Hi all...Wow!, that’s normally all I can say after directing a race. Seeing all my old adventure racing friends and making new ones was great as always. I was very impressed with the effort of all of our teams! I’m grateful not only for the generosity of my volunteers and my sponsor, but with the physical effort of all of you who were giving the race all that you had. Adventure racers are truly a tough group. Who else can survive a 12 hour race of running, paddling, mountain biking, road biking and bushwhacking through the woods to find a bunch of silly little flags?
Before we get to my race recap, I just want to give a big THANK YOU to the people who made this race possible, so thank you Doug P, Jen H, Kelcy B, Scott B, Beth L., Corinne W., Joe E. Keith B., Tom and Brenda M., Rosemary M. Thank You all!!!!!
Onto my race director’s report - the race started with a sprint race for start position, then that damn director forgot to explain completely how he wanted the mental math challenge worked out, well it was nice getting to know each of you at the start with a handshake and a smile....that was a nice way to get us started before we got nasty. Teams then got started with finding 5 controls in the woods; most teams did very well with this and some of the beginning teams even surprised me by finding all 5 controls. Teams continued on by running a few more miles to the start of the NASBOAT paddling section of the race. We had team Ya Mule Quad Squad coming out of the woods first and into the water they went. We added a twist to NASBOAT this year and not only did the competitors have to complete the paddle section, they had to do so while being hunted by the pirates of Ottawa Lake. We had volunteers Keith and Joe working to chase the teams down out on the water and if Keith and Joe caught the teams with a ball thrown into their canoe, they we dead in the water for a total penalized time of one minute. Some damn good paddle splits with 180 Adventure, our strong team of Paula and Carol showing their paddle skill with a total time of 49 minutes. They were followed by Elkbones, Albatross/Masterlock, MAAR, Trail Loving Bastards and a few more teams that showed up with strong paddle times. We had a good time watching the event with the pirates stalking the adventure racers.
Teams then jumped onto their bikes and showed us what they could do on the roads; they biked about 22 miles to the mountain bike trails at John Muir. We found out that Scott of Team Albatross/Masterlock was a true tree hugger, or should we say a tree crasher, when, while road biking down to Muir with teammate Nick, Scott decided to show Nick the correct way to dismount a bike while biking at race pace downhill. Let’s just say, Scott got it worse than the tree....thanks to our doctors on team MAAR that was biking with them and our volunteer nurse Beth who put Scott back together again at the TA. Scott will have a nice adventure racing scar for some years to come and he left not only some of his thumb skin on the course, but one of his shoes, also.
We had some great road biking times from teams Trail Loving Bastards, Elkbones, Precautionary Examples and quite a few more. Team Halling Ass’s Jeff also decided to add to his adventure racing scars by also wiping out on the bike ride down to Muir and leaving some hand skin on the road and a nice nick out of his chin. Good thing adventure racers are tough, both Jeff and Scott got cleaned up and continued racing. All in a day’s work.
We then tried something new with a communication skills event; one team member went into the woods with their cell phone or walkie talkie and the other team member stayed at the TA with a trail map and had to give their team member directions to find two items out on the trail system. Some teams did better than others, but it was good to see that most teams enjoyed a change of pace and a new challenge and time off the bike before mountain biking the green loop at John Muir. Teams with real good communication times were: Elk bones, Precautionary Examples, Zobug, Trail Loving Bastards and a few more.
Then it was onto the mountain biking section of the race and some fast times from Elkbones, Albastross/Masterlock (even with a busted up Scott after his road bike crash), Precautionary Examples, Trail Loving bastards and our youngsters from Stevens Point put together a fast mountain biking time as well as team Integral Imputation from UW Stevens Point. I was happy to hear that we had no serious crashes out there on the trails - thanks to you all for keeping that section of the race safe!
It was then a short bike ride to begin a very long and tough Navigation section at Bald Bluff. It was a hot day for October and some teams were starting to show signs of heat exhaustion. MAAR was doing well in the day until the heat got to one of the, forcing them out of the woods early. Elkbones and Trail Loving Bastards went into the woods about a minute apart so we were curious on how this race was going to end, but Elkbones came out of the woods first in the end and cleared the 8K navigation course. However, some of the teams behind them also had real nice nav. times. Team Albatross/Masterlock had the fastest split on this section, followed by 180 Adventure, Elkbones, Precautionary Examples and a few others. There were also quite a few teams that were quietly putting together a very solid race and getting better at this sport. Teams TOMAC, Gear Posers, Eyes of the World, United Exes, 2 Much Trouble and Met At the Starting Line and a few others were doing quite well chasing down the leaders. Racers then had to road bike 15 miles back to the finish line.
My hat goes off to the overall winning team ELKBONES, who after years of racing the SKMC and doing quite well doing it, won the race and took home the grand prize! Anthony and Mike earned this race and put it all on the line for the win. Second overall and in the same division was Precautionary Examples, Andy and Don, who I would have to say had one of their better races. Third overall was Albatross/Masterlock, Nick and Scott, who did an amazing race even with Scott’s wipeout. I have to give a shout out to our Fourth team overall, 180 Adventure, Paula and Carol, our very fast all-female team. Great job from coming back from behind! My hat goes off to our winning four-person coed team, Ya Mule Quad Squad, Mike, Jon , Michele and Teri, who put together a great job and a fifth place overall finish. And, second in the 4-person coed division went to team
Burley, Mary, Doug, Tony and Joe - great job you four!
I would like to also mention that to all of you who are looking for 3 more quality races you should try if you haven’t already: team Ya Mule is having their annual MAFF adventure race the 1st weekend in November at Lapham peak. We have a link to their race on our site here. Team 180 Adventure also puts on a quality event so make sure you check out their race next summer as well. Team Fat Otter will also have a sprint race in the middle of November at Rock Cut State Park in Rockford, IL. Please check out all of these future races that are coming up!
Also, for any of you looking for a great new teammate, our volunteer Corinne is looking to join up with a beginning team. She has a lot of endurance sports experience and is looking to add adventure racing to her list of sports! You can contact her at clweis50@yahoo.com
Well, it’s time to for me to pick up the course and start thinking about next year. I really enjoyed seeing you all and what a great group of people you all are. But as I go to sleep tonight, one question stays in my head. What the hell happened to that one team that did not even show up? Their team name was: "I WOULD RATHER BE DRINKING". Well, maybe they ended up doing just that instead.
Andy.....over and out with a drink for himself..........here’s to ya all!
