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2004 Salomon/Moosejaw Adventure Rage
Salomon North America and Moosejaw Mountaineering where proud to sponsor the Adventure Rage race that was held the weekend of September 24-26th, 2004 At Boyne Mountain Resort. 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
» Race Pictures from our friends at Sport Raxx - Be sure to check out there site and possibly drop them a line to say thanks for providing all of theses great pictures free of charge!
Get Your Adventure Rage DVD!!! -
If you would like a copy, send a check for $10.00 along with a note with your mailing address to Infiterra Sports 1033 Kingston Ave, Flint Michigan 48507. The DVD will be complete by the end of October at the latest. The shipping charges are included in the $10.00. For questions about the DVD, contact Luke. NEW - Check out a 48 second sample clip of what the DVD will have in store!
Event Recap:
Date: Friday, September 24th - Sunday, September 26, 2004
Location: Boyne Mountain Resort - Boyne Falls, Michigan
Length: 30 hour supported race
Teams: 35 teams (22 - 4 person, 13 - 2 person)
Click Here to see a High Level JPG of the 100 mile course
Overall & 4-person Coed Winners: Team People's Burn Foundation/CITGO
2-person Winners: Team Absolute Endo
Race Recap:
On Friday September 24th teams began to congregate at the Civic Center at Boyne Mountain Resort to go through registration and check in. A blank map of the race area was posted on the wall giving racers a taste of what was to come. The topography of Boyne Country in Northeastern Lower Michigan was certainly impressive and if those maps were a true indication, this race would definitely cover a large area.
At 8:00pm all racers gathered for the race briefing. The race directors quickly got into describing the course, showing a presentation to better illustrate the overall layout and describe the different sections of the racecourse. As this was wrapped up, the maps and instructions were handed out. Teams were then free to leave or they could stay in the civic center to plot their courses. Race staff remained on site until around 11pm to answer any questions that arose. Time was now of the essence with the race start at 6am and a nearly 45 minute drive to the starting line. Most teams were able to get at least a couple hours of sleep.
The start of the race was at Boyne Highlands about 25 miles north of Boyne Mountain. By 5:30am most teams had arrived and were making last minute gear decisions. It was a cool morning, but clouds had rolled in overnight keeping the temperature in the mid 50’s. About 10 minutes before 6:00am teams were called to the starting line and the first twist of the race was handed out, in addition to the sprinklers going off. The race was set to start with a trekking section, but teams were told they would receive further instruction on how to get to CP1 from the starting line. These instructions turned out to be an orienteering course with six points around and on the ski hill that is Boyne Highlands. These points could be obtained in any order, but the obvious route choice lead all teams to climb the giant ski hill as soon as the race was underway.
Sure enough, at 6:00am the race began and all 35 teams headed for the top of the Boyne Highlands ski hill. Racers also had to contend with an hour or so of darkness while getting these points. These 6 points were challenging, although not overly difficult. Many unmarked trails and roads lead to several of the points and the superb terrain of the area made the topography readable. Team Northern Michigan Endurance/Wigwam was first to arrive at CP1 in just 1.5 hours. They were followed closely by People’s Burn Foundation/Citgo and the two person team Absolute Endo. The rest of the field continued to file in with most teams arriving in less than 3 hours.
From CP1 to CP2 it was down the road and across a few trails. Many teams ended up having a lot of difficulty with this point, seeming to have become a little complacent after the difficult navigation at the beginning of the race and letting their guard down once they reached the road. CP3 was a few miles further south on some two tracks and trails. CP3 was also the first ropes section on the course. This was a cargo net climb off of a hill that transitioned into a rappel. The first section, nearly 12 miles, ended as teams trekked into the little town of Conway, which was CP4 and the Canoe Put In. Team Northern Michigan Endurance/Wigwam came in first followed by Blue Bayou and the Animals with Conspiracy, Absolute Endo, and AGS all right on their heels.
The paddle leg lead teams across Crooked Lake and as Crooked Lake emptied into the Crooked River south of Alanson, racers found the fabled Alanson Locks. Teams could either ride through or portage around and the locks were really a unique feature on the paddling leg. Then it was down the Crooked River to CP5. Racers continued down the Crooked River and all the way down Burt Lake to the Sturgeon River. They then had to fight up the Sturgeon for close to a mile to the take out at the Big Bear Canoe Livery in Indian River. This totaled approximately 19 miles and teams were lucky to have the wind at their backs as they traveled down Burt Lake. A few teams benefited by bringing sails that attached to their canoes, but much of their advantage was lost in the cumbersome set up they required. NMET/Wigwam held their lead while Absolute Endo benefiting from a sail moved up to second with Animals just one minute behind as they came into CP6/TA1 with AGS holding tough just a couple minutes back.
