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2004 SALOMON/MOOSEJAW SPRING FURY
Salomon North America and Moosejaw Mountaineering where proud to sponsor the 2004 Spring Fury Sprint Adventure Race that was held Saturday May 8, 2004 in the Waterloo Recreation Area near Chelsea, Michigan. We hope that all of you had a great event and are looking forward to your next race. Please feel free to provide feedback on this event by e-mailing us or by posting on our message board in the feedback & comments area.
» Overall Results Spreadsheet
» Coed Results Spreadsheet
» Male Results Spreadsheet
» Female Results Spreadsheet
» Solo Results Spreadsheet
» Veteran/Rookie Results Spreadsheet
» Overall Results Spreadsheet WITH CP TIMES!!!
» Race Pictures
Event Recap:
Length: 10 Hour Cutoff
Date: May 8, 2004
Location: Chelsea, MI – Waterloo Recreation Area
Teams: 102 teams (34 Coed, 50 Male/Male, 4 Female/Female, and 14 Solos)
The Spring Fury was the first race of the 2004 Salomon/Moosejaw Adventure Race Series presented by Infiterra Sports and it went off with a bang! This sell-out race was billed as being fit for beginners to advanced racers, even offering a discounted entry fee for teams with one experienced racer and one rookie racer, a veteran/rookie team. It lived up to its billing as the 88 teams and 14 solos with various racing backgrounds challenged themselves throughout the race.
Registration began at a dark and dreary 5:00am. Weather reports were ominous at best, calling for 70% chance of rain and thunderstorms throughout the day. The weather seemed to be holding off at least until the race start at 8:00am, but even teased racers with a few distant booms of thunder during the race briefing. Following the briefing racers were given maps and just a few precious minutes to plan strategy, gather their gear and get to the starting line.
As racers gathered, a few last minute instructions were blasted through the megaphone and the race was on! The course began with a fast 2 mile orienteering section that served to break up the teams before they headed out on bikes. The orienteering was Score-O (points obtained in any order) and was indeed fast. The first teams came in just over 20 minutes.
Next, racers collected their packs and headed out for about 10 miles of mostly dirt road biking to the canoe put-in. This bike section did include a short, ¼ mile, bike whack and stream crossing to mix in some variety.
The canoe section (kayak for solos) led teams around the Winnewana Impoundment for 8 Control Points (CPs). The Impoundment was a pretty desolate paddle, and if not for the other teams would have led you to believe you were not in southern lower Michigan. The paddle points could be obtained in any order, giving teams some route choice. The paddle was also made intriguing by the vast amount of stumps lying just under water in the Impoundment. At least a couple teams found out the hard way that the water in early May is still pretty cool as they tipped their canoes.
After finishing the paddle, it was back to biking for a short ride to the Orienteering Start. This leg also provided racers with a good route choice of biking a few miles further on roads or returning the same way they came in and bushwhacking again. A surprising number of teams opted to bushwhack again and that probably turned out to be the faster of the route choices.
At the Orienteering Start teams received an Ocad map with 17 Orienteering Points. Points could be obtained in any order and at least 2 must be obtained to qualify to be a ranked team. Although there were many trails teams could use, there were several sections where teams were forced to go off trail to find CPs. One of the points was the zip-line which once again proved to be quite fun. It began on a high ridge and hit a tight line through several trees and onto the base of the next ridge over. In total racers zipped about 300ft.
With the torrent pace the racers had been going it was very apparent all CPs would be needed to win and/or rank high in the standings. Over 40 teams did manage to gather all 17 CPs. But one of the challenges of this race was managing your time because after the orienteering, racers were left with nearly 10 miles of biking back to the finish.
At 2:41pm (6hrs 41mins of racing) the first team came across the finish line, Team Animal. Unfortunately for them they had lost their passport on the bike back to the finish. Left with no choice, race officials ruled they would be an unranked team. So just 5 minutes later Team Absolute Endo, Andrew and Jessica Yaksic, came in to claim both first place overall and in the coed division. Team Crank It Up, Tony Charameda and Gary Smith, came in at 3:00pm as the first Male team. Crank It Up was also the first team across in Veteran/Rookie division. At 3:13pm teams were really starting to pour in with the first solo racer Colin Ridge and Team Karma as the second Male team. The winner of the Female division was The Wicked, Mimi Ruwe and Michelle Daskiewich. In total 94 teams finished the course being ranked, 2 teams came across without their passports, 4 teams misjudged their biking time and came in just after the 6:00pm cutoff, while only two teams failed to complete the course.
The weather somehow managed to hold off all day, with the sun even peaking out a few times in the afternoon and highs in the 70’s. The race did indeed prove to be fun and challenging for all levels of competitors and gave racers a great way to really get their season going or give them a good first taste of what adventure racing is. Congratulations to all competitors!
A special Thank You goes out to all series sponsors, Heavner Canoe Rentals, Planet Rock Climbing Gym, Waterloo Recreation Area, Noble Romans Pizza in Grass Lake, and most importantly all of our fantastic volunteers!
Race Staff
Infiterra Sports LLC
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