As the sun began to set, spectators stood on the sand of Granite Beach and watched as over 330 teams started the Hi-Tec Adventure Racing Series at Sacramento, California's Folsom Lake. In a muddled start, two members of each team were positioned in their kayaks 200 yards out into the lake while the third member had to swim out. How in a sea of yellow Sevylor kayaks was one member to find his team? Some waiting teammates waved paddles, some waved shirts or tights, while the majority simply yelled, "Over here!"

In what has become typical fashion, Team Balance Bar blasted out to a strong early lead due to the swimming prowess of its "water nymph" Sylvia Corbett. Emerging first from the 2.2-mile kayak leg, Corbett, 31, Bob Schultz, 38, and Corky Ewing, 43, then took the three-mile orienteering section with a vengeance. Expanding their lead, Balance Bar never looked back.

As darkness enveloped the racers, a 3.5-mile trail run followed by a 10-mile mountain bike section and a final 3.5-mile trail run awaited. Spectators, friends and family anxiously wondered which of the 330 teams, the largest contingent to date, would emerge from the void.

The area around Folsom Lake is crisscrossed with four-wheel drive trails, fire roads and punishing singletracks. As if rock, roots, sand and the desert night weren't enough, racers contended with the local flora as well — thorny thistles, known to locals as "Goatheads," famous for chewing up tires and tubes, and uncovering human flesh, riddled the course.

The Special Tests prevailed, with the Spider Web, the Hole in One, and the famous Military Wall reemerging. A new test, the Box, reared its ugly head here, with teams entering a four-by-four foot box. All three team members had to get out of the box without touching the box at any time. Again, strategy prevailed.

While Team Balance Bar posted its third 1st-place finish of the season, with Team Red Bull clinging mightily to 2nd, a race developed for the last podium spots. Teams Hi-Tec, dsports.com, FogDog, Exide Batteries and Timex all battled for the remaining three spots.

Team Hi-Tec, missing its stalwarts, Karen Lundgren and David Kelly — both are racing for Team Hi-Tec USA in the Eco-Challenge Sabah 2000 in Borneo, Malaysia, emerged shakily in 13th place after the kayak section. Able-bodied replacements Jason Poole and Joan Miller, however, pressed the pace and climbed steadily through the rankings to post Team Hi-Tec with a 3rd place finish overall.

Dsports.com, riding the adrenaline high from its first podium visit just a month earlier in Dallas, continued with a strong showing, crossing the finish line in 4th.

The outcome for the remaining podium spot was battled out in the final two special tests. Team FogDog and Team Exide Batteries battled side-by-side into and out of the "Box" and up and over the "Military Wall," with a sprint down the 100-foot long finishing chute deciding the victor. Team FogDog out muscled Team Exide by only one second in the closest 5th-place finish in Hi-Tec's history. Honorable mention must go to 6th-place Team Exide Batteries who were rumored to have fought off a bout of gastrointestinal distress as well as getting lost in the desert night on the bike course.

At these races, even seasoned adventure racers suffer from moments of doubt, fear and anxiety. While stumbling in the dark through the second run of the night and dry-heaving due to dehydration, Team Timex member Diana Mann was heard moaning through her tears, "The Wall, The Wall!" — alluding to the now famous 13-foot high military wall awaiting all teams at the end of the race. (Mann plummeted off the back of the wall last year in Portland, Oregon, suffering a compressed vertebrae and bone chips in her elbow.) Even though she has successfully summitted and descended the Wall countless times, the fear factor, which can catch any racer at any time, caught her. Mann, though, would rebound and Team Timex would take 8th-place overall.

The all-male division saw Team Armadillo Willy's/PowerBar emerge victorious, while Team Activate.com.uk finished 2nd and Team Ugly Eagles 3rd. Team Activate.com.uk gathered enough points with its 2nd-place finish to move into the top spot in the national point series in the all-male category.

The all-female team, Team Heineken, continued its reign on the podium with the team's second 1st-place finish this season. Rounding out the top-three female teams were Team PC&E Racing and Team Ain't No Picnic.

In the Corporate Division, Team Armadillo Willy's II took top honors, while Team Noelle2k.com grabbed 2nd place with Team Engage taking 3rd.

The Masters Division saw Team Auburn top-out the field with Team Dog and Team Kitchell Custom Homes taking 2nd and 3rd, respectively.

— Tiger Mann, Team Timex Adventure Racing, MountainZone.com Correspondent