Sorry for the delay in posting. Life continued to press on regardless of F3 responsibilities. However, without further adieu, here we go…
Noticiably absent Popcorn and Cherry Bomb (mentioned by Enron), FNG-1 New Guy, FNG-2 Rapture, FNG-3 Couch Potato, FNG-4 New Guy. There were 2 namings. One naming we counted the first hour as his first post and the second hour+ as his second (The Polar Bear as a first post. Think about that for a minute. That must have been an expert EH skill).
Freedom and YHC had a bright idea of combining the theme of the traditional CSAUP "Bear" from back in the day with the ever-evolving concept of The Polar Bear. The main idea was to have a scavenger hunt/adventure race at different locations around the Bailey Road Park area. We spent the better part of 6 weeks planning and the better part of an hour setting up the morning of. We hope it turned out well for everyone. If it didn't, there are openings for the planning committee next year. Please see one of us for applications.
There were several pax that thought it would be a good idea to run before The Polar Bear. I think they were able to get in a total of 8+ miles when it was all said and done. T-Claps. All in all, the entire "route" of The Polar Bear was just over 3 miles with many stops along the way. Unfortunately, as with all scavenger hunts and adventure races, there were lots of surprise distances at each stop along the way.
We started off with a warmorama in a circle of sorts. Most people listened, some were highly concentrated on the 2ndF portion of a CSAUP event. We counted off by 10s, which should have given us 10 equal teams. When the captains of each team came up for the initial instruction, 7 showed up. When the captains went back to their teams to share the instructions, we were down to about 6 teams left. Hey, 2ndF always prevails. The Race City constituent were resistant to splitting up as they all called off "11" when we were counting off, but they quickly saw the benefit of meeting new pax (and/or they just met up later). Regardless, we were off and running around Bailey Road Park (like chickens with heads cut off)
At the sound of the air horn (or the yelling at the top of our lungs), pax came back to the parking lot and started tallying points and writing down letters to the secret encoded phrase. Then we moved on to Bailey Road Middle School. Here is where things continued to go awry, more teams were melded, some teams were split and others just disbanded. There were locations with quadrephelia, rail plank walks, spirit rock squats, etc. The complaints started rolling in aplenty and Freedom started to pretend to take notes for next year. Another air horn (and a corralling of the cats) ensued and we were on our way to Hough High. Another scavenger hunt, points collecting and letters written down. More spirit rock squats, hill work (11s), tire flipping and a water stop (you're welcome)
We moved on to the next location keeping the Shovel Flags out in front (sometimes) via the greenway and stopped there for some cacka lacka fun fun. On to Plum Creek Park for some slide riding, back riding, creek crossing, body builders and lunges at various locations. There was a rule you could use the bridge, but only if you paid the toll of 20 burpees. We were surprised to see some pax actually take advantage of that toll. Is it still January? Another trek down a greenway (remember, you can't use the bridges) with some added Zamparini, lunge walks and bear crawls. On to the backside of Hough for quadrephilia over some benches (a real crowd pleaser), table top LBCs, decline planks, bear crawls and a real favorite, the obstacle course.
Here we could see that the pax were getting a little weary, so we took 5 minutes at the water stop and gave the teams a chance to figure out the secret encoded phrase. As with all F3 team competitions, if one team gets the answer, it is quickly shared with the other teams. We had one last stop to make for an official Polar Bear event to count. A stop at the Bailey Glen fountain for only 3 teabag squats each. Each team had the option to sit out one pax. Stalker from Davidson was the only one that we know of that did a full submersion BEAST MODE! Did someone check to make sure he didn't get a flesh-eating bacteria? Our last pax got back at precisely 9:29am. Promises kept.
Honorable Mentions:
F3 Armed Forces at their finest as Gnarly Goat in his full cotton Navy sweatsuit and Lawn Dart in his Army camo were working out side by side
The six was a little crowded at times. I like to think that there were men looking out for each other (leave no man behind), but maybe all the runners that got extra miles needed a break, too (ahem, Frogger, ahem)
Toxic riding Possum's back whilst slapping his backside is a sight you cannot unsee. It's on Twitter, if you want to see it again.
Team Mooresville will always be known as Team 11 for many years to come.
Many thanks to Bob Ross for the shirt design and Carpetbagger for photographing, videographing, tweeting, coordinating the coffee and doughnuts and being a support vehicle. AYE!
Check out the hashtag #F3PolarBear2022 on Twitter for pictures and video of the event.
Please add comments below for anything we missed or forgot.