The rain turned a normally passable dirt trail into a clay trap.

The clay coated Carcross adventure racing couple, Greg and Denise McHale’s tires, making it impossible even to roll.

Partway through a 300-mile adventure race in Iowa, the McHales, along with their Tecnu teammates, Alex Provost and Brian Mayer, hiked their bikes onto their backs and kept on trekking.

“That’s just typical adventure racing stuff, dealing with adversity” said Denise McHale from her home in Carcross this morning.

In the moment the racers take comfort in knowing everyone else is facing the same challenges.

McHale and her teammates would go on to win the 500-kilometre Happy Mutant race, the McHales’ first real race in six years.

Before entering into their semi-retirement to start a family and open a business, the McHale’s raced under Supplier Pipeline.

Their decision to return to racing took root during a family vacation in the U.S. last year. They made a few phone calls and Team Tecnu was shuffling up their line-up. The McHales joined the mix and were joined by American Mayer and fellow Canadian Provost.

The McHales went to New Zealand earlier this year, which McHale calls the “home of adventure racing” for a training camp of sorts. They competed in three fun races: a six-hour adventure race, a 24-hour adventure race and a bush marathon.

“That was a really great training camp for us,” said McHale.

When they got home, they were able to keep up the momentum, exploring the trails and water around their Carcross home.

The Iowa edition of the Happy Mutant Adventure Race was the first race the McHales got to do with their new teammates. It was an important test for the team that hopes to chase a world championship title together later this year.

Each teammate plays a role.

Provost and Mayer, who come from an orienteering background, are the navigators.

“It doesn’t matter how fast you’re going if you’re going in the wrong direction,” said McHale.

Her husband Greg is the team motivator.

“And my role, I don’t know, I keep up,” said McHale. “It can be challenging just keeping up with three men.”

The teams of four must have at least one person of the opposite sex. The most common configuration is three men, one woman.

A lot of adventure racing is just dealing with the unknowns as they come up, while competing and running on very little sleep.

“It can be challenging when you’re dealing with sleep deprivation and things not going right,” said McHale. “People’s personalities can come out. You get used to having to roll with things.”

The race itself started Friday at 7 p.m., with teams chasing checkpoints in town before heading down the Des Moines River in aluminum canoes.

Team Tecnu got off to an early lead, but a thunderstorm an hour in to the stage had teams pulling off for safety.

After the canoeing stage, they had to hike and bike and hike and bike, gathering more checkpoints before the race finished Monday afternoon.

After more than two days of racing, Team Tecnu crossed the finish line, with a large lead.

As she finished, McHale thought that they had made the right decision to get back to racing. With two kids and a business, it’s a big commitment to race and to be away from their families.

“I feel grateful really that we can still get out there and do this,” she said.

The McHales are now preparing for their next race, Wyoming’s Cameco Cowboy Tough, in mid-July. The sold-out adventure race is an Adventuring World Series Event and a qualifier for the Australia’s World Championships in November.