2008 Salomon/Moosejaw Fall Adventure Challenge

[Boks]

I want to thank everyone for coming out today for the 2008 Salomon/Moosejaw Fall adventure Challenge. The weather started off a bit chilly but warmed up to be great racing weather.

A special thanks to the volunteers who are vital to making a race happen.

Martha Boks - Set up, Registration, TA4 and Tear down
Hank & Pat Boks - Registration and TA2
Michelle Green - TA1
Andrea Hammond - TA1 and Course Clearing
Jennifer DeShazer - TA2
Terri Kaczor - TA3
Kristin Tillson - TA3
Kimberly Williams - TA3
Matt Johnson - TA2, TA3 and Team recovery
Chad Vanderhulst - TA2, TA3 and Canoe Hauling
Alisa Dean & friend - CP8
Elizabeth Vandermolen - Photography
Brandon Mouw - Course Clearing
Tony and Marci Boks - TA4

Be sure to remember to thank the sponsors and support them when ever possible:
Moosejaw Mountaineering (www.moosejaw.com)
Salomon Sports (www.salomonsports.com/others/)
Hammer Nutrition (www.hammernutrition.com)

Please feel free to give us feed back as it helps us in future races (good or bad). We'll have full results posted Sunday or either Monday.

Boks

[crow]

Boks, great job in the course set up. It wasn't the hardest set up, but had us coming in right at the allowable time. The maps were great. Big, bright and very easy to read.

Thanks to all the volunteers who cheered us on every time we came into contact with them

Jim

"What's the worst that can happen?"

[diane]

Hi Boks,

All is good....just wanted to give feedback on the way our situation was handled.

My teammate and I spent appx 30 minutes helping the guy with the dislocated shoulder. We had to wait for the ambulance, since our phone was the "call back" contact number for the dispatcher....besides being the right thing to do.

Consequently, we cut the single track in order to walk out to the road. We didn't get the first two points on the single track, but chose to move forward.

You adjusted our score by 30 minutes.

My thinking is that we could've finished the entire course (had we known) had we been able to extend the total time by 30 minutes (eg. 6 1/2 hours). We saw many teams complete the "skipped" porition as we were watiting.

As it stands, we're finished the entire course ~ minus the two skipped points on single track ~ at 5:55.

Lopping 30 minutes off didn't really help nor hurt us.


I can't really think of a better way to adjust. But I guess...as feedback....I'd suggest clarifying how to handle this type of situation in the pre-race meeting. Don't skip any points...or...tack time on to the end.

Like I said...all is good. We had a great day. Your thoughts???

[DarrinS]

Nice Job GRAAR!!!

Great Weather and what a way to spend a Saturday morning and part of the afternoon...Running in the woods, Riding Mt Bikes, Canoeing, and add in some Navigation. Nice use of the area, you allowed people to experience a very large section of the State Park and then some. My favorite spot had to be riding by the "Green House" at least that's what it looked like with all the Barb Wire and Fencing...lots of people so joyfully helping work out in the Field

Big Thank You to all the Volunteers!!!! And also a Very Big Thank You to all the Sponsors...Sweet Giveaway and prizes. Will use our Cash prize for the next event!

Darrin S
Team Chrysler

[tzgkd5]

Thanks for another great race, Boks. Once again you picked a great day for a race. Absolutely perfect weather. The course was fast and furious with enough challenges for me to get my moneys worth. Maps were awesome - good detail and very durable.

Thanks to all the volunteers out there. Appreciate your support and help.

[Terri]

