W.T.F. ... that’s all you could say if you were from the outside looking in on the start of this race. Is it a bunch crazed cookie eyed pirates or the start of the 24 hour SKMC?
Well, we tried the Minute it to Win It game, "Face the Cookie" to start the race and if anything , it made for an interesting race start.
From the director’s eyes, it was another exciting race to watch. The race started with a 3-4 mile trek and then onto the bikes for a 16 mile ride to John Muir and the Mtn biking. The start was interesting to watch. We had a close battle with Team Elk Bones, Jeff and Jeff and Ya Mule Clunkers all battling it out for the lead. We had some fast Mtn bike times from quite a few teams and I thank you for keeping that section of the race safe. We then moved onto the aerial map over at Nordic and it was good to see that most teams got a feel for that map and turned in fast times also. Then it was back on the bikes and over to Rice Lake for the start of our 1st real navigation challenge and map 2. Although the top 3 men’s teams went into the woods first, we got a surprise when our tough all-female team 180 Adventure came out of the woods in 2nd place overall, knocking the map out in about 2 1/2 hours! Although there were some great times around the 3 hour mark from Ya Mule Clunkers, Elk Bones and Jeff and Jeff, it was also great to see teams No Brains No Headaches, Precautionary Examples, Fat Otter and Child’s Voice get all of the controls in decent times .
We then moved onto the paddle and also had some great times out there. I thought team Two Ya Mules were quietly putting together a solid race, but they misunderstood and thought that they needed to be off the water by 6:30pm. Some of that misunderstanding will have to be my fault for not stressing that I wanted teams to complete all of the paddling and the other disciplines and if they needed to cut something short, I wanted it to be the navigation. However, my hat goes off to that team for being good sports and finishing strong anyhow.
We then tried something new and had a break in the middle of the race and continued on with the rest of the Minute to Win It games. I will have to say that there were some interesting dance moves out there and if anything else, it gave us some laughs. Team Salamanders stole the show and won the most points in the games and got a 10 minute head start going into our night section of the race.
The whole reason for the break was to have some time together. Our Adventure Racing community is loaded with some interesting people and it has been fun getting to know a lot of you over the years.
At the break, it was clear that we had some injuries out there after a hard day of racing. Team Jammer had a teammate out with a bad ankle turn and it was really swelling up and team Child’s Voice had both feet and knee injuries. Team Fat Otter was suffering and so were a few others. We had an interesting surprise with the strength of one of the young Stevens Point teams, team Cyclic AMP was hanging in there well and their captain, Dani, was looking real strong. Dani had a lot of fire throughout the race and if she continues with ARing, she will be a force to be reckoned with!
We started the night with a 3-4 mile trek and then a 10 mile bike ride around the lake. It was then onto the long night navigation that I made sure was tough enough to challenge even the best adventure racer. It was really good to see that Ya Mule Clunkers, Elk Bones and team Jeff and Jeff were able to find all the controls and get back before the cutoff. However, it was also great to see all teams give it a try. It was a really dark night out there and was not an easy event. We then continued on to the finish with both road biking, Mtn biking (thanks to all teams for keeping that section safe even though we heard that team Vyster had some issues with a nasty fall but Rick continued on with his battle scar).
Teams were getting quite tired at this point and I know it was not easy to finish up.Once teams got back to Mackie, I had another nav section set up but it was a long trek to get there. Teams showed their guts and determination to get back out into the woods to pick up a few more controls. I was shocked to see Heather from Fat Otter turn to her teammate and want to go back out - they looked wiped out and still wanted a little more work before the 8:30am cut off.
My hat is off to our winning team, Ya Mule Clunkers, Mike and Tom. They had one hell of a race and it’s good to see that Mike still has what it takes to win a tough race after all those years of racing! They were followed by a very solid race from both Elk Bones and team Jeff and Jeff. We have to give a big honorable mention to 180 Adventure, Paula and Carol. Without the break, they may have finished higher. A gutsy race from those ladies.
In our 4-person team race, MAAR and Vyster were battling it out all day and night and MAAR finished just ahead of Vyster but a great race from both teams and team Unknown and Very Good looking took 3rd in that division. Great job from all 3 teams.
A lot of you survived a very tough race, one of my toughest, and even if you did not finish, all of you were strong in my book. It was great seeing some of our new teams return like our friends from Rhinelander . They had a solid race also. Team Roving Tortoises just wanted to try the day shift sections of the race and it was great having Tom and Rebecca out there. My hat is off to all of you.
Finally, I really want to say a BIG thank you to all of you who helped me during the race. Kelcy, Jen, Joe E, Keith B., Kathy B., Gail D., Jeff P. , Jed P., Scott B., Rosemary , Tom, Brenda and Alyssa and all of you who pitched in some to make my day easier. I really appreciate it!
Also a HUGE thank you to both my present sponsor, 1st Basis and Doug Pastrich and my past sponsors Joe and Cathy from Masterlock. Thanks a Ton!!!
I hope all of you were challenged and my next race will more than likely be a 10-12 hour race but who knows???
Thanks for coming out.........WARS
