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Four-person Divide & Conquer relay
sets new bar for difficulty
by Shawna Bethell
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| Adventure racer Mike Freeburn takes
a break during the 2003 Adventure Xstream race in
Moab. Freeburn, along with
fellow Durangoan Ned Overend, will be competing in
this Sunday’s Red Bull Divide & Conquer
race, billed as the toughest of the toughest./Photo
by Todd Newcomer |
With exhilaration, anticipation, and ever so slightly - at
the edge of his voice - a hint of trepidation, Mike Freeburn,
local wildwater paddler, talks about his participation
in this Sunday's Red Bull Divide and Conquer.
"This is mentally and physically the hardest course
I've ever done," the long-time adventure racer says after
a recent practice run of the Upper Animas River between
Silverton and Rockwood. This is the same section of water
he'll paddle on race day for team Nike ACG/Balance Bar,
and though he's run the Upper Animas more than 20 times
over the years, there are always unknowns in the water.
"Generally, I know where things are on the course," he
says. "But there are so many intricacies and the river
changes from day to day."
Rain, snow melt, or the increasingly dry days in the
high country impact the level of the water and the force
with which it runs. Throw in the fact that Freeburn is
practicing with a boat he's only paddled twice, and there
are many unknowns waiting for the Durango racer.
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Mike Freeburn rappels during the
2003
Adventure Xstream race in Moab./Photo by Todd
Newcomer |
"The Wave Hopper is a faster boat overall, but it's
trickier to paddle," he says. "The steering is different.
Of the 20 kayakers on the river on Sunday, there will
probably only be four or five participants that are in
these long, narrow, down-river boats."
Freeburn is no stranger to adventure races. In 2003
he participated in a four-day stage race in Borneo, and
in March of 2004, he was on a team that won the Adventure
Xstream race in Moab. Prior to these outings, he competed
for the United States in Olympic wildwater kayak events.
He explains the difference between these events and
the Red Bull Divide and Conquer, saying, "This is a whole
different level. Usually the water is Class II or III
or a lake or flat water. This is Class V water."
With plenty of opportunities to mess up, Freeburn says, "There
are a lot of blind moments on this course. You hit holes
or you're stopped by waves of water and you can't see
where to go."
On another stretch of wild San Juan terrain, Durango's
Ned Overend will be going hard and fast for team Specialized/Riversports
on the mountain biking leg of the race.
"There really is no team strategy," says Overend. "Everyone
just goes as hard as they can in their discipline."
Overend just placed third in the Iron Horse Bicycle
Classic road race three weeks ago, which gave him some
good prep for high-altitude climbing.
"Ideally, I should be spending time at altitude now," says
the world class bike racer who has 4 been in Washington,
D.C., and Kansas for the past few weeks. "I plan to ride
the course on Wednesday, but no more than that. It is
a difficult course, and it'll use a lot of energy."
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| Ned Overend, third from left, is
led up Coal Bank Pass by Scott Moninger, front,
and Drew Miller during last month’s Iron Horse
Bicycle Classic en route to a third
place finish in the Men’s Pro division. Overend
will be racing the mountain biking
leg for team Specialized/Riversports in Sunday’s
Divide & Conquer./Photo by Todd Newcomer |
Ned Overend won the first UCI World Championship in
1990 and six national titles thereafter. His bio also
claims a "collection" of World Cup medals. As far as
the extreme races that have popped up in recent years,
Overend has won the Xterra World Triathlon Championship
twice.
"There will be a lot of pacing in this race, and it's
a very technical course," says Overend of the remote
backcountry ride. "We'll be climbing most of the time,
and some areas we may be walking along beside the bike."
The competition will also be stiff. The Red Bull Divide
and Conquer is bringing some of the best extreme teams
in the world to the San Juan Mountains for Sunday's team
relay.
"It's an honor to compete with these guys," says Mike
Freeburn, who is looking at Czech Republic paddler Kamil
Mruzek as one of the best to beat. But he is aware that
the dynamics of the race shifted considerably last Sunday
on his practice run with long time friend and paddling
influence, Andy Corra.
Corra spent a decade on the U.S. Kayak team and won
the U.S. National Wildwater Championship in 1989 and
1991. He also competed in Global Extremes, ESPN's "Survival
of the Fittest" and had the experience of first descents
on rivers in South and Central America. He had also been
planning on participating in the race this weekend. But
at the end of Freeburn and Corra's Upper Animas run on
Sunday, Corra ruptured his pectoral muscle and had to
withdraw.
"I'm very disappointed," said Corra, who was captain
of Team Specialized/Riversports. But he went on to say
that Aaron Pruzan, from Jackson Hole, Wyo., would be
stepping in to fill the vacancy.
"He's a good paddler," Corra said of Pruzan, adding
that he felt Pruzan would be a positive addition to the
team.
For those who haven't heard the buzz on the challenge,
20 four-person relay teams will compete in running, paragliding,
kayaking and mountain biking in a grueling competition
that begins in Silverton with runners ascending Kendall
Mountain via Arrastra Gulch and Silver Lake. They will
tag paragliders who will sail from the peak of Kendall
to the banks of the Animas River. Paddlers will then
kayak the Class IV and V waters of the Animas down to
Rockwood, where mountain bikers wait to traverse 27 miles
to the finish line at Durango Mountain Resort.
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