The Hi-Tec Adventure Race brings the night owls out! Racers were stretching when they should have been sleeping in an attempt to get ready for the "Dawn in Dallas" Hi-Tec Adventure Race this past weekend, Sunday, July 15, 2001. The race could have been easily mistaken for a nighttime search party or a miner's convention with the bobbing headlights bouncing around in the pitch black. Each racer was required to supply a hands free lighting system to get them through the first leg of the race, a 6-mile trail run.

Special Test #1 came during the pre-race meeting on Saturday when racers were informed that prior to the race they would only be given a vague racers guidebook outlining instructions for the special tests, a rope, and a Ziploc bag. The bang of the cannon started the racers off with headlights cutting through the darkness for the first leg of the race, the trail run into the woods. Special Test #2 surfaced at the start of the race when racers had to tie three knots in a rope and all three team members had to hold the knots during the entire run.

When Team Balance Bar emerged from the darkness for the end of the run, the sun was starting to provide a little light to assist. Teams looked like trapped animals at Special Test #3, the cargo net crawl. Headlamps were wrestled off competitors while the participants squirmed there way through the cargo net to Special Test #4, the no hands bungee web. The no hands bungee web is a test where one team member must pass through the bungee circle without touching it and the other two members of the team may not use any part of their bodies from their shoulders to the tips of their fingers. Many different approaches were used to weave the third member through the bungee. Once teams were through, they moved on to the first mountain bike leg.

The first mountain bike section is where the racers found Special Test #5, the ride and tie, where two bikes could be used for the three-team members to complete the 5.7-mile course. With only two bikes to complete the course, one member had to be on foot at all times. Many teams switched team members running and biking and would drop bikes along the route hoping the team members behind on foot would recognize the bike and do the leapfrog of bikes successfully. Special Test #6, the tension traverse, which has never seen before in the Hi-Tec Adventure Racing Series and provided a lot of problems for many teams. Team Balance Bar held a significant lead coming into the tension traverse and became visibly shaken when challenging elite teams approached, attempted and advanced before they could determine the strategy that would work for them. The diamond like structure had to hold all three team members, not on the same side, remaining in contact with each other while never touching the ground. The tension traverse, an amazing special test, really tested the team work element of adventure racing because in order to be successful, two team members had to lean on each other to support each other with the third member holding on. Team Red Bull caught and passed Team Balance Bar on the tension traverse heading into the kayak.

When the traverse was accomplished the competitors were on to the kayak segment only to find Special Test #7, where the teams had to inflate their kayak before starting the 2-mile kayak leg. After the kayak, racers were onto the second mountain bike leg. Team Red Bull held their lead through the mountain bike section and into Special Test #8, the horizontal ranger weave, where team members had to weave their way under and over five beams while never touching the ground. Special Test #9 was the famous 12ft. wall. The first team member must reach the top with out the use of a rope. Team Red Bull easily overcame the wall and crossed the finish line in an impressive 2:38:52. A surprise finisher was a local competitor Team Luke's Locker who battling over the wall, neck and neck with Team Timex but ended up finishing in 2:39:50 with Team Timex close behind with a 2:39:56 time. Team SoBe had a solid showing with 2:40:43 and Team Balance Bar experiencing many technical difficulties finished 5th with 2:43:10.