; and stared cows in the face. It proved to be the challenge we signed up for and it tested us in more ways than one. There is no way I, the race organizers, or my teammates could have prepared for the types of physical obstacles we would face but with sheer grit from within and with encouragement from teammates the finish line became obtainable. I am honored to have been a part of this unique Adventure Race and even prouder to be the first American team to finish!”
Teammate Jamie Givens adds “I remember we had been going hard for 17 hours, and I squatted on the ground, my super-saturated Gore-Tex clinging to my shivering body. I questioned my determination for the first time. Up until that point I had felt fine, energetic and excited. I had no doubt we would finish, and even possibly place well in our first adventure race. Granted, we were the last team to the first checkpoint, but our gradual creep-up in the ranks throughout the day had motivated and restored my will. But, as I sat in the pouring rain, waiting for our turn at the rappel, I had some doubts. Could we go on? We were all soaked, tired, and irritable. As a team we cursed the bottle-neck. Then, we were called to go. The rappel in the bag, we searched for a place to dry out and wait out the rain. From that point on the race was a blur, all doubts left behind, the trail-markers faded in and out of the mist; we waded through a sea of scrub-pine; and finally the long-awaited sun drying us on the last day.”
What is the most memorable part of the race for them? “The bear, it has to be the bear,” says Henderson. After completing the rappelling leg of the race around 10pm the first night with only the aid of their headlamps, the team stopped to dry out and regroup. It had started raining 4 hours earlier and a fog layer had descended onto the mountains. That is when it happened, as they were cooking some food to refuel, they heard a noise in the distance. A split second later a bear went running across their paths, jumped a small fence and was gone. “The bear wasn’t that big,” adds McGranahan. “No, but thank goodness we didn’t get to see him up close,” jokes Henderson.
As grueling as the race was and rainy as the weather turned out to be, we all look back on the 2006 Carpathian Adventure Race with fond memories and our accomplishment. It was a great experience and one in which they all learned something about teamwork, sportsmanship and themselves. It is opportunities like these that have helped to make the over-all Peace Corp experience in Romania a truly unique and worthwhile endeavor. For them adventure racing definitely had a steep learning curve. “No wonder they were all wearing Lycra,” laughs Givens. Perhaps, once they have dried out, team ‘Gone with the Curent’ will be back next year, a little smarter... and in Lycra.
|
