2018 GORUCK Philly 50 Mile Star Course AAR

We came into the GORUCK Philadelphia 50 mile star course with 2 teams.  

Team Fit N Fun Life and Star Course Drifters

We had a team of 5 and a team of 2, and we planned to keep everybody together.

 First we met in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.  We arrived a few hours early to scope out the area and find some parking.

After walking around a little we headed over to the start point (Paines Park), to meet with Cadre Flash and Cadre Rob.  We got through roll call and all the admin stuff.

This is where we were informed on how to post to our Instagram account to show we made it to all the points.  Also we found out about a HQ member (Not sure if they were really for GORUCK HQ or maybe just another GRT) was there for support throughout the night.

Then the clock started and we received our list of points.

First step was to plan our route.  This took us between 30 to 45 minutes.  It was well worth it.  The biggest problem we had was there were more points than Google would accept and we didn't know the area well.  We tried the Road Warrior app but it would not accept all the points either, so we subscribed and that worked great.  We used this for navigation and used Google maps for route planning.

We decided to go to the farthest point first which was the Thomas Mill Covered Bridge.  Google even found us a short cut down a trail.  I was sort of surprised that it was even on Google Maps.

At the bridge we met Cadre Rob and some shadows who offered us some snacks.

This was an out and back, then our next point was the Ben Franklin Statue at College Hall.

At this point it started raining pretty good.  Next point was the Ritten House Square Lion.

Next was the Love Park and the Love statue.

Next was Philadelphia City Hall

Next was Lincoln Financial Field

The next point was Fort Mifflin, this was quite a hall because there was not a good way to get to it other than an elevated bridge that took us much further than we needed to go before we could get off the bridge.  On the way we stopped into a hotel for the restroom, but they were nice enough to allow us to fill out water bladders too.  At Fort Mifflin was Cadre Rob with some more snacks.

After retracing our path we were back into the center of the city and were able to hit a few points quickly.

Geno's Steak

Italian Market

Magic Garden

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

Congress Hall

Old City Hall

Elfreths Alley

Firemans Museum

The next point was a little further across the bridge to New Jersey, to see the Battle Ship New Jersey.  We had to wait for the bridge to open, so it's lucky we were messaged this by the HQ member, because we would have tried to go there early and not been allowed across the bridge.

We only made a few stops which were mainly for restrooms, a few quick breaks to fix feet, and one gas station stop for some food.

Our final point was the Eastern State Penitentiary.

Then it was back to the start point to finish up.

We finished in 16:57 and covered 50.19 miles.

99 began the course and 62 finished.  We finished with all 7, so no one quit on either team.

Conclusion:

This is a great event, and mixes it up a little from other GORUCK events.  It is basically like a big scavenger hunt.

Here are a few take aways if it is your first star course.

Get a month subscription to Road Warrior for route planning and spend some time in the beginning to get a good plan together.

Train with your gear, this is one of the most important parts.  Remember you don't need tons of food, most events are in cities so there is always places to stop for quick food.

And the most important thing, is keep moving.  No matter what keep moving.