PINEDALE – Over the river and through the woods, 17 hardened adventure teams raced through the foothills of the Wind River Range down to the crystal clear waters of Fremont Lake during the first-ever Surly Pika Adventure Race last Sunday.

The race served as the big finale to the second annual Wind River Mountain Festival, which hosted a number of outdoor-related events and vendors at American Legion Park, starting Friday.

As the Sunday morning sun highlighted the jagged peaks of the Wind River Range, teams gathered at the overlook near Elkhart Park to determine the starting order of the race. Race organizer Darren Hull instructed racers to grab their compass and shoot a bearing at Glover Peak. Those who were most accurate with their navigation got to start first, while those up to five degrees off left 30 seconds later and the rest had a 60-second penalty to kick off the race.

As Hull released the teams for the start, a flurry of racers headed to their bikes at a nearby location and began the full day of trekking, biking and paddling in the great outdoors. The race featured 13 checkpoints scattered throughout the course as they headed down to White Pine Ski Area and eventually Fremont Lake Campground to grab their canoes and kayaks to paddle to the finish line at Lakeside Lodge in the afternoon hours.

The event featured race divisions consisting of coed teams with two and three members. In the two-person race, Frogwarts took first overall with a race time of 4 hours, 39 minutes after making it to Lakeside Lodge by 1:05 p.m. Second place was secured by MTs – 1, who finished with a time of 7 hours, 8 minutes. Team Clause 21 ended up in third place overall, crossing the finish line with race time of 7 hours, 56 minutes.

In the three-person coed division, team Paradocs took first with a race time of 8 hours, 13 minutes, while Unadjusted Fans took second after crossing the finish in 8 hours, 23 minutes. Rounding out the top three for the division was The Sledgehammers, who later finished with a time of 7 hours, 52 minutes. Crossing the finish line before other teams didn’t necessarily mean you placed higher in the results, as teams were required to trek to as many of the 13 checkpoints as possible. For each missed checkpoint, teams were penalized. Only five of the 17 teams hit all 13 checkpoints.

One of those teams was local twosome MTs – 1, consisting of Erika Tokarz and Katie Rutherford of Pinedale.

According to Tokarz, the event was an amazing experience that showed her areas she’d never witnessed before.

“It definitely took me place I’d never go on my own,” she said. “You had to hike into some gnarly places.”

As the pair rested and waited for the next team to finish on the lush grasses of Lakeside Lodge, they reflected on the full day of racing. From one of their Fitbit watches showed a total of 31,600 steps recorded throughout the day, which took into account the paddling across the lake, they believed.

Tokarz said the race was unique and fun due to the fact that each team had to choose their specific route. There really was no requirement for checkpoints, and teams had to decide the path they take and how the terrain could benefit them in the long run.

“Our strategy was to run our own race,” Tokarz said. “(At first) we started following teams and got way off base. There was no set route; you chose your route. A straight line was not always the easier route. It was a blast. We’ve been asking for something like this in Pinedale for awhile.”

Hull, who has assisted with adventure races in Alaska, was pleased with how the first race went in Pinedale and that the hard work put into setting up the course paid off with racers enjoying a day of friendly competition in the mountains.

“I think this went about as good as could be expected,” he said. “We had no major injuries and everyone seemed to have a good time.”

He said all teams were able to complete the course, which is just what he was shooting for when designing it. He wanted it to be difficult, yet not too challenging for teams.

“I felt we found that balance,” Hull said of the difficulty. “The community as a whole was phenomenal; volunteers did a great job. (Tip Top) Search and Rescue was out there all day on boats. Everyone jumped in with both feet and did an awesome job.”

He said the race saw youngsters in middle school complete the race all the way up to racers over 60. Even a pregnant woman finished the course, Hull noted.

“It was a diverse group and only two teams had experienced adventure racing before,” he said.

One of those teams was Frogwarts, who finished hours before the rest of the field. Hull said they are one of the premier adventure racing teams in the country, and will be one of the 30 teams competing in the upcoming Adventure Racing World Championship that runs from Jackson to Casper from Aug. 10-16.

Hull said the first race of its kind in Pinedale has already garnered interest from local volunteers who assisted with the race to make it a success.

“Volunteers were saying they would like to try it,” he said. “We plan to bring it back next year and people are looking forward to it.”

As the race organizer looks to next year, he hopes a larger field of racers sign up for what will likely be a more challenging race. In addition, he felt the race was a nice way to cap off the second annual Wind River Mountain Festival.

“It was a good culmination of events,” he said. “It worked well.”