First of all, I commend you for stopping your race to help fellow racers in distress. Yes, it is the right thing to do, but for some racers, it would have been a dilemma as to whether they had done their duty by calling for help, especially since the injured racer had a teammate and wouldn’t be left alone to wait for medical attention.
That said, I don’t think it is reasonable to have the race director think of every possible thing that could affect a race and address it in the pre race meeting. Thankfully, situations that impact racers finish are rare. Remember, in the time of decision, Boks’ first priority was ensuring the injury was properly taken care of. He also had to locate a volunteer with a vehicle capable of transporting the injured team’s bikes back to their vehicle. All of this had to done in a fairly short amount of time, under stress. Adding time to the finish seems simple on the surface, but there are hidden implications – volunteers have been on the course as long (or longer than racers) and may not want to/be able to stay the additional time. More importantly, it is not fair to the majority of the teams that must then wait the additional time for a team with an extended finish to complete the course and then wait while the director figures out results with the extended team’s time.
A similar situation happened with the lead teams (as far as losing time during the race). A control was stolen. There is no way to equalize the time teams spent looking for the missing flag. Some spent 15 minutes, while others lucked out and arrived as the call was made to move on. Boks replaced it as soon as he was aware of the situation, but there is no way to level the playing field at that point.
Again, pat yourselves on the back for being good Samaritans and remember, a lot of work goes into this and Michigan promoters do their very best to put on injury and error free races.
Nice job as always, Boks. As a volunteer, I apprecaite that you addressed one of my pet peeves - racers wearing PFDs, but not buckling them and you gave penalties for unsportsman like actions and credit for helping other teams!

[Mark]

Thank you Boks family and all of the other volunteers.

Once again a very well planned and executed race. Nice balance of all of the elements. I'm so impressed with adventure racing in Michigan: great race organizers and very friendly racers.

One suggestion - it would be great to see a few orienterring checkpoints that require a compass to find (at least we felt the proximity of the trails and the defined features made a compass of little value). This would allow the beginners to see how much fun it is to use a compass and would provide more of a challenge to experienced races. Because most points were optional, teams could choose to skip the challenging points.

Overall though it was another very fun race.

[Capo]

Awesome race! I always like the FAC and the fast race that you provide. It was nice to see so many beginners getting their first feel for Adventure Racing.

Its always an interesting laugh to see people in short shorts not knowing the extent of briars and possible poison ivy! I chaulk that up to an invaluable learning experience.

Kudos to the race staff, volunteers, and those who had helped the injured!

Also, checked out the results excel file and it seems corrupted. You may want to repost.

As always Great Race!

- Stoney Creek Bike 1 & 2

[ejksocr5]

Once again, another great race! Thank you Boks and all of the volunteers.

The course was a great balance of being challenging enough for an experienced team to sprint through and enjoy it and easy enough for a beginner to finish and learn a lot about adventure racing. My teammate was a day before decision and new to Adventure Racing. It was a challenge for him but he enjoyed the experience. I really enjoyed being able to introduce another person to the world of AR without scaring him off.

Thanks again and I hope to see everyone again at the December Chill.

Erik

PS I checked the file this morning and it was still fine so you may want to check your end Capo.

[Catfish]

This was my first race it was great!

I thought that the course was challenging but also easy enough for beginers to navigate without too much trouble.

Thanks a lot for a great day!

[Capo]

ejksocr5 - Thanks

Problem was at my end for the results sheet! Sorry for the confusion. Lost the data in the transfer somehow, but am now good to go!

[Bernie]

Another great GRAAR race!

The race briefing was short and sweet, just the way we like it, and the post-race awards presentation started promptly. And, as usual, lots of swag!

We thought that the navigation was a bit on the easy side and would have liked to see some more challenging nav on the o-course. We were impressed by the quality of the canoe and equipment (I can't remember the company's name right now for some reason)....surprisingly good for rentals!

Thanks to GRAAR, Moosejaw and Solomon and especially to the volunteers!!!!

[Brent]

Great race Boks, we really enjoyed ourselves and had a great time, the stage starts that you have started doing really does help break up the field, I only ran into a few log jams of bikers. I loved the little twist of bikes in canoes, great use of Ionia rec area. Good maps and quality race instructions, can't wait for the Spring Adventure Challenge

[Boks]

Thanks for everyone who took the time to give us feedback, either here on the message board or emailed directly to me. I think the the most common feedback was that the orienteering navigation was too easy. Many experienced teams could have done without a compass. While we target the Adventure Challenges to beginners to intermediates, we also like to make it challenging enough for the experienced teams.

Again, a huge thanks to the volunteers and sponsors!!! Without the list of volunteers in the first post we could not put on races. The sponsors also stepped up with almost $4000 in prizes and giveaways not including the $700 GRAAR paid out to the top open teams.

You can expect to see an announcement in the next month or so on the 2009 Spring Adventure Challenge. I'm working really hard on getting another perfect weather day.

Until then, enjoy the pictures we've posted:
http://picasaweb.google.com/mjboks/2008 ... eChallenge

Thanks again,

Boks