Smartblast Race in Pontiac

[Gordon]

Great race put on by the Smartblast team. It was a good mix of traditional and urban adventure racing. Was surprised how much time we spent in the woods. I should have worn long pants. I'll pay for that for a few days. Thanks for putting the race together.

[DarrinS]

SMARTBLAST_____Thanks to all the Volunteers Saturday; they all helped through out the day and from all of us at TEAM CHRYSLER...We Say a Big Thank You to each of you!!!

Great Job Gary and Marcia!!! The paddle section sure was a lot of fun and really enjoyed the extra distance out on the water. Planet Rock once again provided a great challenge for all...if you took the tougher section on the 55' wall climb. The Swag/Give Away's after the race were really nice…Thanks to all the Supports!!! I really think you made all the beggineers feel great with all the give away items.

Hmmm, interesting things our team saw on the O-Course...I never felt like we left the City; the Urban feel was everywhere to be found at each checkpoint, even the Culvert below the old railroad tracks...man oh man, I wonder what goes on there at night...Just loved the paint job and collection of goodies beneath the bridge. Maybe the next race will have a challenge to see how well each team can create a better Wall Painting

[Terri]

Great job Marcia, Gary and Andrea! This was my first time as a participant instead of a volunteer at an adventure race and you certainly challenged me! You did a great job combining traditional aspects of the sport with the urban flair! I like the thinking aspects of some of the CPs (the “pit” and the urban challenges), while Steve enjoyed the challenges of the Murphy course. The map scale made it tough and some of your clues were just ambiguous enough to keep us working hard. As a non mountain biker, I found the track out of Murphy tough – and I can say I’ve survived a full wipe out. Riding on the railbed with the large stones was work!! I think all of the decisions racers had to make about which CPs to go for made for an interesting race. One correction to your pre race instructions – there was not enough junk to build a car in Murphy Park – there was enough to furnish the entire house and fill the garage.
I’m amazed at how many sponsors you were able to get to donate prizes and that post race meal was amazing. All of your volunteers did a great job – and we appreciate the gear checks.

Terri
Team "He Owed Me One"

[smartblast.org]

I do not know the Infitteria team does more than one a year.

All of your kind feedback may convince Andrea and I to try it again (Marcia already has some "new" ideas for next year). We put a ton of effort in our first race, but without the generous sponsors, wonderful volunteers and great racers it would not have been as much fun.


The AR community is really a great group. The volunteers had never seen an adventure race before and most have already said they want to come back next year because the racers were so nice. Except for two, and now they want to try a race!


There were a few things I did not count on. The first being how many teams went after all 4 CP's on the canoe and tried to get all CP's at Murphy too. That made for a hectic finish and delayed results. Maybe it should have been 8 hours but might have scared away some begineers. The vegatation at Murphy got really thick in last few weeks. We started scouting in the fall and did not realize it would be that thick this early in the year. I did not think teams would have that hard of time with the man-made pit either which was unique to an urban race.

Race results are posted along with 400+ pictures and a link to the article that was published in The Oakland Press http://www.smartblast.org/results.htm

Again, a Great Big Thank You to everyone that came out on Saturday and had a BLAST!

Gary

[tzgkd5]

Thanks you guys for the feedback and especially for giving us a chance by coming out and doing The Blast. It was truly a labor of love!!
Terri – I didn’t realize this was your first race as a racer. Good job on the 2nd place finish. Sorry to hear about the wipe-out at Murphy Park.

We appreciate the feedback from racers. In case we ever do this again, it’s good to hear what people liked as well as what they didn’t like.