Discussion: Expedition Canada 2022

...started at 5:00 local time in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia. Course looks fun - especially this first 24 hours with several short, fast stages. 18 teams at the start including my personal favorite (Strong Machine) and many North American favs including Bend (with half the team fresh off Exp Oregon!), Checkpoint Zero, Alpha Dental, and Eco AR (feat. Jen Segger and Kevin Hodder - Eco RD), as well as the impressive Australians Thoughtsport/A1 (Rob + Kathryn Preston) and Brazilians Brou Aventuras. Many other Canadian and US teams rounding out the list. Word from the captains meeting is part of the long packraft may be cancelled due to a late thaw (still snowing this week) and the usually class 2 rapids turning to class 3-4. Teams were advised to bring snowshoes for the high trekking stage. Otherwise, I see a lot of biking on this course (possibly more if part of the packraft is cancelled) and a high likelihood of many teams clearing the full course given the 6 day course cut off.

Dotwatching by the wonderful Adventure Enablers team at: https://live.enabledtracking.com/xpdca2022/?fbclid...

Maps and roadbook available under the "Info" tab.

Will Hitchon (Willderness on Attackpoint) is leading one of the youngest teams at Expedition Canada - Team Dream. Will's father Dave is one of the original Canadian adventure racers and Will attended his first AR as a babe in arms. Since then, he's been to expedition races around the world. He hopes for this to be the first expedition AR he finishes in the role of team captain and primary navigator.

Team Flummoxed has some members who are well known on the Ontario AR scene - Una Hall and John Price.

Team Alpha-Dental is listed as Canadian but as far as I know, Stephanie Green is the only Canadian.

Bruno Rey is from France and has won the Patagonia Expedition Race, amongst other things.

Rain Eensaar is from the Estonian Adventure Racing team.

Pavel Paloncy is a multi-talented Czech endurance athlete - EcoChallenge Fiji, 3-time winner of the Spine Race, etc.

Not surprisingly, they're up near the front behind the Australian Team ThoughtSport (the Prestons, etc.) and Team Bend Racing.

Out here following along. Checked this am and didn’t see a thread here so haven’t been posting. That and service spotty at a lot of TAs
Coming off the rappel section there were no surprises. Bend and the aussies neck and neck. Then the Brazilians followed by Rain and then Eco Ar.
The next chase pack had modified rap section so there’s some times that will need sorting but nothing major. Most teams did the zip and then got stuck sitting in the cold for a while before zipping back. They mostly spent as much time as it would have taken anyways.
The RD and Ref (Adrian) have everything well in hand. Shouldn’t be any issues. Especially since the front pack are all on exact same course. Some of the teams 10 and back or so will have some major time and effort advantages but hey that’s AR :-)
Weathers been a little wet but quite good AR weather if you keep moving.
Sorry for poor naming. I usually call the teams but one of the people I know on the team or where there from so I tried to make it as obvious to everyone as I could :)

FB!!! Thanks for the intel. So excited that you're there to cheer them on in person. Awesome. :) Keep us posted!

Seems the race is moving quickly, I wonder if it's because it's bike heavy? Or will they be pushing heavy bikes later in the course? We will see!

Thanks for the update, FB - appreciate the on-the-ground beta!

So they’re having the teams that had shortened/alternate ropes sections serve some time in the TA before the trek. Their doing a great Job trying to keep it all fair and not have the race split in half in the first 20 hours. The time ‘penalties’ are likely a bit excessive based on the time many teams spent there waiting, but there’s also the effort that those front 5 teams spent scrambling up out of the valley so this is likely the best thing they can do to keep it all fair and all on the same course.
The weather looks to be great for racing the next few days!!
I’d say the race has been moving pretty fast to this point. I expect tonite and into tomorrow will bring some bigger changes.
Front teams all seem strong and focused.
As is the nature of the sport someone will have some bad luck and some team will make a big mistake. Likely some shake-up coming in the top 6 :-)

I have to work in Kelowna today so likely won’t have much to update ‘live’ until late tonight

Thanks for the info FB!

This race is fun to watch. Lots going on with the top ~8. Nav seems tough too with lots of mistakes including teams blowing past the TA on bike!

Looks like Bend has had the cleanest nav on the o section making for a nice gap on the chasers. Lots of race to go.
I have no idea who’s getting sleep or not at this point. If I get any intel when I get back on course I will let you know.

