And They’re Off!–An Adventure Race Report by a 10-year-old competitor

Just another example of how awesome our racers are . . . age is irrelevant on the field! This is from our 2011 Lopez Lake short-course adventure race.

And they’re off!

By Griffin Coxwell

This sport was made for me. As I lined up for the start of the race, I visualized the route me and my cousin, Shaun, were going to take. But I’m getting ahead of myself. We were competing in the All Out adventure racing challenge. Adventure racing is a sport, that has at least three other sports in it. Our race had kayaking, biking and hiking/rock climbing in it.

BAAARRRR! There’s the air horn!! we’re off! We race to the kayak and start paddling as fast as we can. Cold water splashes my face. I look at the map. There are 5 checkpoints on the lake, and we need to get 3 of them. We beach our kayak, and begin bushwhacking inland. We don’t have to go very far to find it. We speed back to the kayak, passing other teams. We push off, and frantically paddle to our next checkpoint.

By the time we get back to shore, most of the teams had passed us. Oh well, we were the youngest team ever to do this. We hopped on our bikes, and headed down an easy fire trail. To the start of A 5 MILE, UPHILL SINGLE TRACK!! We began lugging our bikes up the winding trail, and after what seemed like forever, we reached the top.  Shaun and I  gasped and and wheezed, sucking in air. We found the checkpoint! I jogged up and clicked it. I peered around the turn to the trail down the mountain. Oh yeah. this time, its a 5 mile downhill single track!
Frapppffhhh! I skid around a turn, almost knocking over our competitors . Shaun is close behind and he almost knocks them off their feet. I see the end of the trail! Shaun and I skid to a stop, throwing up dirt.  We have to ditch our bikes now. We take a quick break and set off on a half mile jog and we arrive at my favorite part of the race. The zip line! The long wire stretched across the lake. Me and Shaun could scarcely bear the wait. Finally! I grabbed the pulley thingamabob, and jumped, with no harnesses, just my two hands. I flew along the line, twenty feet above the water. Here I go... I  let go and gravity takes over. I drop and hit the water, and swim to the shore, Shaun close behind me. But the race is not over yet. We have to freaking rock climb to get the last checkpoint. We start climbing at a steady pace, slowing down as we gradually climb up the mountain. I thought it was going to last forever. Wait. There’s the checkpoint! I run up and click it, my hands fumbling in my excitement. There!

Getting down the mountain is no trouble, and when we pass the finish line, I expected to be last-but instead, its exactly the opposite! We were the only people in our division! Remember “youngest people?”

First Place!

Why Our Rates are Going Up

There was recently an article in Runners’ World about the cost to put on the NYC Marathon. We think it ran with the intent to make racers’ jaws drop. We kind of went, “meh.”

After ten years of events, when we really buckled down and looked at why we were still avoiding turning on the heat in the house and putting off that much needed car repair, we realized we were doing something wrong: putting on top tier events but charging bottom tier prices.

As any business major will tell you, if something you’re selling costs you more than you make, you’re in trouble. Well, folks, that’s where we’re at.

Why are races so darn expensive?

Let’s break down a simple one, like the now-defunct SLO Mountain Run. We decided to drop the event this year when we found that a field of 100 people only netted us $600, and that’s not including overhead (insurance, office expenses, etc). At $35/person, you would think we’d be doing okay. After all, it’s our simplest race and doing the math, that’s $3500.

But here’s what our expenses were:

• T-shirts ($6 x 200) = $1200. We had to order more than this because we expected more people. We do all our design in-house. It would be so much more otherwise. We could get cheaper shirts, but you wouldn’t love them – we’re not going to give away crap.
• Advertising = $300. We did posters and rack cards, along with some Facebook ads. The budget was pretty low as we realized that people aren’t generally going to want to travel for a 10k and focused locally. Again, in-house design and hitting the streets to distribute the wares.
• Permits = $500. To rent the facility for the day. Some people poach for smaller events, but relationships with the governing agency are important to us. We won’t scrimp here.
• Insurance = $200. Not too bad, considering we’re sending you up some treacherous terrain for a 10k. That’s a lot of alliteration.
• Non-employee compensation = $700. We’re too small to have a full time staff, so we get contractors to come in day-of. This was for our timer and one other operations staff other than ourselves. This event was so small that we didn’t look for volunteers, but we did need aid station set up, course marking, and venue setup and maintenance.
• Supplies = $200. Stuff like bibs, waivers, and sundry items.

