 |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
2004 Salomon/Moosejaw Twilight Quest
Salomon North America and Moosejaw Mountaineering where proud to sponsor the Twilight Quest adventure race that was held Friday night and into Saturday morning, August 13-14, 2004 in the Highland Recreation Area near White Lake, 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
Event Recap:
Date: Friday, August 13th - Saturday, August 14, 2004
Location: Highland Recreation Area - White Lake, Michigan
Length: 10 hour NIGHT sprint race
Teams: 48 teams (15 Coed, 23 Male/Male, 1 Female/Female, 9 Solos)
Race Recap:
The first ever Twilight Quest 10 Hour Adventure Race was a great success and a whole lot of fun for the participants, volunteers, and staff. This was the third race of the 2004 Salomon/Moosejaw Adventure Race Series presented by Infiterra Sports. 48 Teams and 87 competitors in total participated in this overnight adventure race. The race proved to be challenging with the difficulty of night navigation being the key.
The race began at 10pm on Friday night. After the race briefing at 8:30pm, racers had just one 8.5 x 11 map, a sheet of instructions and a supplemental trail map to prepare in nearly an hour. Just as was scheduled the race kicked off at 10:00pm sharp. Racers headed out of Highland Recreation Area on mountain bike, making their way to the far western side of the park at the Dodge #10 parking lot. This was a 6 mile bike ride on roads to the bike drop and CP1.
From CP1 the real challenge of the race began: night navigation. CPs 2-7 were on foot and proved to be a big key to the race. 2 and 3 required real navigation and gave teams the most difficulty. 4-7 were pretty close to trails and were significantly easier to find. A good trekking line would have teams cover 3 miles on foot.
CP7 was the canoe pick up at the southern tip of Lower Pettibone Lake. The canoe points, 8-11, lead teams around Lower Pettibone and into Pickerel Lake for a 2.5 mile paddle. The small channel connecting the two lakes was quite unique. It was river like and wound around much more than it was shown to be on the map. The fog in the night and another small opening also provided a challenge for racers as they made their way through this channel and into Pickerel Lake. The take out point was not a CP, but rather the beginning of over a quarter mile portage up a hill and into a parking lot. This really tested racers strength as they rushed to get to the beginning of the ropes course.
The ropes also played a big part in this race. They were unique, challenging and fun. Unfortunately, this may have been overshadowed for many teams that had a long wait. The ropes began with a big climb up a cargo net and then racers hooked onto a series of ropes that they had to tight rope while being clipped in above. Eventually they made their way to a zip line that shot racers into an open area where they could finally punch CP12. Being relatively early in the race, teams bunched up rather quickly and the long waits began as racers on the ropes slowly made their way through the elaborate line of ropes and down the zipline. The original course design put the ropes at the end of the race, however, due to some last minute changes by the park, the course had to be altered and race officials were forced to put the ropes closer to the middle of the course. Due to these long waits, the course was extended by an hour to 9:00am in order to give teams more time on the rest of the course.
From the ropes it was back to biking. At CP 13 teams were lead into the mountain bike trails for some very technical and challenging single track. Racers found CPs 14 and 15 waiting for them somewhere on the single track and at 16, after approximately 5.5 miles of slow single track, they were given the option to head out to the road or continue on for 2.5 more miles of even more technically challenging single track. That was where they would find optional CPs 17 and 18. Racers would be lead back to 16 on this loop and would then exit to the road. From the single track exit, it was a simple 4 mile road bike back to the race start location and the beginning of the orienteering course. The total bike mileage on this leg was upward of 12-14 miles.
As with many Infiterra Sports Races, a large orienteering course was placed at the end of the race. This would extend the race for the fast teams as they surged to obtain all 15 points. However, only 2 points were necessary to qualify as a ranked team. As teams came into CP19 they got two new Orienteering maps and the opportunity to transition at their vehicles, a welcomed pleasure for most teams. From there they headed out on the O-course after as many CPs as they could get and still be back by 9:00am for the race cutoff.
In total 42 of 48 teams that started the race officially finished before the cut off time. We know that many learned a lot about night racing and some of the challenges that come along with it. Congratulations to all competitors on a great race! Absolute Endo, comprised of Jessica and Andrew Yaksic blistered the course obtaining all points possible and finishing at 7:25am. Soloist Brian Bialk also had a great race, coming in second overall, obtaining all points and finishing at 8:50am. Just one minute back at 8:51am the first two person male team, Lights Were Mandatory Gear? Came in also obtaining all points. Rage Against the Terrain closely followed at 8:55am for second in the two person male division, fourth overall. Stephanie Cervelli was the lone solo women and finished at a very respectable 11th overall, obtaining 9 CPs with a finish time of 8:32am. I Shaved My Legs For This?? was the lone two person female team and they obtained the mandatory 2 CPs to finish at 8:00am, 36th overall.
A Big Thank You goes out to all series sponsors, most notably Salomon and Moosejaw for their prize contributions and continued support, Planet Rock Climbing Gym, Heavner Canoe Rentals and Highland Recreation Area. Let us also not forget to thank the many great volunteers that assisted at this race. You were all great!
We hope to see you at our next race!
Race Staff
Infiterra Sports
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
