Renegade Adventure Race 2008
October 19, 2008 by Bryan
Jamie and I took photos of and observed the Renegade Sprint Adventure Race in Frank G. Bonelli park this Sunday October 19th, 2008. This is the first event of this kind that I have witnessed (which makes sense since it is only the second year of it happening). The race consists of a Paddle into Puddingstone Reservoir, a mountain biking section and a trail run. I know Bonelli park pretty well because I have been mountain biking there for years now. Because of this I figured the best way to see the course and get a good position would be to ride my mountain bike with my camera in my backpack.
We didn’t get the map until the day of the event so I didn’t have a plan in mind. Once I got it I chose what I thought would be a good spot. I biked out on the course in reverse to my spot. Then I waited. I sat at the crest of the hill overlooking the equestrian center for at least an hour. Jamie positioned herself to see the Paddle section of the race. Finally after more than an hour of sitting in almost perfect silence I saw the first mountain bikers. The first team came by at an amazing pace. Then the rest of the teams came by a lot slower. Most were walking up the hills by the time they got to where I sat. I took photo after photo of the individual and teams racing the event.
Once most of the riders went by I rode my bike down the trail in the same direction as the course. Finally I could see where the course went and how well it was marked. I have to say it was marked pretty well. It also had one nice steep decent and several hills on the section I rode on. I worked up a nice sweat hauling my camera equipment over the dirt double-track. Then I cut off the course and went to the finish line where Jamie was photographing the participants as they finished.
The event looked like a lot of fun for the participants. Beside the three disciplines the participants had special tests or obstacles they had to overcome. Everyone looked like they had a great time although they finished exhausted from all the climbing.
Since we were sitting around so long, we took a lot of pictures of the scenery as well as the race. As you can see, Bonelli is certainly a beautiful park.
Jamie and I wrote up a race report over at Amateur Endurance and we also got an interview with one of the teams. As always check out our GALLERY for more race day photos.
[…] event of the year. It took place at Bonelli Park in San Dimas, the same park where we covered the Renegade Adventure Race. However, this event is even more popular than Renegade so the park was packed full of participants […]
[…] This is the third event we covered at Bonelli in the past few months. The first event was the Renegade Adventure Race, and as with that race, this event was put on by the Renegade Race Series. It was a beautiful clear […]