Grand total = $3100.

Cool, so we “made” $400! Take out 12% for our donation to Special O, and they got a whopping $48. Thank goodness they know we try.

Things that didn’t get included in this:

• Our “salary” for putting it on. The people we hired got paid, but we didn’t.
• Our time for design work and putting up posters.
• Our time for securing permits and contracts.
• Our time for dealing with inquiries and preparing websites.
• Our overhead expenses for just having the business.
• The money we saved in having all the stuff (tables, chairs, water jugs, finish arch, marking materials, radios, vehicles and trailers) that normal event directors would have to rent.
• Emergency medical staff (we’re trained and certified to do our own emergency response, so for a small field, we don’t hire).

So you’re reading this and thinking, “Well, a field of 100 people is pretty sad, so of course you lost money – small events always take a while to ramp up.” Only, we’ve been trying to grow that event for four years. Adding a 5k did nothing. And we love the event. The people that come to it are awesome. The course is awesome. It’s a beautiful tour of one of the best runs in SLO. But it didn’t pay.

So let’s take any other event we put on.

Consider this:

• Multiple governing agencies requiring permit money and processing.
• Road closures.
• More staff.
• Supplies for construction of course obstacles and improvements
• Time and rentals for creation of courses
• Cost spent fixing the venue after damage or repairs are needed.
• Prize money
• Rental of equipment/transportation means
• Prizes for multiple age, gender, and team categories
• Time spent seeking for sponsorship/partnership/swag donation.

Ten years ago, when we started this, the economy was strong and companies’ event marketing money was easy to come by. A contract for $10,000 an event was pretty common. But that’s dried up. Our events are self-produced, largely unsponsored, and paid for entirely by your entry fees.

In 2011, we took $5000 in total for a salary for two owners of the business and donated the same to our charities. While some events do awesome by being put on by volunteers – they have enormous teams, a budget being funded by the organization it benefits, and only one event a year.

This is a business and to keep making our events spectacular, we needed to look at how we did things. We vow not to cut costs to the detriment of racer experience, and that’s why All Out Events needs to charge more going forward. We are so lucky to have talented and dedicated volunteers who believe strongly in what we are doing and what we do for the community, but to grow and not kill ourselves in the meantime, we have to start charging like the professionals that we are.

And once we do, the charities and communities we benefit can also benefit. And we’ll be able to hire people to keep growing – and that creates jobs and stimulates the economy!

We hope you understand.

All Out Events is looking for a marketing manager!

All Out Events is hiring!

We are looking for an outgoing, enthusiastic individual to help develop our new zipline business.

Marketing manager – You will be in charge of doing the leg work to promote Margarita Adventures, the only zipline tour on the central coast. You will meet with business people and visitors’ bureau contacts throughout SLO County, setting up promotional deals and zipline tours, work trade show booths, and drop off promotional materials when appropriate. Work with the owners of the Santa Margarita Ranch and Ancient Peaks vineyards as well as your favorite crew at All Out Events.

Requirements:

- Should have reliable transportation and be able to speedily cover the entire San Luis Obispo county as needed

- Should have internet access and be familiar with Twitter and Facebook

- Should be eloquent both in person and in writing

- Able to spend between 10-20 hours a week during working hours (9-5) and/or weekends in meetings and developing marketing plan

- Demonstrated ability to work well with a team

- Deadline oriented

- Innovative – always looking for a new approach to the system or opportunities

Pay is hourly with incentive bonuses for successful performance. Please submit a cover letter and resume that speaks to our requirements.

Deadline for job application is 12/12/2011. We will follow up with applicants in the following week and be hiring immediately.

The New Santa Margarita Zipline: “Extreme Pleasure”

We’re so proud of our newest venture and how happy people are with their experiences!

From recent rider:

Hi Margarita Adventures.

I am emailed this in case my post does not come through. I had the extreme pleasure to take the zip line tour with you and promised I would write up something. I have also used this for the Adelaide Inn website blog. Thank you to all your staff for the fun my friends and I had today. Please feel free to post this to your web site as a positive review.

Best wishes

Charlie

Wonderful Time Zipping through the Countryside

I thought I would share my experience with Margarita Adventures. I and a group of my fellow employees were granted the pleasure and thrill to participate with this event on a  Sunday afternoon. The weather really cooperated with us, being sunny, warm, and just enough breeze to stir the air amongst the oaks of Santa Margarita Ranch. The staff of Mike, Matt, and Patrick were friendly, informative, helpful, and overall, just plain fun.

