Tuesday, May 13th, my nerves never calmed down between reading and napping, nor on the walk over to the park. We were told to check in at 6pm, and I figured I would be able to get away and get some food, but not so. Once we were let into the holding area we weren’t supposed to leave. There was a lot of waiting though, but finally around 7:30pm we were given the course walk through where they demonstrated each obstacle and explained the rules. Then more waiting.
Around 9pm the first people started going through the course. The first guy a walkon, blazed through the course and set the bar pretty high. While continuing to wait, I talked with the other competitors, meeting some really cool people, like Papa Ninja, Chris Johnson, and many others. Around 12am I was called forward with a group of five others to get ready. I was still nervous, but now cold, tired, and hungry to boot. They had some snacks, bananas, trail mix, and gatorade, but it wasn’t satisfying to keep eating all night long. I saw a lot of people fall on the first and third obstacles, and even some of the people that went right before me.
Finally my turn came. I stepped into the camera zone, still nervous, but said my name as prompted and walked up to the starting platform. The quintuple steps were intimidating, especially with the water so close. When signal was given, I decided to take the safe route, jumping and grabbing the top of each step. And it paid off, as I climbed up the ramp at the end of the steps.
The second obstacle was the cat jump/grab, an 8-foot jump to a padded wall, and then a 6ft jump to a higher wall. I under estimated the first jump and barely caught the front edge of the first cat wall. I only had a pinch grip on the corners, but I refused to go out there. I fought and pulled myself up. Once atop the first wall I jumped to the second one a little more confident. The last part was just jumping down to a pad, which was no problem.
Next came a 15ft log roll, this one took out a lot of people, mostly at the end. I sprinted across and managed to get most of the way before the log started to roll. With a last second jump I made it to the end platform by doing a shoulder roll.
The fourth obstacle was a trampoline jump to two hanging cones, then a transfer to a single hanging cone, followed by a transfer to the cargo net, which you then had to climb down and under. The first part was intimidating enough, but I got enough spring off the tramp and then grabbed the first set of cones. To be honest I was surprised I was holding the cones in my hands, but kept going. I transferred to the single cone, and then swung to the cargo net. I was super tense at that point, clutching each hold on the net much tighter than I should have. too tightly. I made it off the net without touching the water, and then went right for the next obstacle, the devil steps.
I was hoping for any other obstacle at this point than the Devil Steps, but you don’t get a choice. I clutched the first step and continued up three more steps to the first transition. My forearms were worn out, and I was confused as how to make the transition. I lost my momentum and struggled to lift myself high enough to grab the back of the next step. I tried several times, but finally lost my grip and fell into the water.
I climbed from the water and was lead by the cameras for an immediate post interview about what happened. I did well enough that I had to stick around in the “winners’ circle” all night. If there were not enough people to make it as far as I did then I would go on to the next stage. Thankfully I had a change of clothes and long-johns as it was still pretty cold. There was even a point in the night that the quintuple steps froze over, and the crew broke out blow torches to thaw them. I got a front row seat the rest of the night, got fed a cold cut sandwich, and got to watch/cheer on a few veteran and the rest of the newcomers after me.
Around 5:30am the sun started to rise. I hadn’t slept that whole time, but was definitely ready for it. At 6am they announced the list of who would come back the next day. I didn’t make the cut off, they only took the top 30 (I was in the top 40s). Overall I had a great experience. And even with a few near misses on some of the obstacles, I was satisfied with how well I performed. This was my first tryout on ANW, and I am looking forward to next year!