Rain (AD) had a wet clear O section as well

Update from Facebook on changes to leg 8 (packraft):

Due to very fast and high level water sections, and an evacuation alert due to flooding in the town of Coalmont (site of TA8), there has been a route change at Expedition Canada.
New plans for leg 8 (130km ride) and leg 9 (100km packraft) are;
The ride will still go over China ridge and down to Coalmont Road, where the racers will ride the road to Princeton. The new TA8 is going to be at memorial park in Princeton. (This will take the Coalmont area out of the course and shorten both the ride and the paddle.)
There is a dark zone from 9pm till 4:30am when the racers can NOT be on the water. During the night they are allowed to trek instead. Highway 3 and 3A are OUT of bounds except for the town of Princeton and 3 authorized passages indicated on their maps at the end of that packraft leg.
(There is only one spot where Highway 3 meets Old Hedley Rd that is a NO Passage during the night, so technically only one spot they can’t move past at night.)

Possible parallel error for Bend? The trail they’re using as a handrail seems pretty thin in parts. Hopefully they figure it out before summiting.

Trying to figure out what pulled Thoughtsport up that peak as they were going through the saddle en route to CP21...

Bend appears to be sorted and moving through the mashed potatoes towards the TA
For anyone following dream (Wills team) since only two were required for the O alex and Julian went. They are super strong on their feet but not strong on nav but appear to have it sorted out. Good news is Will is getting rest before tackling the next Nav which looks to be giving Rob and Rain fits so..... yikes!!

Zero cell service at TA 7 btw

It looks like Will’s team might be spending some time with fellow Ontarians, Team Flummoxed. They’re all doing really well! So many great racers in this event.

I now think Wills team may have split the O section. I hope so cause that was about 8 hours so maybe they all got some sleep

In a video on Facebook, Karine of Bend Racing said that Alex and Dan took 5 hours on the O course and the snow was "not so fun". So 8 hours may not be all that long, especially if the orienteers sleep before the team continues.

Amazing to see how some teams are struggling immensely with CP 21 while others cruise right along. My teammate Kit noted that some teams may have not realized the maps are back to 1:50 after the 1:25 O course map, which could help explain it along with general fatigue. Team Brou is the latest casualty to 21 and appears to be struggling the most with it. Could be time to sleep until daylight then try again. Meanwhile Bend is crushing the next bike leg. They will be on the packraft for sunrise and if the water is fast (should be) could be off by the 9pm dark zone.

Wow watching Brou is getting painful :( Hope they can get back on track soon!!!

When Bend came through they were in good spirits. Surprised they haven’t stopped to sleep (or doesn’t appear so). A couple of them are very tired. They don’t know how big of a lead they have. They’re def killing it.
4 and 14 will be in camp in minutes if they didn’t arrive when I dropped down to cell range
It’s 3 deg at TA now so I suspect some teams have had harder snow up high through the night. Hope they can make good time before it turns back to mush.

FB - again, thanks for the awesome updates!

Re: Bend - the tracker gives the impression of >1hr of sleep before they got CP 23, which gave them some trouble.

Brou's best hope is to get back to 19 (or the area around it) and refocus from there. They could also latch on with a team who is found, but they are running out of teams behind them!

14 and 4 in TA. 14 apprently stopped in a cabin for some sleep overnight. Aussies sleeping in TA. Well three of them are and one of the women (the taller one) is up and about organizing and getting map info etc. I assume she’s the taller women because the other one is sleeping in her bike box!:). Sorry I only actually know Rob to see him. I suspect two of the sleepers did the O section
14 did some chain repairs in TA and I expect Will ride past my cell phone knoll in a matter of minutes.

Temperature has come up 3degC under the trees already. I suspect any exposed areas are getting soft already. LETS GET MOVING folks!!!! ..... he says from the comfort of his car, snacking on oysters and crackers ;-)

CP0 and Eco AR should both be in TA before noon. CP0 with 2 hrs or so.
I think Mitch is the Aussie up and about.... now that’s good research:)
I would post a pic of 14 on there way out of TA but..... have you ever met me..... can’t get my etch a sketch to talk to my phone
.... sorry need to amuse myself out here:-)

CP0 and Eco AR both in TA7. All appear to be in good spirits.
Little beaten up but no one appears to be in bad shape.

