Adventure Racing & Orienteering
POCAR - January 17-19, 2004
POCAR - January 17-19, 2004
POCAR, Purdue Outing Club Adventure Race, is an endurance orienteering adventure race that takes place during Martin Luther King Jr.
weekend every year (since 2001). This year the course was set in Morgan Monroe State Forest in southern Indiana and was
about 32 miles "as the crow flies." Participants had 48 hours to complete the course. The field consisted of 33 teams of at least 4 members
(co-ed or not) and they competed in two separate categories, "Open" and "Purdue." Purdue teams consisted entirely of Purdue
students, staff, alumni, etc... while the open teams consisted of just about anyone who is crazy enough to try this event! The
following pictures tell the story of my team's experience, Team Bushwomen!! (Teammates: Ari McKeown, Nell Gamble, and Natalie Anderson)
Since we were named Team Bushwomen we felt compelled to play around in the bushes to illustrate the good-natured innocence of our team name!
To further stress our unique all-girl team, we wore skirts for the first half of the race! Never underestimate the power of a skirt ...
Midway through the race we adopted 3 dogs. Before we could finally contact their owners, the dogs travelled
with us for over 11 miles! One of the dogs was even a puppy -- what troopers! Not long after the dogs joined us we
came across a playground so we took advantage of this opportunity to enjoy a unique, yet playful, rest.
Once we had completed about 2/3 of the course we were informed that we were the last team out on the course so we
did the race crew a favor and dismantled the check points as we came across them. Knowing we were the last ones out
on the course actually made us feel very good about ourselves because POCAR is a race of attrition. The fact that we
were still out there likely meant most of the other teams already dropped out and we would place well.
And place well we did! We finished 4th overall and 2nd for our division! It took us 45 hours to complete the course (we took a 7 hour break to warm up and eat) and that 32 miles "as the
crow flies" transferred into a route of 60 miles for us -- since we can't fly!! (L to R: Nell, Ari, Natalie, Shelley)
The following pictures illustrate the beautiful scenery and demonstrate the array of feelings associated w/ POCAR ...
