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Rough & Ready Challenge: “The Great Carrying Place 5K” by Mark Hatmaker


All right, my stalwart ones! This little PT Challenge is rooted in Five Nations history and a nice demonstration of the stamina of the early frontiersmen and coureur des bois [“woods runners.”]

First the historical background.

The Five Nations were the Five Tribes that united under a loose confederacy known as the Iroquois or Haudenosaunee.

The five tribes that made up the League were: the Mohawk, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga, and Seneca.

In 1722, the south-eastern tribe, the Tuscarora made the League the Six Nations.

The Iroquois League was primarily a Northeastern confederation and it is there that they occasionally accepted white men into their tribal system. This acceptance was not easy to come by—one was expected to perform many feats of woodsmanship, bravery and cooperation to be accepted, One such man’s account [William Johnson] gives us a little peek into how rigorous the initiation was.

The Iroquois tribes were masters of river-navigation via canoe, bull-boat, traverses, and fording.

At the headwaters of the Mohawk river the flow dwindled and to continue to the next major body of water [either southeast towards the ocean or northwest to Lake Ontario] the canoes and gear had to be travelled overland [portage.] That is carried.

The section of geography where the portage began was called The Great Carrying Place.

The distance depended on the height of the river at that time but was usually between four and five miles.

On to the Rough & Ready Challenge!

THE GREAT CARRYING PLACE 5K

·         We’ll go easy on ourselves and cut the travel to 5 kilometers [3.1 miles.]

·         Grab a kayak if you are playing solo, canoe if you have a partner.

·         No kayak or canoe, no problem—I have 4, they average 35-40 pounds unloaded. Grab a KB, weight plate or some such unwieldy object in that range.

·         If you are playing with a partner, my 2-man kayak/canoe comes in around 70 pounds unloaded, so grab a 70#er and you and your partner get on each end of it.

·         Hit the clock and get to work on that distance.

·         DO NOT simply ruck this one. The weight is too evenly distributed. We must have the historical-recreation fun of bearing the load properly.

EXTRA CREDIT

·         Take this one to the woods for terrain variations.

·         Increase the weight to represent the fact that the vessels were often laden with goods.

Load up my Braves, my Coureur des bois and give her a go!

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