Aussies got maybe as much as 2 hours sleep and left TA hot on the heels of 14.

Thank you, FB!!

Brou was back on track but they’ve just turned off the main route before CP21. Let’s hope it’s a clever shortcut! At least they have daylight.

Such great info FB! How's Strong Machine looking??? If possible to get a message to them - let them know their whole crew is so proud of what they are doing out there!!

@kateness: there is a messaging platform on the tracking site. Not sure when those messages are conveyed to teams, tho.

Yeah I'm not sure they get those regularly... always seems to depend on the race... but I'll be sure to leave some love for them there too :)

Important update - Brou finally got to CP 21! Never have I been so heartbroken and cheered so hard for a team that I know nothing about.

The teams coming in are definitely tired but all seem pretty healthy. The cold night followed by blistering sun is always a killer The going was pretty good they the night with the snow tightening up but it start getting soft fast with the sun so teams up in the snow will be working hard despite all the tracks potentially in front of them. Strong machine just rode out past me a couple of minutes ago out of TA7
I will pass along the well wishes and likely a Rangers score next time I see them.

Thanks for the great info FB! Yeah those Rangers.... heartbreaking loss in the last game... hoping for better tonight :)

How was Team Dream, FB?

Poor Brou…that’s all I have to say about that!

I don’t know the men on Team Brou but Lyne Bessette was an Olympic cyclist for Canada, amongst many other athletic accomplishments. More recently, she served a term as a Member of Canada’s federal parliament. She has done a number of adventure races too.

Long break do me sorry.
From what I know all teams still marching on outside of the one early exit. I think all teams on the water already made the point where they can get out and advance on land if they choose.
Bend killing it as everyone knows. I may have been misleading earlier about the ausssies sleep at apex. Apparently everyone did some of the O although the two gents did the bulk of it

Other items of interest. CP0 came in and made what I think was a wise decision to find a comfy spot locally to catch some z’s vs burning a ton to energy portaging to get a small gain when there’s a very fast river waiting for them at daylight.
Apparently last night at elevation the snow hardened up nicely in the cold but it got soft again quickly in the sun today.

Looks like our friends from Brou were picked up by race staff and have retired. Such a sad ending - I hope they share their story when they feel up to it!

It was pointed out to Kateness and I that Brou probably never got CP21, and possibly not CP22. There weren't o-flags at those spots; they had to answer questions at those locations. Had they not actually known where they were, it would have been next to impossible to realize.

Bend is cruising along and should finish in the next few hours, probably just after daybreak.

Thoughtsport have ~1.5 hours on Alpha Dental in the 2nd place battle. They are probably safe to finish out the podium, but a nav error could open the door for the teams behind them.

CP0 are 5-10km down river on the packraft. Eco and Strong Machine will presumably put on together and try to chase them down.

The race there will be super fun! It should be ~20 hours, maybe less if they are pushing.

2 and 5 in TA now. Everyone looking good. Message delivered for Kateness :-)
Team Dream should be here shortly and and Will has a little fan waiting excitedly to see him. Chris Koch son Hudson. Great little guy 9 going on 29:-).

2 and 5 in TA now. Everyone looking good. Message delivered for Kateness :-)
Team Dream should be here shortly and and Will has a little fan waiting excitedly to see him. Chris Koch son Hudson. Great little guy 9 going on 29:-).

.... Hudson’s a little ninja. Team 14’s race followers have a husky with them and it was sitting under their truck when a local woman walked by with her little dog. The husky shot out to attack the little dog and Huck anticipated the whole thing, bolted over and grabbed the leash just in time to save the little guy. Happened so fast none of the adult knew what was happening and his response ‘what?’ ..shrug, smile, Mic Drop. I guess when you mom owns a vet clinic you get to know animals!!
.... just so everyone knows this husky is a great dog just a little young and apparently a little dominant with small dogs.

So I was wrong when 10 left TA they decided not to sleep in town and continued on foot.
8 slept and took full advantage of the fast river from the TA
Remains to be seen who made the best decision for their team.

Well done, Hudson! Amazing! For those who don’t know, his Dad Chris Koch was FB’s AR teammate for many years.

Bend is done! They came in around 6 am. Incredible performance from start to finish!

