Checkpoint Zero/Inov-8 Team Blog
presented by Inov-8

Answer: Unfortunately for us, NOT the checkpoint we were looking for in the swamp.

Checkpoint Zero / GoLite would like to thank Kip, Jessica and Shawn from WeCeFAR as well as all the volunteers for putting together a fantastic Swamp Stomp race this weekend. From left in our finish-line photo are Peter Jolles, Jon Barker, Michele Hobson, and me (I apologize for the Bee Gees look with the shirt but it got a little warm on the bike to the finish line).

They forced teams to make route choices throughout the race and sent us to some extremely beautiful areas. Even the mega-long paddle to start the race mixed things up with a couple of land navigation sections along the way down the beautiful Withlacoochee River. And making teams figure out how to best split up teammates and still get the canoes down the river quickly was a nice little surprise -- very Kip-Jessica-Shawn -- like.

Unofficial results had us finishing 5th behind Eastern Mountain Sports and GPMS (tied for first), Bill Jacksons AR, and Travelcountry.com. Congrats to them and all the teams competing in the race as it was FREEZING in Florida during the night and at times rainy.

We'll post a full race report this week, but in short ... we had a great paddle and were in first place off the water after 9 or so hours (Michele's dining room chair cushions duct-taped to our canoe seat really saved my fanny "cushion"), then lost a few spots on the bike navigation section (Jon and Peter navigated perfectly but we misread the part about NOT having to get the mandatory CPs in order), then had a little trouble finding checkpoints on the foot Rogaine in the swamp during the night. It can be mighty hard to find those little orange and white orienteering flags in the swamp, even with the clue sheet featuring hints like "crawling oak," "grandmother oak," "edge of cypress swamp," etc.

Thanks again WeCeFAR. I've raced in all four Swamp Stomps, and I have to say I liked this format the best!

- Paul Cox, feeling a bit swamped this morning

PS - Yak just uploaded a few pics our support crew took during the race.