Just Do It

Just imagine it. After only two hours of sleep, you’re rousted awake and, along with four team members, hike and run through the woods into the night.

Enshrouded by fog, you use “orienteering” skills to find poorly marked trails. You bushwhack across a ridgeline and, after about a mile of scrambling through brush, the reward is hiking above the marine layer to be greeted by the first rays of morning sun.

Welcome to the first day of school--Eco-Challenge Adventure School.

Held at Point Mugu State Park, the school trains competitors for the Eco-Challenge, this year a 300-mile-plus endurance race from Aug. 24 to Sept. 1 in British Columbia. Last year’s version of this mega-endurance race was held in Utah. The teams race around the clock, barely stopping for food or rest, which is why the students are quickly taught what it’s like to run and hike with little sleep.

Louise Lovelace, a West Hills resident, is an instructor at the school, and she can show you how to do, well, just about anything that involves traveling from one point to another without a vehicle.

The 42-year-old Lovelace recently worked with Eco-Challenge racers, as well as outdoor enthusiasts who just want to test themselves, showing them the finer points of kayaking, hiking and navigating the mountains at night. Students at the school also learn about horseback riding, mountaineering, mountain biking and a skill called glacier traversing. Not surprisingly, there’s instruction in first aid, too.

In a preview of race conditions, Eco-Challenge students spend four sleep-deprived days covering up to 150 miles.

Although the Eco-Challenge is geared toward competitors, the school modifies the course to accommodate the skills of noncompetitors, whom Lovelace jokingly refers to as city slickers.

There’s also instruction in outdoor survival, teamwork skills and overcoming adversity. Part of Lovelace’s role is fostering unity among her students.

“You’re a facilitator in a position to bring things out in people that they aren’t aware [of],” said Lovelace. “You have so much power as a team.”