rootstock racing extends streak

It was a banner weekend of racing at the tenth running of the Shenandoah Epic. The third USARA regional championship of the 2022 season drew more than three hundred racers to the beautiful and brutal Virginia Appalachians for a characteristically physical Adventure Enablers course. Over 24 hours, teams traveled upwards of 100 miles on foot, bike, and paddle, with nearly 14,000 feet of elevation gain.

Pre-race activity at Andy Guest State Park. Photo credit Bill Donohue.

The pointy end of the field set a blistering pace early. Richard Sparks and Jesse Spangler, racing as Sparks Spangler Banner, covered the first section in just over two hours, 40 percent faster than projected estimates. They led a conga line of racers along the Massanutten Ridge to the paddle put-in on the south fork of the Shenandoah River.

By mid-day, temperatures had climbed into the 80s and the heat began to take its toll on racers. “The climb up from TA2 was particularly grueling,” said Dave Lamb of Untamed New England, among the most experienced racers on the course. “There were no leaves on the trees, and the sun was just beating down.”

Brian Gatens of Team dARk Zone Podcast echoed Lamb. “Teams did what they could to get through – drinking more, taking in more salt, and slowing their pace. You could see it on every face in TA3. Teams had earned that TA.”
 
From TA3, teams entered the crux of the race, a technical foot section requiring the first real off-trail travel of the event. The Adventure Enablers’ description of the leg was foreboding: “The terrain is… exceptionally harsh. Trails are steep and rocky and off-trail areas are starting to get thick with underbrush, brambles, and rhododendron as the spring weather starts to move in.”
 
Team No Complaints/Odyssey AR made a bold decision in the waning hours of daylight to drop CP 4-8, the northeasternmost point on Leg 4. “Our team suffered some physical adversity early in the race that led us to alter our strategy,” said team member Sara Dallman. “It may have appeared questionable at the time, but it turned out to be very helpful in the end. Our great teamwork really helped move us forward in a positive way.”

By midnight, only five teams remained on the full course: the all-male Sparks Spangler Banner, and mixed teams Rootstock Racing, Untamed New England, Team VERT, and Strong Machine.
 
On the course, racers may have lost track of their position in the field, but dotwatchers at home were treated to robust media coverage from Adventure Enablers. In addition to live tracking from Enabled Tracking, the organization brought in Glen Gibson and Mike Chaney for round-the-clock color commentary.
 

“As is usually the case at the Epic, due to the terrain the navigation isn’t ultra-hard,” said Gibson, “but it can be hard for those watching at home to understand just how brutal the elevation is, how tough it is to push your bike up and down the mountain four times.” Gibson and Chaney tried to convey that in their posts, offering the insightful eye of veteran racers well acquainted with the region.

Teams didn’t need any help appreciating the challenge. Barbara Niess May of the all-women Team Wildlings joked, “We had a ‘rocking’ good time… It had its ups and downs.”
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​In the end, Rootstock Racing took top honors in the mixed division, extending their winning streak to four years and earning a free entry to the 2022 National Championship. Untamed New England and No Complaints/Odyssey AR rounded out the podium, each having dropped one checkpoint. The overall winners of the event were Sparks Spangler Banner. This is Jesse Spangler’s second overall title in as many years.

The Epic trophy, with plaques for each year's winner.