MACERA YARISLARI / ADVENTURE RACING

Macera yarislari diye gecen yarislar birbirinden farkli disiplinler iceren ve her sporcunun hem fiziksel hem de mental kapasitesini zorlayan yarislar. Dag bisikleti, kano - korfezde, golde, nehirde - yani nerede su varsa :) - kaya tirmanisi, inisi, gecisi ve bilumum versiyonlari, yuzme, nehir, gol, vs gecme - yuzerek degil bu sefer yuruyerek :) -, dag bisikleti, kosu gibi bir dolu disiplinin bir arada oldugu ne ararsaniz bulabileceginiz turden. Macera yarislarinda, ekipler, yaris baslangicinda yaris organizasyonunun sagladigi topografik haritalar uzerinde, kendilerine sadece tanimlamalari verilmis kontrol noktalarini bulup isaretlerler. Her ekipte genellikle bir ya da iki kisi sadece yon bulmadan sorumludur (navigator) cunku sadece harita ve pusula ile ekip butun bu kontrol noktalarini bulmak durumundadir. Baslangic dudugu ile birlikte ekipler haritalari okuyarak en hizli ve verimli bir sekilde bir kontrol noktasindan digerine ulasabilmek icin dagilirlar. Bu yarislari son zamanlarin populer “camur yarislari” ya da “engel yarislari” gibi yarislarla karistirmak ve karsilastirmak biraz ayip olur. Ayni sekilde super steril triatlon yarislariyla da pek alakasi yoktur (2012de yaptigim meshur Alcatraz triatlonu ile ilgili ayrica yazacagim).

Yaris sureleri 6 saatten 10 gune kadar olabiliyor (staged degil, durmadan yapilan yarislar. Her ekibin kendine gore dinlenme stratejisi oluyor tabi ve bu stratejiler sonuclari cok etkiliyor). Yaris boyunca yetecek yiyecek, giysi, ekipman, ilk yardim malzemesi vs’yi sirtinizda tasiyorsunuz ama uzun yarislarda gecis bolgesi denen alanlara bazi malzemeleriniz sizin icin tasinmis oluyor. Ben genellikle 12, 24, ve 36 saatlik yarislar yaptim simdiye kadar. 36 saatlik yarislardan birinde 4 kisilik bir ekiptik ve nehir kisminda kullanacagimiz iki tane minik sisme bot ve kureklerini de tasimistik bir gecis bolgesinden sonra. Uzun versiyonlariyla ilgili olarak, 7 gunluk ve dunyanin en meshur ekspedisyon yarislarindan biri olan Primal Quest’te medya ekibinde gorev almistim (2008 Montana), gece gunduz ekipleri takip edip fotograf ve video cekmistim. Super bir tecrubeydi.

Neyse, en son Subat ayinda 24 saatik bir yaris (BaarBrawl) ve Mayis ayinda 12 saatlik bir yaris (Dawn to Dusk Adventure Challenge) yaptim ekip arkadaslarimla. Dawn to Dusk’ta 3 kisiydik. Okyanus’a giris sirasinda ve daha sonra cikisa yarim saat kala buyuk dalgalarda ozel yapim carbon-fiber kanomuz devrilse ve buz gibi okyanus suyunda neredeyse hipotermik olsak da, sonucta kendi kategorimizde 2. olduk. Neyseki kano kismindan sonra dag bisikleti vardi ve bisikletlerimizin ustune gecer gecmez kendimizi daha iyi hissettik ve yarisi bitirdik!

.................................................

Adventure racing involves multiple disciplines that push your physical and mental limits. Mountain biking; kayaking (in a lake, river, bay, ocean), rock climbing (or ascending/descending, traversing, etc); crossing rivers, lakes, puddles; running; trekking etc. are the main components. Teams find and mark the checkpoints defined by race organizers on the topo maps and the aim is to get them all. These races are not to be confused and compared with the popular “mud races” or “obstacle races.” Similarly, they have not much to do with sterile triathlon races (I will write about the famous Alcatraz triathlon at another time. I did it in 2012).

The duration of these races can go anywhere from 6 hours to 10 days (These are generally not staged races. Teams decide on their own resting strategy which impacts the results significantly). Every team member carries the food, gear, etc that is necessary for the whole race. In longer races, teams may be able to gather some of their food and gear at certain transition areas. I generally do 12, 24, and 36hr races. In a 36-hr race we did in Oregon a few years back, we were a 4-person co-ed team (3 guys and me) and we finished at 3rd place. Just to give you a better idea, after one transition area, we carried our inflatable boats and paddles on our backs to be used in a river section. About longer races, in 2008, I worked as part of the media team of the one of most famous expedition races in the world, Primal Quest (Montana). My job was to follow the teams day and night and get photos, video footage etc. Good times.