The third section of the race was a huge mountain bike leg with lots of route choice, including the inevitable sandy two tracks of Northern Michigan. The sand created some slow going for most teams on a critical stage of the race. The first bike point, CP7, was the second ropes section of the race, an ascent into a stand of pines to be completed by one team member who had to grab a small passport that would be used later in the race and then rappel down. From there it was more sandy two tracks and dirt roads into the Chandler Hills and CP8. CP9 finally got racers out of the saddle for some orienteering at Thunder Mountain. This section proved to be very difficult, as most teams did not arrive until after dark. Even the lead teams were taking over 4 hours to find all 5 points and they had some daylight to work with. The five points totaled over 5 miles on most routes. One of these points was a zip line across the face of one of the old ski runs. The speed at which teams were progressing was a little slower than anticipated and race staff turned this section into a score O course where only one point was mandatory before proceeding on the bike leg. The first team, Absolute Endo, finally emerged at 10:25pm having obtained all the points. Team Conspiracy came out shortly after at 11:00pm, making up several spots on the rest of the field. NMET/Wigwam held tough in 3rd while PBF/Citgo made a move on the orienteering course moving up to 4th place. Many of the other lead teams also completed this section and were off on their way to TA2 shortly thereafter. There was just one more point on the bike leg, CP10, before TA2 and teams finally had some good dirt road and even pavement to finish up this long bike leg, which totaled nearly 50 miles, but seemed much more like 75!
TA2 was set to be the point where teams would decide if they would take the extended course option of the course. However, the regular course was proving to be longer than expected and the extended course was removed and all teams would just proceed on the regular course. It was Absolute Endo that arrived first at 12:36am into TA2/CP11. They had a good transition back to trekking and seemed to be happy that the extended course was now removed, as were most of the teams that followed them in. Just as Absolute Endo was heading out, Northern Michigan Endurance Team/Wigwam followed closely by People’s Burn Foundation/Citgo came barreling in separated by only 8 minutes for the 4 person coed lead. With the final leg of the course remaining, it became clear the race was still up for grabs. The upcoming navigation and route choices left for a variety of options and the race positions would still be shuffling.
Racers headed out of TA2 on foot. They had somewhat of a difficult trek up the Jordan River Valley toward CP12. This turned out to be one of the more challenging points to find, especially in the dark, even though it was on a huge spur over looking the Jordan River Valley. Teams then headed northeast, forging the river, and hopefully to a trail that would lead them north past O’Brien Pond and up to the Warner Creek Parking Lot on M-32 which was CP13.
Heading out of CP13, teams had to avoid the two off-limits areas as they headed north to the power lines, where CP14 was set. The obvious route from 14 to 15 was to continue up the power lines to the two tracks and taking the roads up to an old rail bed that would lead directly to the point. Racers did find a nice swampy bog on this route if they stuck under the power lines. At CP15 teams found their bikes waiting for them. This trekking leg covered over 8 miles. All that remained was 5 miles of biking on paved roads up to the top of Boyne Mountain where they would find CP16. Then they were required to follow a marked single track trail around the face of Boyne Mountain into the finish.
As the race progressed it became obvious that the course was long. In order to give all those teams that pushed and fought on through the night a deserved chance to finish the race, a shortened course was implemented. This shortened course had teams pick up their bikes at CP13, skip CP14, bike roads up to CP15 and then complete the standard finish of the regular course.
Early Sunday morning, just as the first rays of light were coming up, four sets of bike lights appeared at the top of Boyne Mountain. And at 7:02am People’s Burn Foundation/Citgo crossed the finish line to take the overall and 4 person coed titles for the race as well as walk away with the $1,200 cash prize for first place. A big congratulations to PBF/Citgo as they were the third team to leave TA2, but they managed to make up two spots and take the overall lead once and for all. Absolute Endo took the 2 person division title and came in second overall at 8:13am, over an hour behind PBF/Citgo, showing how tough that last section of the course could be. Next a group of eight racers appeared at the top of the mountain. A sprint down the mountain to the finish for second in the 4 person division? No, these two teams, AGS and Blue Bayou, had been working together for the past 5 hours of the race and would finish in a tie at 10:04am showing the true spirit of adventure racing and the camaraderie that can develop in a race. They would split 2nd and 3rd place prize money and each walk away with $400. Team Conspiracy pushed on to finish 4th in the 4 person division and 5th overall at 10:53am. Give Me That Damn Map! worked hard for 2nd place in the 2 person and 6th overall finish. Mettle and Madness, A Pair of Sigs, and Solson rounded out the 3-5 positions in the 2 person category finishing together at 11:38am after having raced together since CP7, also showing great camaraderie.
In total, 21 teams finished the race, 19 of them ranked. 9 of those completed the entire course, not needing the short course at the end. We want to congratulate all teams that finished the race, regular course or shortened, ranked or unranked. Simply completing this course was quite a feat and something to be proud of. There were also many teams that deserve high marks for their showing as well, even though they were not able to complete the course. It was a tough race and we hope you all learned a lot and had some fun on the course.
The first big Thank You must go out to all the Fantastic volunteers that helped us pull off a great race. Among this contingent are numerous of our personal friends, family and loved ones who played an integral part of our volunteers and we want them to know how appreciative we are. Without your help, the race certainly would not have been as successful, enjoyable or gone off as smoothly. We are always grateful to you! We were lucky to have the assistance of Chad Swander from River Rats Adventure Racing for this entire race. Thanks to the guys from Planet Rock who spent their entire weekend setting up, running and then tearing down the ropes courses. Big Bear Canoe Livery in Indian River was fantastic to work with and we were happy to have their help in the race. Thanks to Craig Waters Adventure Photographer and Brian Hudson for their filming and picture work. We would also like to thank all of our wonderful sponsors, especially Salomon, Moosejaw and Michelob Ultra for their major contributions in prizing. The facilities at Boyne Mountain also made for a spectacular pre and post dinners and gatherings and we want to thank them for their support. We also want to thank the private residences who allowed us to cut across and in some cases go all over their property.
We hope to see you all again next year for another fantastic race in northern Michigan!
Race Staff
Infiterra Sports
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