Infiterra kicked off its 2007 race season with a new event that was bound to be a hit with adventure racers from around the state and the Midwest. The March Madness Sprint Adventure Race was held on Saturday March, 17th at Kensington Metro Park in Milford, Michigan. It started out as a cold day with an inch of snow on the ground. Not the typical weather you would expect when you think about an Adventure Race, but by the time the opening “GO” was yelled, the sun was out and the Spirit of St. Patrick’s day was in the air. The race saw lots of beginners come out to experience their first adventure race and there were also plenty of veteran teams who just couldn’t pass up the chance to race in March.

The race kicked off at 10:00am with a short ½ mile run to where the canoes and kayaks had been staged. However, they were still about ¼ mile from the Huron River. So after the ¼ mile portage, teams found themselves with a 1 mile paddle on the swollen Huron. The problem facing teams was this paddle was going UPSTREAM! So as teams came down to the river, race staff did their best to hold a strict order of teams putting into the river. Four race staff and volunteers suited up in chest waders, doing their best to get teams going upstream and out of trouble. Unfortunately, despite their best efforts, there were still a handful of teams that found out very quickly just how cold the Huron River is in Mid-March as their canoes capsized. They were troopers as they dumped out the water and made their way back into their boats. The current was tough, but that just made the eventual paddle back down stream much easier. The Animals, Spartans, Mollybecc, Sixty? Sixty!, and solo racer Bill Scanlan led the field coming out of the water on the initial upstream paddle.

Once teams reached CP1, they jumped out of their canoes and were off on a quick mile and half marked trail back to the central transition area and CP2 at the Kensington Group Campground. The same five teams held serve on the trail run into CP2 back at the central transition area. At CP2, racers changed into their biking garb, snatched their bikes and headed out on the bike leg. The bike loop took teams west out of the Group Campground and led them north and east toward Milford, going through CP3, 4 and 5 on a mix of hilly dirt roads and some fast pavement. At CP5 racers were instructed to follow a marked trail on the awesome new single track in the town of Milford. This led them through CP’s 6-10 which were placed on the trail. CP11 was located back where the canoes had been left. So teams dropped their bikes in favor of their canoes and prepared for the second paddle. Now it was time for that nice, easy paddle back down stream. This time the 1 mile paddle took about 15 minutes. The whole bike and paddle section lasted just an hour for the fastest teams. It dropped them back at the Central TA and CP12. It was still Male/Male team the Animals pacing the field followed closely by Male/Male teams Sixty? Sixty!, Mollybecc, and the Spartans.

At CP12, teams picked up an Orienteering map and prepared for some trekking and navigation. In total there were 9 O-course points with one of them being a zip line over the Huron River. The O-course took teams through some nice open woods as well as up and down the Huron River. A couple of the points were even in some nice thick bush that took some doing to get around and through. As always strategy played an important part of the O-course. The Zip Line took teams from the West bank of the Huron to the East side. Teams also had to watch the clock to make sure they returned before the 4:00pm cutoff time. At least two of these O-course points were required in order to become a ranked team.

Congrats to all teams who came out to enjoy the 2007 March Madness. Although a little chilly at first, it turned out to be a beautiful, sunny day of racing. The course was fast as it was designed for the beginners to have fun with. It gave those beginners a great chance to experience an adventure race and still have a great time in their first race without feeling overwhelmed. It also gave those veterans the chance to shake off the early season rust, although most already looked in midseason form! Of the 102 teams that started the race, all but 3 officially finished. Of the 9 optional points on the O-course, 72 teams obtained all possible CPs with 10 more only missing one CP and seven teams missing just two CPs.

Male/Male team Sixty? Sixty! pulled out the overall and division win with a strong display of navigation and strategy on the Orienteering course. They completed the entire course in just 2 hours and 39 minutes. Following by just 18 minutes team Animals garnered 2nd both overall and in the Male/Male division. Just 2 minutes later, Blue Bayou and Blue Bayou 2 (racing together in preparation for the 2007 MIX) came across the line together for 3rd and 4th overall and the Coed division win. Verbal Attack and the Spartans came in at the same minute to tie for 3rd in the Male division, 5th overall. Team Homebodies had an impressive race to snatch 3rd place in the Coed division and 8th overall. Bill Scanlan led the solo males followed by Shawn Boomstra and Steven Kuznicki. Top three in the Female division were Mel & KC, Fueled by Bugs and Janes. Diane Deangelis and Stacey Osborn braved the course as solo females and came in 1st and 2nd respectively. For full results, visit www.infiterrasports.com.

We had some great volunteers for this race, including some experienced racers who were willing to come show their support for the beginners as well as some beginners themselves looking to get an up close view of a race. Big Thanks to all these great volunteers! Special thanks also go out to Kensington Metro Park, Camp Dearborn, Milford, and Heavner Canoe for their cooperation, support, and use of their facilities. And as always a huge THANKS to all our wonderful sponsors for their terrific support throughout another fun year. Both REI and Pearl Izumi came out for on-site sponsor presence and key sponsors Salomon, Smartwool, Hammer Nutrition, SealSkinz, and Lendal provided great prizing and support. What a fun and exciting race to start the 2007 Adventure Racing Season for Infiterra Sports!

Race Staff

Infiterra Sports LLC