SCHRIEVER AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. (AFNS) --
After they crossed the finish line in the 2009 Wilderness Challenge adventure race, Capts. Stephen Toth, Caitlyn Diffley, Joseph Revetariano and Senior Airman Cory Marion felt like they had reached their physical limits.
Two days of running, hiking, paddling and biking throughout West Virginia's mountains and rivers had brought the group to sheer exhaustion. Every muscle screamed in pain. Lungs burned and minds drifted.
They had just finished one of the most physically and mentally challenging events they'd ever endured. Yet, if you'd asked them at the time if they would do it again, all would answer with an enthusiastic, "yes".
So it was no surprise when Navy Morale, Welfare and Recreation officials announced they were hosting the 10th Annual Wilderness Challenge in Fayetteville, W.Va., that Schriever Air Force Base's team was one of the first to sign up.
"We had two goals coming in," Captain Toth said. "Improve on last year's time and be the Air Force's number one team."
This year, Team Schriever traversed the 52-mile course in 8:29. That's 10 minutes faster in 2009.
Though they finished in sixth place for the second consecutive year, they capped this year's event by hoisting the championship trophy as the Air Force's top team.
"We were able to identify our weaknesses and incorporate that into our training for this event," Captain Toth said. "And, we had a better understanding of what we were about to do."
Captain Diffley figured the team started out too fast last year.
"We were able to balance each event better this time," she said. "We worked better as a team, and though we didn't get to do a lot of training together because of our conflicting schedules, each of us knew the things we needed to work on."
Adventure racing is a relatively new sport to the U.S. Most races incorporate trail running and mountain biking into their formats. Other challenges are decided by individual race organizers, but usually include some type of river rafting or rope course.
The Wilderness Challenge, an event solely for military teams, presents athletes with five challenges during two days. This year, the teams started with an 8 kilometer mountain-trail run followed by a 15-mile white water rafting challenge.
Team Schriever completed the mountain-trail run in 41:00, then hopped in a raft and paddled through 15 miles of class-3 and class-5 river rapids, finishing in 2:17.
"It sounds easier than it is," Captain Toth said. "The scenery is breathtaking at times, or so we're told. We didn't notice because we never looked up from the water -- we were paddling constantly."
At the end of the first day, the team sat in seventh place.
After a team meal and few hours of rest, they arrived on course at 6 a.m. for day two. By daybreak, they were attacking the 10-mile mountain bike challenge. Coming in, the team had looked forward to this part of the event, but once on course they'd learned what a solid week of rain can do to a bike trail.
"To say it was muddy was an understatement," Captain Diffley said. "At times we were crossing knee-deep mud. You can't ride through that stuff, you've got to just pick up your bike and try to hike through it."
But, the course was difficult for everyone, and Team Schriever struggled through in 1:06. They passed several teams along the way, but considering each team started at different times, they had no idea where they sat in the standings.
Covered, head to toe in mud, they shed their bikes and jumped back into the river for the 7-mile duckie raft challenge. In this event, each team split into two duckie rafts and paddled two-by-two for 7 more miles.
Then it was on to the last event, a 15-mile mountain hike. And this wasn't your average family hike over a smooth trail. Instead, teams were faced with heavy elevation changes over jutting rocks and boulders, at times climbing at a 10-degree incline.
Several hours later, they learned they'd captured the Air Force team title, and all of the pain drifted away. Once they arrived back at Schriever AFB, they presented their championship plaque to Col. John Shaw, the 50th Operations Group commander.
"This is one of the most fun things I've ever done," Captain Toth said. "Rev (Captain Revetariano) was our inspirational leader and (Airman Marion) was our team captain, and they both did a great job. We're all sort of alpha personalities, so it's easy for us to get on each other's nerves, but we found ways to work together and accomplish our goal."
Captain Diffley said all of the team members will likely face permanent changes of station in the coming year, so it could be difficult to get everyone together for next year's race.
"Adventure racing really challenges your fitness level in many different ways," she said. "All of us compete in marathons and other individual types of sports, so it was great to be able to be part of a team again."