So.... I kinda got called out for saying teams were doing fine. When I say that I mean physically and to a certain extent mentally at this point in the race they are doing as well as expected or better. I do not comment on team dynamics, in fighting :-)

Sounds like there's some stories behind that calling out!

:-)
Well it was just pointed out when I said that some teams were doing well that they were actually having issues.... in my mind that stuff is dynamic and ebbs and flows when your under stress.

:-)
Well it was just pointed out when I said that some teams were doing well that they were actually having issues.... in my mind that stuff is dynamic and ebbs and flows when your under stress.

Has the out of bounds area on the East side of the farm on the last trek leg (see race map 20) been removed? The three top teams have all clearly travelled through it.

EDIT: The expected route on the tracking map also goes through the OoB area after CP34...?

Even more weirdness with the farm trek: why does the expected route of travel on the tracking map between CP35 and TA11 go right through the OoB area in the center of the farm? So far, all teams have stayed clear of this OoB area.

The Aussies of ThoughtSport are due in momentarily, taking 2nd place!

What the heck is EcoAR doing at the start of the trek? Touring the farm while CP0 catches up to them?

Some interesting battles after bend and the Aussies. I think 8 is surging while 14 is slowing.
10 has two hour penalty to serve at last TA and 5 has 1 hr.
Evens the battle for 5th a little. Best biking team should win because the current leads are largely negated.

Not sure who needs to sleep between TA 9 and finish. 7th place team is enroute to 10.

The EcoAR vs CP0 head-to-head is getting serious. They can absolutely see each other across this farm landscape. Does STRESS + exhaustion + adrenaline = dumb mistakes?

Good thing there's a media geek at the farm to capture all the action!

Now Eco AR and CP0 are moving on to the last bike leg neck-and-neck. Who has more horsepower left for the final push?

Oh, right!... CP0 has to serve a time penalty. So, maybe the final placings are already decided.

10 moving well. Even with the two hour penalty they should easily hang on to 5th being well rested for the final push.
13 looks to be an hour or so behind 5 which is the penalty but I think 5 is moving a little better. Without any errors I think 5 hangs on to 6th spot.

FB, I may have missed this somewhere, but what are the penalties for?

On the way to the ropes a number of teams took an out of bounds road. 1 hour
A number of teams have also been missing a piece of mandatory gear at a check. Typically 1 hr.
Nothing egregious or intentional that I am aware of.

Thanks!

Thanks for passing on my message, FB!! Our teams are in quite the battle. I can’t believe I need to go to sleep right now. Excited to see how things turn out. It’s been a very fun race to follow.

Grit just squeaked into TA9 before the 9pm river dark zone. Well Done! Now they can continue without delay to the finish assuming they aren't gassed from the river leg.

Unfortunately, behind them Ragrets didn't quite make it, but they have taken out on the correct side of the river and could hoof it in to the TA, which would amount to about 14km on mostly roads avoiding the OoB Route 3 and assuming they avoid risky private property shortcuts. If they move at a reasonable pace under the weight of packrafts and paddle gear, this could take them 2-3 hours, which will be considerably faster than sleeping through the DZ for ~10 hours. If they walk, they could still take a decent kip at the TA with no chance of anyone else coming in to disturb them and get on with the bike leg before sunrise. EDIT: There is a rail trail that cuts straight thru nearly everything on route to TA9 without crossing Route 3 and would be at least 1km shorter...even better!

In other news, the battle for 6th is real with Strong Machine ~10 min ahead of Dream on the final bike leg. They must both realize they are near one another given the logs at TA10/11 and they can almost certainly see each other's lights since it's night. Hmmm... Could be a bit of a ragged finish for them both if they get the "oh, wow! we really need to 'race' now" itch. Stay tuned...it'll be all over in about 2 hours.

I’m watching that - exciting!

OOPS! CP0 missed CP40 and had to turn back for it. Fortunately, there's nobody right on their tail. ~45 mins of extra cycling effort. Why not, eh? At least it's flat terrain.

Teams who have finished so far, all with the same points:

1) Bend Racing 73:14
2) ThoughtSport & A1 81:24
3) Alpha-Dental 85:24
4) Eco AR 87:59

CP0 is across the line in 5th. At roughly the same time, it appears that Dream has stopped just after CP38. Either a mechanical or maybe they're blowing up as a result of chasing Strong Machine up that last climb to CP38. SM has widened the gap to 20+ mins at the moment.

