ADVENTURE RACING: GETTING DOWN AND DIRTY ADVENTURE RACING OFFERS UNIQUE CHALLENGE FROM MOUNTAIN BIKING, TO KAYAKING TO MUDFEST.

Byline: Story and photos by Bill Becher Special to the Daily News

Take a mountain-bike race, mix in trail running, kayaking, a boot-camp- style obstacle course and add a dash of mud wrestling and you have the recipe for the Balance Bar Adventure Sprint Race at Frank Bonelli Park in San Dimas last Saturday.

And for more fun, do it at night and don't tell the three-member teams the details of what's coming until the starting gun goes off.

This was the first adventure race for Ken Halverson of Thousand Oaks, his wife, Jen, and their friend Danny Lupold of Westlake Village.

``I didn't know what to expect,'' said Ken Halverson, who describes himself as the weak link on his team. His wife is a pro-mountain biker and Lupold leads spinning classes at the Spectrum Sports Club, but Halverson has an office job and has to train on weekends.

The San Dimas race was the last in the series of eight races across the country that are designed to provide an introduction to the sport of adventure racing without traveling to exotic places or worrying about crocodiles, leeches and malaria.

The race attracted 290 three-member teams competing in elite, male, female, coed, collegiate, masters and corporate divisions. Only at the 6 p.m. start did the team captains receive the ``special test booklet'' describing the challenges ahead, such as the Tootsie Roll Mud Pit. The captains stashed the booklet in a waterproof pouch, needed because racers are guaranteed to get wet. Most teams read the instructions as they came to each new test.

The race is spectator-friendly, with most of the special tests and the start-finish in the same area.

The teams headed out on a 5.5-mile trail run through Bonelli Park looking a lot neater and fresher than they would a few hours later. The race had originally been scheduled for Castaic Lake, but uncertainty about the status of Castaic because of budget problems prompted the change in location.

Along the way the teams encountered the first test, the Run Swim. The team members had to remain in physical contact with each other as they swam fully clothed across a small lake. By the end of the run section it was getting dark and spectators waiting at the Tootsie Roll Mud Pit saw lines of bobbing headlamps approaching.

``Hug, drop, and roll as a three-person team,'' were the instructions for the Tootsie Roll. Serious sliming occurred as the teams rolled through the 40-foot-long mud pit in a tangled mass of arms and legs.

``The Tootsie Roll was fun,'' said Jen Halverson, but it was hard for the 120-pound athlete. She said her much-bigger teammates ``squished'' her, and she said she was glad when she was out of the mud pit.

Covered with mud, the racers were able to rinse off as they waded a short distance through water before getting to the 1.5-mile kayak race. To make this more interesting, pairs of kayaks were lashed together side-by-side.

Next came the R-Man Roll, a contraption built from huge wooden spools and rope that connected the spools. Racers had to pass over the obstacle without touching the ground, and last on had to be first off. The spools spun, and teams needed to work together to steady them as they passed over.

This was the hardest test, according to Ken Halverson.

``I wasn't sure if I was going to spin. I had to remember first-on-last-off.''

Nick Moore is the Balance Bar Adventure Sprints race director and the MacGyver in charge of dreaming up the special tests, which are generally different at every venue.

``We want to make it challenging, but we don't want to kill anyone,'' Moore said. He tries to fine-tune the tests so they are hard for the elite racers but not too tough for the rest of the participants.

Moore's office staff serves as his guinea pigs, trying out all the special tests before the race.

The tests aren't just physical - they demand brainpower as well as teamwork. At one event, racers had to build a paddle before the kayak section. Being able to follow instructions is an important skill for adventure racers. Perhaps that's why women do well.

After negotiating the R-Man Roll, the racers jumped on their mountain bikes and headed out for a 10-mile ride.

Next was the Peg Board Challenge. Teams had to make their way using movable pegs for support across a 10-foot-high structure without touching the ground.

Then it was a short run to the final test - the Wall.

The usual way to negotiate the 12-foot high barrier is to boost up the smallest member of the team, who stands on teammates and scrambles over the top. Then teammates toss a rope to the first person, who then wraps it around their waist and anchors it for the others to climb.

``The Wall is my nemesis,'' said Kim Morse, who's competed in several adventure races and fallen on the Wall in past years.

``It's scary being pushed up by your teammates. It seems like time slows down and everyone's watching you. Your feet feel like they weigh a hundred pounds. My heart starts pounding, and I get all sweaty.''

Morse made it over and her team finished second in the coed division.

``I loved the wall,'' Jen Halverson said. ``Danny threw me up. Kenny and Danny pushed me and I pulled my body up, wrapped the rope and they were up seconds later.''

After the end of the race, Ken and Jen Halverson and Danny Lupold stood smiling on the podium. They won the coed division in their first adventure race as a team with a time of 3:08:34.

FOR MORE ADVENTURE

The Bonelli Park race will be televised on the Outdoor Life Network on Dec. 13. Visit www.balancebaradventure.com for more information about adventure racing and camps and clinics to help new racers prepare for these events.

The 24-Hours of Adventure race in and around the Santa Monica Mountains on Nov. 15 will test racers' navigation, kayaking, mountain biking, rappelling, trekking and other outdoor skills. Race headquarters and spectator activities are at the parking lot north of the Santa Monica Pier. Teams can register online or call [phone] for more information.

CAPTION(S):

4 photos, box

Photo:

(1) ``Hug, drop and roll'' were instructions to the participants at the Tootsie Roll Mud Pit, one of the special tests in the race.

(2 -- 3) Kim Morse of Irvine gets a boost from her teammates on her 30th birthday, left, and finally reaches the top, right, of a dreaded 12-foot-high wall she says is her nemesis. Saturday's race was the last in a series of eight races across the country designed to provide an introduction to adventure racing.

(4) Competitors in the Balance Bar Adventure Sprint Race take off from the starting line at Frank Bonelli Park in San Dimas.

Bill Becher/Special to the Daily News

Box:

FOR MORE ADVENTURE (see text)