You start off at Ancient Peaks Winery in Santa Margarita where you can get free wine tasting either at the start if you need some liquid courage, and after where you can relax and talk over all the fun and thrills you have just come from.

The Zip Lines are all placed on Santa Margarita Ranch, which is one of the argest Mexican Land Grant Ranchos still in operation.On the drive up you will be given a nice background on the Ranch, how the strive to use sustainable growth in their agricultural as well as cattle raising. You slowly drive up the dirt track and go between various ecosystems. From grazing to wine fields of various types and varietals, on through oak trees, until you get among the chaparral. The views when you are at the start is just breathtaking. It adds that almost all you see in encased by the Ranch's 14000 acres itself. With hawks, crows, turkey buzzards in the skies above to the deer, bears, bobcats and the ever present cattle that stride on the ground. Rabbits, gophers, and other rodents dart in and out of the bushes
and trees.The smells of nature add to the ambiance may give you the added treat that will await you.

The first zip line is  Renegade, which stretches for over 1300 feet. This is not only the longest of the four stretches of cable where you will zoom along yelling and screaming in delight, but also one of the most breath taking for its view. Here you will gear up in your harness, gloves and safety helmet. The staff are here to assist you if needed as you start to psych yourself for your beginning run, but also will allow to get some last minute water and leave behind any excess clothing and bags you may have. I was the first of my group to go, and as the guinea pig for them to see if I fouled up somehow. The first step is a doozy, but if you just let yourself go and step off, you will get a wondrous rush as you fly down the cable and allow the harness and lines to guide you down. The sights as you glance about are a treat and when you get to the end, you almost want to go
again. I helped to cheer on my other mates as they one by one came down the line. One of my friends was deeply afraid of heights, but then she allowed herself to take a leap of faith. Though her eyes were closed for the first run, at the end she was also browsing nature and having good times.

The next stretch was the 800 foot long Woodlander. This was one of my favorites, after the Renegade. You seem to go faster because of the perspective, as you will go between some huge oaks as you fly around their branches and turning leaves. I was later told that if you stretched out your arms and hands, you could actually touch them as you zoomed to your finish.

Third was the Hilltopper a short jaunt between two hills. Here you  need to get a running start to get your speed. I tried to be a little more daring and go freestyle. I ended up tripping over my own big feet. I still had a blast and laughed off by bungling of the start. My friends all joined in with the laughter and we continued to just have take in the zips, each others company, and the banter of the staff. Even as a couple of us did not quite make it to the end, the guides quickly stepped off with a secondary rope that you could grab and they pulled you on to the landing stage.

The last line you zip the finish line is the Archway. There is an actual
arch that you will sway back and forth as you start to straighten out for the finale of your flying through the air. The wooden ramp is angled to allow you to lift up your legs and allow your body's adrenaline to subside.

Once your group has wrapped up their own fun you will remove our gear and the guides will drive you through more of the ranch and tell you more on how they grow some of the wine grapes. I had the pleasure to see a herd of does who were grazing along the cattle. They did not get spooked as we drove along. Just slowly worked their way up a hill side as the cattle ignored us. At most the various mothers would stare us down as we tried to drive past them, only to stride away as we got close enough.

The overall experience for my group and I was just fantastic. I will highly recommend then to any who want to have fun, try something different, and still have a nice glass of wine to relax to. For a cost of $99 and 2-3 hours of your time, I think this is a great treat. No matter if it is a guy with his buds, a bachelorette party wanting a unique experience, or a family wanting some bonding time, this tour may well be for you.

Want to try for yourself? http://www.margarita-adventures.com

Internship Offered for All Out Events

All Out Events was established in August of 2010 as a two-member LLC. Prior to that, it was a sole proprietorship. Its focus is on human-powered outdoor events. Its 2012 lineup will likely include an adventure race series, triathlon, mountain bike race, gran fondo, climbing festival and competition, and mud run. All Out is committed to community service and gives a percent of its proceeds to a non-profit. It self-produces and also is available for hire if the right fit is met.

