Extreme Weekend

Along with Stanley Walker Day and the opening of the Big Band Show, this weekend brings a new Adventure Race to the LBL Area.

Bonk Hard Racing is hosting the new LBL Challenge adventure race and they have 200 adventure racers from 19 states that have signed up to participate. This race offers 12 or 24-Hours of pure backwoods adventure racing in one of the best venues in the Midwest, the Land Between the Lakes.

Racers compete in teams and the 24-Hour course will consist of 40-60 miles of mountain biking on gravel roads, jeep roads and mostly single track trails; 15-30 miles of running, trekking and bushwhacking and 15-25 miles of paddling. The 12-Hour race course consists of 20-35 miles of mountain biking, 10-15 miles of foot travel and 5-10 miles of paddling. Both courses are completely navigation based; this means the teams must use a map (they get the map at registration tonight) and compass in order to finish the course.

I’ve never experienced an adventure race – never heard of one until I spoke with the organizers. These are extreme athletics and I look forward to visiting LBL over the weekend in hopes of seeing the racers in action. Or at least following along by visiting the Bonk Hard website. The race organizers plan to post to their blog and upload photos during the race.