Anyway, in February I did the 24hr BaarBrawl race (it is actually our traditional training event in the bay area with all adventure racing friends - this is one video edited by another team) known to be super brutal and in May, I did the 12hr Dawn to Dusk, another classic race in southern California.  Even though the custom made carbon fiber kayak we had flipped right at the entrance to the ocean and later on also half an hour from the exit and causing us to get almost hypothermic, we still managed to finish in 2nd place in 3-person co-ed teams category. After the kayak section, we instantaneously felt better after getting on our mountain bikes.

ELLE TURKIYE MAYIS SAYISI - ELLE TURKEY MAY ISSUE

Elle Turkiye dergisi spor ve saglik temali Mayis sayisinda, basarili kadin sporcular arasinda bana da yer verdi. Bu sahane sporcularin yaninda benim adimin da gecmesi cok buyuk bir onur. Ayrica, profil resmimi fotograflarina hayran oldugum sanatci arkadasim Pinar Gedikozer cektigi icin de cok sansliyim.

.................................................

Elle Turkey in their May issue on sports and health, included me among some other super accomplished women athletes. It was such an honour to have my name next to theirs. I was also super lucky to have my profile picture taken by the super talented photographer Pinar Gedikozer.

50 MILES - THE NORTH FACE ENDURANCE CHALLENGE

Yillik The North Face Endurance Challenge kosu yarislari serisinin en son duragi her Aralik ayinda San Francisco’da gerceklesiyor. Golden Gate koprusunun hemen kuzeyindeki Marin bolgesinde benim surekli kostugum okyanus kenarindaki patikalarda hem de. Arka bahceme kadar geldikleri icin de son yillarda her sene bu seri kapsamindaki en uzun mesafe olan 50 mili kosuyorum. Yaz sonu Turkiye donusu sonrasi Aralik’a kadar haftasonlarim bu yarisa hazirlanmakla geciyor. Bu sene cok ciddi bir hazirlik programi takip edemedim. Oyle ki son 20 mili pacer olarak benimle beraber kosmasi icin de arkadaslarimdan hic kimseyi ayarlamadim. Pacer (tavsan diye cevirebiliriz herhalde) uzun yarislarda kosucuyu motive eden ve cok yavas ya da cok hizli kostugunda uyaran kisi. Avrupa yarislarinda boyle bir gelenek yok ama Amerika’da 50 mil, 100 km, ve 100 mil yarislarinda cok yaygin bir durum. Velhasil, ben 50 milin son 20sine geldigimde pacer’im olmadigi icin baya bir depresif hale burundum ve ozellikle son 10 mil acaip zor geldi. Neyseki tamami camur olan parkuru yine de hic fena olmayan bir derece ile bitirdim. Bu yaris, bir serinin parcasi ve son yarisi oldugundan, ayrica da North Face markasi sponsorlugunda gerceklestiginden butun elit kosuculari ceken bir yaris, dolayisi ile lokal yarislarda ara ara podyumlara ciksamda bu yarisi duzgun bir zaman ile bitirebilmek yetiyor. Ama bu yarisi ilk kostugumda maraton (dag maratonu) mesafesini kosmustum ve genel kategoride 3. kadin olarak bitirmistim. Sahane bir duyguydu.

.................................................

The last race of the annual North Face Endurance Challenge series takes place in San Francisco on the trails of Marin just north of the Golden Gate bridge. Since it is right in my backyard, I try to run the 50 mile race, the longest distance in these series, every year. At the end of the summer, after I get back from Turkey, I spend my weekends usually doing training runs for this race however I couldn’t follow a very strict program this year. I didn’t even arrange a pacer to run the last 20 miles with me. Having a pacer is not a common practice in the races in Europe at all but in the US in almost every 50mile, 100km, and 100mile race people have pacers with them. I wish I did too since I really got depressed the last 20 miles and dragged myself during the last 10 miles. I still finished with a decent time I guess given it was all mud throughout and given how this race is very competitive and attracts all the elite runners as it is sponsored by the North Face and is the last race in a series. Although I can have occasional podium finishes in local races, not likely in this one. Having said that though, the first time I run this race, I did the regular trail marathon and became the 3rd woman overall. That was a super cool feeling.