All Out Events has internship opportunities in the following areas:

Marketing
· Assisting in devising an ongoing marketing campaign for all events
· Creating content for its blog and ebooks for download
· Creating promotional videos
· Designing and updating the websites
· Contacting various media and developing/sustaining relationships with them
· Promotion of non-profit that benefits from the events

Sponsorship
· Developing relationships with larger companies for event sponsorship
· Contacting local companies for sponsorship and vendor opportunities
· Assisting in development of sponsorship packet and opportunities

Day of Event Management
· Operations – setup/takedown and management of event
· Volunteer recruitment and management
· Festival development

All Out Events is looking for energetic interns who are self-motivated and self-starting. They should be enthusiastic about not only the sports involved but the products and non-profits they come in contact with. They must be committed to 10-15 hours a week and be available at least one day during business hours for the work for a quarter’s length of time, with opportunity for extension and paid positions.

We are willing to work with any level college student and majors that best fit can include: business administration or marketing, communications, English, recreation administration, speech, journalism, etc. We are open to anyone who has a sincere interest in gaining experience in any aspect of this industry.

The internship is paid by day of event and not hourly, however the opportunity exists for it to become a longterm paid position in the future.

If you are interested in an internship with All Out Events, please contact Kristin McNamara at Kristin@all-outevents.com. Provide a resume, and cover letter stating which positions would best fit and why you feel your internship will benefit both of us.

Adventure Racing is Dead.

Got ya with the headline, didn’t I. But the thing is, am I so wrong? It seems like everyone is saying it behind closed doors and no one’s being public about it. But you have to. If you love it, this conversation needs to be had.

This last year, our sprint races had half the participants as last year. It was the first year in the nine years of our May race that we lost significant money on it. The 12-hour race had a big field, and we’re grateful for that, but more and more race directors are reporting dwindling numbers.

Things people are trying to do: teach people how to adventure race by holding clinics and forming clubs; creating points series to encourage participation at more events; simply having more races on a smaller budget to make up for the lack of participation (but this also limits the possibilities of the experience). But none of it is really working.

The Outdoor Retailer market report said that AR had grown by 20% in the last year, but you know what AR they’re talking about? Mud runs.

To Adventure Race purists, this is nothing. In fact, while we have the highest attended race series on the west coast, it’s our Mud Run that we had last year that paid the bills and enabled us to sustain another event season. We put it together in two months and it was the highest attended event we’ve ever had.

People like mud. And they like running. But we just can’t seem to get them to love real AR.

Why do you suppose? I have my theories:

1. Multisport is scary. There are some multisport athletes, but not like there are single-sport ones. When people write in for advice on how to train, we’re speechless. Just be able to ride a bike, hike, and the paddling, well, no one is good at that anyway.

But having put on enough races and been on course, I am coming to the conclusion that most people really can’t ride a bike. And if you can’t ride and we put you on amazing singletrack, you aren’t having fun.

2. People that are attracted to AR don’t race. As someone who does multisport (climbing, biking, hiking, running, kayaking, etc), I’m also not the type to race. I just do stuff because it sounds good. If I’m on vacation and I have my bike, I’ll use it to get to cool stuff. There’s no motivation to beat someone else at something I know I can do and not pay for.

3. Too much commitment. Tough Mudder – it’s running, in a small area, no navigation, nothing awful. You get tired, you give up. No one has to rescue you. Mud Runs – cool obstacles, short time period.

4. Lack of festival atmosphere. We tried, but when you’ve spent the morning running around in the fog, you kind of just want to go home, not party with a beer.

Am I wrong? Is AR dead because we’re not easy enough? If you were us, what would you do? Change up the traditional approach to go with the trends, or hold on to the purity and just suck it up and wait for people to get tired of mud runs? What do you think?

Epic Rescue–What We Did On Our Summer Break

So, it’s a few weeks out from the events for the spring, and Yishai and I decided to go on a mini vacation by driving all around Northern California: Arcata to Whiskeytown Lake to Lassen National Park to Downieville with some stops in between. If you haven’t been to this area, you should make sure you do. We were so inspired by the trees, the jagged mountains, the pot-smoking hippies, and the awesome ability for RVs to get just about everywhere.

We ended up going to Downieville kind of on a lark. We were driving out of Lassen and the truck is feeling . . . wobbly. We pull over and Yishai looks and sees nothing is wrong, so we keep going. And now we have a choice – we can go to Downieville, or we can go to the Bay Area for the weekend. After hemming and hawing, we decide that we should go to Downieville and then – BLAM:

The tire peels apart and literally attacks the entire back of the truck. Very, very sad pandas for us. In case you were wondering, event production, at our size and scope, doesn’t pay too much. This hurts. A lot.

