BOK's Old Skool AR took place this past weekend. This was my third year. Dave does a fantastic job with it. If you haven't yet checked it out, you're missing a great event! I've posted about my efforts in 2025 at Lake Crabtree and Umstead and 2024 at Falls Lake (back when it was still unnamed). The 2026 race returned to Falls Lake and I wanted to do what hadn't yet been done: clear the course.
Since my injury had improved, I decided to try doing this again all on foot, a cool option for this AR. But I'm thankful that a team had left their rental tandem kayak available for other racer(s) to utilize. I did so on my last loop and that made all the difference. There's no way I would've otherwise cleared this year's course. Clearing Old Skool solely on foot remains an unconquered challenge.
The weather started out overcast with a little drizzle coming down. The sky slowly grew dark and ominous. Then shortly after noon, a band from tropical storm Isaias dumped heavy rain on the area for about an hour. This didn't affect me too much other than slowing down my second transition when I took the opportunity to switch out socks and shoes as the storm had since dissipated.
Overall, I'm pleased with quicker transitions, which is something I wanted to improve. I also think my fueling and hydration strategy (a couple bars and sandwich, protein/carb drink mix and later an unflavored carb/electrolyte mix combined with coffee) worked really well for me. I used homemade salt tablets for the first three loops, but suffered some cramps on the fourth loop. Go figure.
My stats: 34.6 miles, 36/36 controls, 3,598 ft climb, 7:56:52, 1st place. I'm a bit dissatisfied with my navigation. I had several blunders on my first loop, which cost me time. I also floundered on some of the hidden/bonus controls. Based on my experience with last year's line-o, I took extra care and even revisited the line as Dave had concealed how many controls were on it. Devious!
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