Thirty-two participants will race to the finish in this year’s intramural Adventure Race. The competition will be held Saturday, Oct. 14 at West Peterson Park, more commonly known as Peterson Pits.

The race has been an annual event for over 12 years. Jerry Rupert, the race coordinator, originated the idea, and the first race was held in April of 2005.

“We’ve helped with doing some other adventure races around the area of Ames, and so it just made sense to me that we within our recreation services department could do a cooperative event where intramurals could advertise it and put it on, and then we as the outdoor recreation program staff could actually run the race,” Rupert said. 

The race will be run in teams of two, and groups can be composed of men, women or co-ed participants. The teams will be split into three heats, and the winners of each heat will receive intramural champion T-shirts. The competition will include a half mile of canoeing, three miles of biking and a one mile run to the finish line.

Rupert said winning teams typically finish the race in approximately half an hour but some teams who are out for fun take a couple hours to finish.

“The students who participate in the event seem to love the challenge of it,” said Linda Marticke, the intramural sports coordinator.

Rupert noted that the biking section tends to be the most difficult.

“Most people don’t have a lot of experience about how to ride a mountain bike,” Rupert said. “It’s on trails, it’s not on a paved road or anything. They have to ride through sand, mud, gravel and all kinds of different terrain. It’s pretty challenging for people.”

This year, 17 teams have signed up for the race. Marticke said this year’s participation has been similar to years past.

Marticke also noted that Peterson Pits was chosen as the location because it met the criteria necessary; a small lake for canoeing and trails for biking and running. When the race was originated in 2005, Ada Hayden Park had not yet been built. However, because of the large amount of traffic Ada Hayden sees, Marticke said Peterson Pits remains a better location.

However, the dirt trails at the park tend to present a problem. In past years, races have been rescheduled or canceled due to rain, as mountain bikes can ruin trails if the ground is wet enough. This year, the race was pushed back fro Oct. 7 to Oct. 14. 

“We just don’t want to destroy the trails because they’re used by walkers and they’re used by horseback riders. The trails are multi-purpose and we don’t want to destroy the trails for other people.”

Sign-in for the race begins at 12:15 p.m. and the first canoeing group will start at 1 p.m.

“I think the biggest thing is it’s different,” Rupert said. “Intramurals has a ton of different sports, but they’re pretty traditional sports like flag football and basketball and things like that. Where this is an event where people who didn’t grow up in competitive sports like that but do like to ride bikes and do run and do canoe this is an opportunity for them to be a part of intramurals too. I think that’s probably the biggest value is creating more diversity in our programing and getting a more diverse population of people to participate.”

Students are required to obtain their own mountain bikes, helmets and transportation to Peterson Pits. Canoes and life jackets will be provided by Recreation Services. Bikes and helmets can be rented through the Outdoor Recreation Program.

Teams will be required to remain together during the biking and running portion of the race. Students are cautioned against wearing their best athletic shoes as they may get wet during the canoeing leg of the competition.

More information can be found on the Recreation Services website.