Gear Lists

The following gear lists apply to each course in the 2008 Impossible Panther Adventure Race.

Required Individual Gear:

• Mountain bike
• Bike helmet
• Whistle
• Type III PFD
• Paddle (can be canoe or kayak paddle)

Required Team Gear:

• Compass
• Waterproof map/passport container
• Canoe* (must be capable of carrying two paddlers and two bikes) (canoes not are provided for racers)
• Basic first aid kit (in case of arterial bleeding, comminuted bone fractures, etc) including:

- four 4″x4″ compress bandages
- one 3″ ace wrap bandage
- one roll of 1″ waterproof medical tape
- one cell phone in waterproof container, for emergency use only

Recommended optional gear:

• UTM plotting tool (for plotting CP’s on map)
• Pack for carrying food, drink, etc for duration of course
• Bike repair kit (or cash to coerce other teams who have repair kits into helping you out)
• Camera, for capturing the scenery and how much fun you’re having
• Canoe portage wheels (some portages may be suitable for portage wheels)
• Some type of flotation device to keep your bikes from sinking if your canoe happens to turn over.

Race passports/instructions and course maps will be provided.

*Canoe rentals are available through God’s Country Outfitters. Quantities are limited, so reserve early! Reservations can only be made by sending an email inquiry to Richard@godscountryoutfitters.org . Payment will only be by credit card. Rentals are $40 each, including paddles and PFD’s. Delivery and pick-up included for no additional fee. Once the email inquiry is received, God’s Country will contact the renter to get their credit card info. Please include a phone number in the email.

Disciplines

Most adventure racers like to know before the race how much time they’ll spend doing each of the disciplines in a race. But knowing that takes out some of the “adventure”, doesn’t it? The exact distances or time any given team will spend on each discipline are difficult to estimate. Here are the general targets used in designing the courses. Actual mileage/time for your team will vary.

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4 hour course

Mountain biking and pushing a bike – 1 hour

Paddling and portaging- 1 hour

Orienteering – 1 hour

Special challenges – 30 minutes

Scratching your head and looking around in confusion – 30 minutes

-

8 hour course

Mountain biking and pushing a bike – 2 hours

Paddling and portaging – 3 hours

Orienteering – 2 hours

Special challenges – 30 minutes

Explaining to others why you’re doing this – 30 minutes

-

12 hour course

Mountain biking and pushing a bike – 4 hours

Paddling and portaging – 4 hours

Orienteering – 3 hours

Special challenges – 30 minutes

Asking yourself why you’re doing this – 30 minutes

-

GENERAL EXPECTATIONS

Biking - Riders should be prepared for anything, from flying down paved roads to pushing bikes up rocky trails. Or vice versa.

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Paddling - It shouldn’t take long for most racers to figure out there really isn’t much whitewater in the Uwharries, so I’ll go ahead and acknowledge that. There is enough diversity in bodies of water there to have some flat and some moving water to deal with. This all depends on whether the drought continues or not.

Along with paddling comes the dreaded portage. You can’t paddle if you’re not on the water, so I’ll include getting your canoe to the water in the list of paddling expectations. There are other options and techniques than simply grabbing one end of the canoe and walking.

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Orienteering – Although finding the checkpoints involves a bit of land navigation and possibly map and compass work, I wouldn’t consider that to be real orienteering. The 2008 Impossible Panther AR courses will include a section of real orienteering. Expect to see a very detailed map, orienteering clue symbols, and controls placed away from trails and roads.

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Special challenges – Be prepared for anything. It wouldn’t be much of a special challenge if it didn’t test your nerve and/or mental skills.

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Racing for 4 to 12 hours – Any time you go out to exercise for more than an hour, refueling and hydrating become much more important. Racers should come prepared to carry all of their food and a significant portion of their fluids with them on the course. Race staff may be able to provide water resupplies during the race, but you won’t know when you will reach them, so plan on being as self-sufficient as possible. Teams may be able to plan for mid-race transitions at their vehicles once they get the maps and passports at the start of the race.

Save this date! May 3, 2008

Welcome to the IMPOSSIBLE PANTHER ADVENTURE RACE website!

The 2008 edition of the IPAR will be co-hosted by the RDU chapter of TrailBlazers Adventure Racing Club and Bushwhack Adventures. The 2008 IPAR is part of the 2008 TrailBlazers Sprint Adventure Race Series.

When:
May 3, 2008

Where:
Uwharrie National Forest, near Troy, NC
Morrow Mountain State Park, near Albemarle, NC
Beth Haltiwanger Retreat Center/Pfeiffer University

The start location will be disclosed to registered teams at a later date.

Lengths:
4 hour course
8 hour course
12 hour course

Format:
All three courses will have a modified rogaine format. In a modified rogaine format, some CP’s or sections will be mandatory, but teams will have the opportunity to use their navigation and strategy skills to plan their own route to the rest of the CP’s.

Disciplines:
Mountain biking, trekking, orienteering, paddling, special challenges.

Team Size:
2 or 4 person

Team Categories:
Coed, Male, or Female.

Required Gear:
Mountain bike, canoe, plus TBD.

Race Rules:
TBD

Registration Fees:
Current TrailBlazer members get a $15 discount off the entry fee. Non-members will automatically become members when they register for this race.
4 HR course: $55.00 per person
8 HR course: $75.00 per person
12 HR course: $95.00 per person

Online registration available at Active.com

Registration Deadline:
April 29, 2008

Prizes:
TBD

Bonuses:
Free camping the nights before and after; post-race meal.

Schedule:
TBD

We’re continuing to work on the details to make this another great adventure race, so check back soon for more info.