Great job, SM! Get going, Dream! You're worrying your Moms.

Looks like Dream decided to nap before riding downhill. Maybe someone is falling asleep on the bike. They've been in a relatively sheltered area just past CP38 for the past hour.

Now SM is doing some strange things in Okanagan Falls, presumably trying to find a way across the river / falls while also avoiding travelling on the OoB stretch of Route 3. Their misplaced (?) concern could be due to a rule from the long paddle section: the route book for the leg said that Route 3 was off limits even if not marked as such. This statement probably doesn't apply to this cycling leg, but in a sleep-deprived state, these things become quite murky to sort out.

Either that, or they've seen sasquatch and are running away.

Curious... I'm sure there will be a story.

After almost 90 minutes, Team Dream is back on their bikes, heading for CP39.

Strong Machine is in!! Congrats on 6th place.

Team Dream is on their way to 7th. FB will be getting ready to cheer them in.

Strong Machine is on their way to the Motel. Looking good and loving life!!

FB - Thanks for all of the updates! You have been invaluable. Every race needs an AP insider!

Not sure what SM was doing with that last leg back, but I imagine that Tom's brain was melting after navigating (presumably without a break) for 90+ hours.

So hard to watch teams make questionable nav choices on the final leg of an expedition. You know they are tired and just want to eat/sleep/stop moving. I received a few excited texts at 4am (my time) from the team (bypassing my notifications silencing.. thanks guys ;). So proud of them!! It was an exciting finish and I admit I got up a couple times in the night to check on them.

A well-deserved rest now for the teams that have finished. A huge accomplishment for all! Can't wait to hear the stories! And now cheering on those teams hoping to finish in the next 24 hours or so!

Great reporting FB. Any stories on Team Brou floating around?

Jay - There is a video on the Expedition Canada Facebook page of an interview with one of the Brou team members. Not tons of detail but great to see their incredibly positive attitude after the ordeal.

Updated finish list:

1) Bend Racing 73:14
2) ThoughtSport & A1 81:24
3) Alpha-Dental 85:24
4) Eco AR 87:59
5) Checkpoint Zero 90:16
6) Strong Machine 92:38
7) Dream 94:39

Interesting story that may have been posted elsewhere but I’ll share just in case.
When eco AR got to the finish it turns out they had a 2 hr penalty (missed punch?). So they had to sit and wait (this may have happened immediately after the finish line celebration ..:-) )
You will notice that CP0 showed at the finish 2:16 later. Those are all geo fenced times I believe. So when the times become final the gap should only be 16 mins and CP0 made a couple of slips in the last cps that probably cost 30 mins or so??

That would be so sad to serve a penalty at the finish when you’re craving dry clothes and a warm bed! Cool that it was so close - a good reminder to always keep pushing.

@FB, congratulations on two generations of your family having led expedition AR teams to a successful finish!

Hey guys - I can explain it all later, but take a look at Official times. we missed 4th place by less than three minutes.
The separation between 4 th place Eco AR, and CP0 was less than three minutes after 90 plus hours of racing!!! I think next time we won't wipe after dropping the kids at the pool!!!

@bugeater: HA HA HA! Well done out there!

:) Congratulations!!

For fans of Team Flummoxed who are wondering why they’re Unranked, I got this message from a volunteer earlier today: “John & Una dumped pretty early. Driven back to TA8. They rode gear truck to 9 and other two are paddling. They’ll continue from there.”

Congrats bugeater!!

Hi everyone, thanks for watching along from your couches. And special thanks to FB for the support and the Rangers updates!

You were all surprisingly accurate in predicting what was going on at the ground level. It looks like there was a question about our route through Okanagan Falls, and that was indeed due to our mistaken belief that we could not use the road along that section. Fortunately we were able to find a way around, though we were paranoid the delay cost us our placing to the Dream Team.

Overall, a really fantastic race, with a top-notch organization and really stunning scenery. Highly recommend!!!

Congratulations, StrongMachine! If you write a report, please post a link here. :)

'twas a stellar effort and incredible result, SM. Congratulations! Hope your recovery is coming along well and that you are motivated for the next race!

Thanks - I plan on writing a report but Kate leaves Friday for Endless Mountains and there's a kiddo and a dog to take care of ... we'll see if I can find any free time to write something up.

In the meantime, photos are here:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set?vanity=StrongMa...