Discussion: Gear Questions for Overnight Racing

I have been doing 8-12hr races for the last few years and this year my team is making the jump into the 24hr race length with Wilderness Traverse 2013. Some of the required gear are items that I normally don’t have to carry so I am looking for some advice on a few items:

1) What type of water purification drops or tablets should I be looking at?
2) Does anyone use trekking poles for a 24Hr AR in the Muskoka Region of Ontario?

I am sure everyone will have a different opinion, but I use Aquatabs for water treatment. They don't have a strong taste, and work reasonably fast.

I personally haven't used trekking poles in Ontario, but I have raced with folks that have (and they have been very happy to have them). Can't hurt to have them in the TA bin if you have the room.

1) I put household bleach (one without any extra stuff; just the straight up Bleach) into emptied Visine bottles. Then I put 5 drops per liter of water and wait 15 mins if the water source looks good and I am really thirsty, 30 mins is standard, and 1 hour if it is nasty water (and I might add extra drops). I don't mind the chlorine taste, but others do.

http://water.epa.gov/drink/emerprep/emergencydisin...

2) I generally use trekking poles to aid in climbing long hills and to take weight off of sore feet. They are almost a must in technical steep rocky mountainous terrian. The length of hill, amount of weight, and soreness of feet in a 24 our race in Ontario doesn't amount to using trekking poles for me, but it could for some for sure. Keep in mind that trekking poles can be a real pain when using a map/compass, trying to eat/drink, and bushwhacking (but there shouldn't be any of that in WT).

:D Nope, no bushwhacking at all - unless Bob and I decide to use the course that we've already designed, tested, enjoyed and started mapping.

1) I like the Katadyn Micropur MP1 tablets. Just pop in one pill per litre and wait 30 minutes (unless water is really cold or cloudy - the package has a table of estimated times). These pills take care of bacteria, viruses, giardia and cryptosporidium, which covers pretty much everything. Canadian Tire carries them in their camping department.

2) Although I love poles in mountain races, I've never used them in Ontario with our relatively flat terrain and occasional thick forest. We usually have a pair in the TA bin in case someone hurts their ankle or knee. One time we were carrying them on a long trek and passed them to another team with an injury.

Trekking poles will come in handy on this course with all the rattle snakes.

I don't know where they're hiding this year. We haven't seen any. There have been a couple of Eastern hognose snake sightings (non-venomous and rarely bites but looks aggressive).

Bob did, however, see a large bear on one of the days when he was out exploring on his own. The trekking poles might be good for that.

Bash, is that in the event the bear feels like a kabob for dinner?

That or he may need to clean between his teeth after eating. ;)

I don't often see them much until mid July... By mid August... if it's hot... they will be plentiful.
They already are plentiful, just not out much until we get long stretches of heat.
We've had a few really good years for them (climate wise) in a row so the population is pretty healthy.

re: Trekking poles. I have only used them once during a 24 hour race ( Was WT 3 years ago). This was before I had learned how to take care of my feet. Arriving at the last T/A with a 2-3 hour and with raw feet, I was offered a trekking pole by a teammate. Man, that was the only thing that let me finish that race on those open sore stumps. That being said, if you take care of your feet, poles won't be needed.

Water purification is overrated. How cool is it to tell all the people at work have giardia (sp??) from your 24+ hour race? They can then tell you how they jumped over fire at their obstacle race. :p jk . I signed up for my first obstacle race last week.

Aquatabs.
I would not take trekking poles.
However, I know people you have. So, if they are something you are used to using then bring them. But if you have never needed them & don't have them, don't bother.
Good luck!

Aquatabs are good and what we brought. I did WT last year and honestly, I dont think you will need them. Although I did run out of water it wasnt for a very long time during a trekking section. Maybe had 4 more miles to next TA. And it actually worked out to our advantage because there was a small water crossing and I blew the bladder up and floated across. :)

Dont bother with trekking poles! Just a waste of energy, besides you should be running fast enough from the bugs that you wont need them.

It's a bit heavier, but we really liked the steripen. You just use it for 90 seconds in a bottle and you can immediately drink the water. Granted, I used it mostly in expeditions, but it became our preferred method of purification for how soon you could drink and that it added no flavor.

We used a Steripen for one race, and it was great using the water right away. However, there are a couple of caveats:
1) It's designed to work in a bottle up to a particular size, not a larger hydration bladder.
2) If the water is cloudy or contains particles, the UV won't be able to reach and purify all the nasties.

Yeah, one water bottle at a time is the downside. We took all our water from mountain streams in those races, so it was nice and clear (and cold and delicious)

That's for the info everyone, I will give the Aquatabs a try.

What are the pros and cons on a gear box vs bag? I have just used hockey bags but I am seeing more and more boxes in TAs and I was wondering if there is a purpose.

Boxes help prevent the race staff from breaking your jar of pickles.. in my experience ;-)

little late to the party, but +1 on the household bleach method. i've also used PotableAqua tabs with success, although you should take them out of the glass bottle and put into tiny ziplock for racing. adding nuun is great too but remember to do that AFTER the waiting period.

silkychrome...I am curious the reasoning behind adding the Nuun after. Does adding them at the same time create some issues?

i don't have any scientific proof. just word-of-mouth. but the logic is any nasties in the water could glom onto the nuun particles and hide from the purification effects of whatever method is being used. that, and the nuun taste could be altered by the purification. so it might be just an urban legend, but i always add my nuun after the waiting period.

side note, with PotableAqua, i haven't noticed a weird taste that required masking.

FYI, I found this look at what Tico packs for expedition races quite insightful. Different needs for 5 day vs 1 day race, but still helpful fundamental concepts.

I believe that there is a true scientific reason to wait - the vitamin C in the Nuun will act the same as the neutralizing tablets by binding with the iodine, which will make it not effective anymore.

Yup. Wilderness trippers sometimes add vitamin C since it reacts with iodine and gets rid of the taste - but this should only be done after the iodine has done its job.

Not all of the water purification solutions mentioned in this thread work the same way or are equally effective against bacteria, viruses, cryptosporidium and giardia. You can read more in the Chemical Disinfection section of this Wikipedia article.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portable_water_purifi...

didn't know about thw vit C concept....learned something here; although I've never had trouble in the past.