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2007 DECEMBER CHILL
Infiterra Sports was proud to host the December Chill that was held Saturday December 1, 2007 at Hudson Mills Metro Park near Dexter, Michigan.
» Official Results - These are in Spreadsheet form with overall and divisional tabs.
» Map 1 - 11x17, 6mb
» Map 2 - 8.5x11, 4.2mb
(Note: OCAD Map of Pinckney cannot be posted as requested by SMOC.)
» Race Instructions - 8.5x11, 43.2kb
» Race Pictures
Please visit our message board to provide us with feedback on the December Chill.
Event Recap: The cold weather of winter moved in just in time for the 2007 December Chill. The sun still managed to sneak a peak and it was a beautiful day for an adventure race in Michigan! Over 200 racers braved cold to test themselves and have some fun for the final race of a great 2007 season. Even with the cold there was nearly a 90% completion rate as just a handful of teams dropped out early.
The race got underway at 9:02am. From the start teams scattered in 4 different directions as they headed off to gather five initial checkpoints on foot. The points could be obtained in any order and teams had quite the choice of routes. Nearly four miles and the lead teams were back in 35 minutes. Teams Wolf Creek, Monkeyside, Over the Hill and Down the Ales, and Absolute Endo arrived back at CP6 first within just two minutes of each other.
At CP6 teams gathered their paddling gear and headed down to the Huron River for a very scenic, and cold, six mile paddle leg. By this time the temperature had risen to about 25° with a very light wind, perfect Chill conditions. The river has a nice current and cuts through some beautiful areas. Even in the brisk air teams enjoyed the paddling leg. On the river Teams Wolf Creek, Monkeyside, Over the Hill and Down the Ales held their spots at the top with M&M moving up after having the fastest paddling split. At the end of the canoe leg, teams packed up their paddling gear and left it in their gear bag. Their bikes were waiting at the take out in Dexter Huron Metro Park, so teams transitioned into biking gear and headed out on the scenic roads of Dexter.
Teams found CP’s 8 and 9 on the seven mile bike back to CP10 at the start/finish area in Hudson Mills Metro Park. Here it was a quick transition and back out on bike to the rest of the course. Teams hit CP11 leaving Hudson Mills and upon arrival at CP12 racers found a unique challenge. The road dead ended right into the Huron River. Canoes were set up on guidelines that ran across the river. Once teams arrived at the river, they got into the waiting canoes along with their bikes and pulled themselves along the guidelines to the other side. The canoes were then pulled back for the next team. This was a fun part of the course, although it was a little tricky with the current of the river. A couple teams went into the river and that unfortunately put an early end to their race. From CP12, teams continued biking seven more miles on roads through CP13 to CP14 at Pinckney Recreation Area where a large O-course awaited. Waiting at CP14 was a second gear bag for each team with fresh shoes, clothes, food and water. Arriving at the O-course first was still Teams Wolf Creek and Monkeyside now joined by CB Speed who made up a lot of time on the bike legs. Teams Absolute Endo and Comfortably Numb followed closely just two minutes off the pace.
The O-course at Pinckney was made up of ten orienteering points and teams received OCAD orienteering maps at a scale of 1:15,000. These are very technical, very accurate and detailed maps, different from the dated USGS 1:24,000 maps used for the rest of the race. The ten points would take at least four miles for teams that traveled a perfect course, more for any errors or detours. Team Absolute Endo emerged first at CP25 just one minute up on Monkeyside with CB Speed holding third and Well It Sounded Like Fun and Comfortably Numb rounding out the top five. 64 teams were able to clear all ten O-course checkpoints at Pinckney.
From one O-course to the next, teams biked three miles back down the road to the well known orienteering location - Peach Mountain. This bike drop was CP26, where they would find the third O-course of the race waiting for them. This O-course was a little shorter at right around three miles for five CPs (27-31). Teams did have a cutoff time that they needed to start Peach Mountain by 3:30pm and have obtained all points at Pinckney in order to attempt Peach Mountain. This in essence made Peach Mountain an extended or advanced portion of the race. 40 teams were able to get at least one CP at Peach Mountain and 16 teams cleared Peach Mountain. It was at Peach Mountain where Absolute Endo really put their move on the rest of the field extending their one minute lead to nearly 25 minutes. Absolute was still followed by the same four teams in the same order: Monkeyside, CB Speed, Well It Sounded Like Fun and Comfortably Numb.
After Peach Mountain it was just a short three mile bike back to the finish at Hudson Mills Metro Park. With the race now well in hand, Absolute Endo rolled in first overall and first in the Coed Division at 2:37pm. Monkeyside put up a tough fight through the race and came in at 3:00pm to finish 2nd overall and 2nd in the Coed division. CB Speed finished at 3:11pm for 3rd overall and the 1st Solo Male. Team Well It Sounded Like Fun took 4th overall and was the 2nd Solo Male at 3:33pm. Team Comfortably Numb, 3:45pm, rounded out the top 5 overall and grabbed 1st in the Male division. Fat Otter rounded out 3rd in the Solo Male division (6th overall, 4:10pm). Team Chrysler snagged 2nd in the Male division (4:16pm, 8th overall). Team Fat Otter snatched 3rd in the Coed division (9th overall, 4:20pm). He Made Me Do It grabbed 3rd in the Male division (4:24pm, 11th overall). All of these teams cleared all the checkpoints on the course, 15 optional points in total. In the Female Division, Teams Anger Management, Shooters and Roswell came in 1, 2, 3 respectively at 3:52pm, 4:03pm and 4:43pm. All top three Female teams obtained all ten points at Pinckney. The Solo Female division was topped by We Kantz who obtained twelve total optional points and finished at 4:29pm, followed by Tree Hugger with five points at 4:34pm.
Congratulations to all teams who came out to enjoy the 6th Annual December Chill! Upon completion of the race, teams were greeted with lots of hot food prepared by the now famous Mrs. Swander of River Rats fame. It never seems to fail; once again, we had a fantastic group of volunteers that braved the cold to help make this race a big success. These great volunteers were out manning the canoes, bike drops and CPs. Jeep brought out a brand new 2008 Jeep Liberty for the racers viewing pleasure. REI had a booth set up to mingle with racers and hand out some swag. Other key sponsors who were there in spirit were Salomon, Kahtoola, Seal Skinz, Hammer Nutrition, Smartwool, Zanfel and Superfeet who all provided lots of great prizing for the winning teams.
The Chill once again rounds out another fine season of adventure racing in Michigan. We look forward to the great adventures that are lining up around the state in 2008. We hope to see you out there at the races next year!
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