Kernville, CA, June 2002
By Geoff Jennings

It was a few weeks ago that I was up at the Kern River, and outside the local paddling shop I noticed A simple black and white flyer, advertising the Wildman Challange race. A couple things caught my eye. The simple flyer advertised a race to be held a few weeks after. It would include trail running, mt biking, kayaking and river swimming. And it was going to be held on a tuesday. Sounds like my kind of deal. It took a few calls to connect with the organizer but last week I found myself heading north, my truck loaded up with a ton of sports gear...

6 O'clock rolls around, and I'm awake in my truck. I'd arrived LATE the night before and slept only fitfully. After munching a breakfast of powerbars and fig newtons, I rolled over to the race start. I've entered a few small, low key races, but this out-lowkeyed any other event I've ever been to. No entry fee, no waivers, no sponsers, basically just a bunch of river guides and me. After everyone showed up, a plan was made, and the course was described. The mass start (shown above) consisted of, oh, 11 of us. More women than men, suggestions were made it be called the Wildwoman Challange. The run was fun, about 6 miles over rolling hills, pretty trails and singletrack. The area was scorched recently by some wildfires, and parts of the trail ran through areas still smoking. As I settled into a comfortable lope, I quickly realized that I was in last. This would be a position that I would maintain for the race of the race. I ran for awhile, it was pretty, and soon enough I was making my way down to the river transition. We'd staged our kayaks here earlier, and I quickly pulled my sprayskirt, top and helemt on. Into the river. The flow was about 1200 cfs, and the rapids were fun. It was about a 9 mile run, through some Class III+ rapids. Fun stuff, and my favorite part of the race. At this point I was feeling good. In last, but but having fun.
Soon I saw the other racer's kayaks on the banks. Pulled into the transition. At some races, there'd be people there, but I was all alone. I beached my boat, and then hopped into the river for a mile long swim downriver. The swim was pretty scary, swimming trough rapids is rough, and I bounced off a few rocks. Swimming in rivers is generally something I try hard to avoid, and I'll admit that I was happy when this stretch was over. Soon I saw the flags that marked where I needed to get out of the river, so I was out. it was a steep run up a pretty good hill to the bike transition. I crawled throught the drain pipe under the freeway, and saw my mt bike in the dirt lot. It had gotten hot by this point, and I started out the bike ride drenched in sweat. During the course of the 12 mile, very hilly ride, I drank about 80 oz of water, and could have drank more. I was hot, and hurting bad. I'd been out there for quite a few hours now, and it was beginning to drain me. The heat was killing me, and I was moving slow. Loose sandy trails and steep hills didn't help any, and I was ready to be done. I kept thinking that each hill would be my last, but at the top I'd just see another valley, and know I had to keep going. This part of the race seemed endless. Eventually I could see the bridge that I knew marked the finish. It was a long downhill, and I was excited to be done. As I crossed under the bridge, there was noone there but the other finishers. No bands, no medals, no banners. Just cheering and a bag of drinks and ice in a paper bag. I was welcomed to an elite bunch, the finishers of the Wildman Race. As someone pointed out, more people finish the boston Marathon each year than have finished the Wildman in it's 18 year history!!

Epilogue- That night, I was invited to another Kern guides tradition, the "No Talent Show" hosted by a local rafting company for all the guides. This night of drunkeness had a level of wildness I hadn't seen many times before. It was quite an experience, but I was tired, and mostly sat on a raft, watching and laughing. The next morning, after a late late start, we had a big breakfast, then a few of us went paddling. I was the least hungover of the group, and chuckled as several other paddlers lost breakfast in the eddys below the rapids.