We end up in Chico, getting a new spare tire, and then it’s a question of . . . the sun will be setting soon. What do we do? Stay in Chico? Give up on Downieville? No. We should go.

So we go. And we get lost. But then we get un-lost. And as the sun is beginning to set, we pull into the most idyllic town ever and the second hotel we stop at (enough of camping, we want comfort in this cute town) has one vacancy due to a car malfunction and we are saving that party from having to pay for the night anyway. Meant to be.

The hotel is cute, and I LOVE LOVE LOVE the owner of the Riverside Inn – if you ever make it there, say hi.  

Anyway, we decide that I will shuttle Yishai to the start of the dirt road so he can “cross country” the approach to the famous Downieville Downhill. The Downieville Outfitters told us it averages people four hours to do the downhill, and knowing Yishai’s fitness, I figure it will take him four hours to ride up to the start and do it.

But he is sore from running on the beach without shoes a few days before. And it’s hot. Very hot. And he has very little water and food.

But whatever, he’s good.

So the dogs and I go down to the river for the day (thanks to the fact I’m still recovering from shoulder surgery), playing around, talking to locals and feeling the general Downieville good feeling.

Dogs at the gallows – don’t worry, it was only used once.

So four hours later, I go to our rally point – the truck in the parking lot. And wait. And wait. And wait.

Two hours later, I am starting to worry so I truck on over to the Downieville Outfitters again and ask if there’s been any epic reports. To my surprise, they are really, really involved in trying to help me – she tells me she’ll have the number forward to her home if I need to call her and I find out where he comes out so I can hike up and find him as it gets dark. But, this is a well trafficked trail. Maybe he’s just walking down from too many flats? People would say something happened as they passed.

So, about two hours late, and six hours into this, here’s how he shows up:

Stoked and covered in blood. So I am not too worried about him, but the story unfolds . . .

So he is riding up the dirt road, eight miles of slogging in full sun which he will never.do.again. and does not recommend – but it is pretty:

There are lovely things to see along the way, he takes photos for me so I can see:

After building bridges for the Ancient Peaks Classic, we approve of really nice mountain bike bridges.

And he’s not being passed by anyone, in fact, he passes people that were dropped off long ago by the bike outfitters. He tells me later that this was a trail that I could definitely do, and enjoy, and that all these people with armor and hardcore downhill bikes are definitely not in need of that for the ride.

So he’s thirteen miles into the ride, about to finish in only three and a half hours from drop off at the dirt road to the truck, when he comes across a guy lying on the side, moaning, unable to move.

Yishai no longer has his certifications, but he has Wilderness First Responder and EMT training, and he loves using it. So he casts his bike aside and checks on the guy. He’s helpless. Can’t move his leg. The pain is excruciating. He does the formal checks and determines he’s got a huge 4” laceration that’s very deep above his hip, and extreme pain on palpation. He’s also bleeding – a lot. Huge clumps of clotting blood plop out as he examines.

So Yishai cleans out the wound with his Lezyne water pack, packs the wound and puts pressure on it. And then, in time, they decide they can move him. There’s no cell phone reception, so it’s going to have to be a carry.

By now, more San Luis Obispo people show up (we find it funny that they have Wheelmen and Foothill jerseys – represent) to help. Yishai, along with two other guys, try a chair-carry, but it’s not working, so “Ox” – a huge guy, 6’3” and 220lb + suggests piggy backing, and Yishai holds him from behind because he can’t cling with his legs. They start down the trail.

And then a guy comes riding toward them, yelling, “YOU’RE IN THE WAY!” and rides up on the side . . . which is jerky in the first place. But more jerky is that as he rides on the side of the trail, he rams a wasp nest, unleashing thousands of angry stingers!

The guys are helpless, they have to set the injured guy down, fighting the bees, throwing water on them, wondering if they should drag him out of the way or what. The end up telling him to just lay there and not move so they will calm down.

And then, when that happens, they climb on down the hill.

His friend is there with his new pickup with leather seats – “I am going to ruin it with this guy’s blood!” Bah! Help your friend- you can wash your truck!

Anyway, he get loaded, they drive off, and Yishai shows up.

I tell him I need to go to the Outfitters to tell them we found him and they are so stoked at the heroics of the three guys that they hand out socks.

Awww. The guy ended up with a broken pelvis, but is going to be okay. Three cheers for being there when he needed it!