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2003 SALOMON/MOOSEJAW DECEMBER CHILL
Salomon North America and Moosejaw Mountaineering where proud to host the 2nd annual December Chill that was held Saturday Decmeber 6, 2003 in the Holly Recreation Area near Holly, Michigan.
» Results Spreadsheet
» Race Pictures
Event Recap:
Saturday December 6th turned out to be a perfect Michigan December day for the 2nd annual December Chill Adventure Race. In the early morning, temperatures stayed just below freezing, but by sun up, the temperatures steadied out just above freezing. The wind stayed mild and the sun even popped out now and then to create a perfect race day.
Registration began at 6:30am in the complex of canopies set up by race staff. This "tent city" served as the headquarters for the race at Wildwood Beach in the Holly State Recreation Area. It provided some shelter from cold while participants got registered. Most participants seemed thankful for this since they knew they would be braving the elements all day. Just past 8:00am racers received maps, a course description, and instructions from race staff. The course was revealed to be a bike leg of roughly 20 miles with a significant single track section, followed by a trekking and coasteering leg, and finishing up with an orienteering leg. Original plans were to have the canoe section follow the bike leg, but cold temperatures left the lakes with over an inch of ice that despite the race staff's last minute efforts forced the cancellation of the canoe leg.
At approximately 8:45am the race got underway with an escorted bike ride on the very busy Grange Hall Road across I-75 toward the Holdridge bike trails. The escorted section was about 5 miles and served as a rolling start for the 62 two person teams that dared to brave the cold. The escort release the racers onto the dirt roads and the top teams rode hard to CP1 which was at the Mtn. Bike trailhead. When they reached the trailhead, they had to find CPs 2-4 on foot, and then return to their bikes to start the single track. The Single Track West Loop lead racers to CPs 6-9, which were placed directly on the trail, but not marked on the maps. At CP 9 racers began a 3/4 mile hike-a-bike section to CP 10. Then it was more road riding on an extremely hilly section of dirt roads to CPs 11-13 and back to the headquarters to CP14 and a transition to foot. This section of biking really split the field, with the leads teams breaking away from the pack.
At the transition area back at Wildwood Beach, racers got new maps for the first trekking section. This section was supposed to be the paddle, but it was replaced with a trekking/coasteering section. Racers were lead out onto a peninsula to get CPs 15 and 16. At 16, they found two canoes waiting on the shore with ropes attached to trees on either side of the 100 foot wide channel. Teams would get in the canoe and pull themselves across the channel using the ropes. This made for a unique water crossing over the frozen channel. Then it was onto CPs17-20, which accounted for the major coasteering section.
At CP20, racers got their final map for the orienteering course. The course consisted of 15 CPs including the Zip Line, at CP30. Teams had to get at least three of these CPs and get to the finish line before 5:00pm to be a ranked team. A score-O style was used so that these CPs could be retrieved in any order. Teams had to use time management to ensure that they could get the maximum number of CPs and still make it back to the finish on time. The top teams displayed little trouble with navigation as they completed the course well before the 5:00pm cut-off. The course was enhanced by the Zip Line that was strategically placed as it moved racers across a channel of water towards the final CPs and the finish line.
In all, 57 teams finished the course in time, with two teams coming in just minutes after the 5:00pm cutoff time. The first place team overall was Absolute Endo, a veteran husband and wife team of Andrew and Jessica Yaksic. They blazed the course, finishing at 2:22pm. Nearly an hour ahead of the closest team. The top Male team was Brute and the Master finishing at 3:22pm and the top Female team was ?????? finishing at 4:43pm with 13 of the 15 O-course CPs. In total, 27 teams got all 15 of the final O-course CPs with some very tough coed teams taking 4 of the top five spots. See the full results for details.
At the finish line hot soup, chili, cookies, coffee, and hot chocolate awaited the finishers in the "tent city". It was a great post-race scenario as racers, race staff, and volunteers mingled and talked about the race course while chowing down some warm food. Prizes were awarded to the top teams and many stories were swapped. The chili didn't last long, but with that being the worst complaint heard by the race staff, we consider it to be an easy improvement for next year.
Infiterra Sports would like to congratulate all the teams on a job well done, thank our many sponsors, Heavner Canoe Rental, who even though we were forced to remove the canoe leg was there to offer refunds to racers and their support. Special thanks also goes to the Holly State Recreation Area for the use of their beautiful park and help in pulling off a December race. We feel the race was a huge success and a great cap to the 2003 racing season. We are really looking forward to the 2004 season which promises much more of what racers found in the Chill. We hope to see you all out racing next year!
Race Staff
Infiterra Sports LLC
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