2009 Infiterra Sports March Madness
Infiterra Sports was proud to host the 3rd annual March Madness that was held Saturday March 7, 2009 at Pontiac Lake Recreation Area, in Waterford, Michigan.
Results are Official and Final. Please email Zac if you have a question about the scoring.
» Official Results - These results are in spreadsheet form.
» Map 1 - 8.5x11 - 5.72mb. This is the USGS map for the race, but with all points. The OCAD cannot be made available due to our agreement with SMOC.
» Race Instructions - 8.5x11 - 43kb
» Race Pictures
Please visit our message board to provide us with feedback on the March Madness.
Event Recap -
Michigan showed its true unpredictable nature for this year’s March Madness. With the first two years having real winter conditions, the 2009 version was a little different. The week before the race, the area started to come out of its deep winter freeze. The day before the race saw temperatures into the 60’s. Temperatures stayed in the 40’s for the race, but there was also a good deal of rain. This week of thawing and rain led to very unstable ground. The top layer of soil had unthawed yet below that, the ground was still very frozen making walking on any type of incline very challenging just to keep your feet. And this was the second year the March Madness did not have any paddling. The course was set up in a large bike and trek Rogaine format. There was no set order to the race or specified disciplines. Any point could be obtained in any order and either by bike or by foot.
With this being the backdrop, nearly 100 teams toed the soggy starting line in a downpour for the race start. At the start teams scattered off. Some went west, some went east and some went north. Some teams ran for their bikes and some took off on foot. A majority of points were on a very detailed 1:15,000 scale OCAD Map while the rest were on 1:24,000 standard USGS maps. In total there were 35 CPs spread throughout Pontiac Lake Rec Area. Many of the points were broken into smaller groups spread around a centrally located manned bike drop point. Teams could bike in, drop their bikes and head off on foot for the points located nearby. There were three bike drops throughout the race. Strategy was key to this kind of race. Part of the race could have included miles of single track, but due to the conditions, teams were strongly advised not to use the single track. The bike drops were all located around the perimeter of the park though and teams could bike on roads to get there. One of the points in the middle of the course was located at the bottom of massive zip line.
The route choices were nearly unlimited. It would be safe to say that almost every team in the race had a unique plan of attack. To top it all off, the lead teams never really knew where they stood as they progressed on the course because there was no specified order and their nearest competitor likely chose an entirely different route.
The teams battled it out throughout the day though, working their way through the wet conditions and numerous route choices. Hafke JV lead the charge into the finish sweeping the course with all 35 points at 3:33pm for the win both overall and in the 2 Male division. Hafke Legal Services came across the line 10 minute behind at 3:43pm to grab 2nd place overall and 1st in the Coed division. They were the only two teams to obtain all points. Fraser Bicycle took 3rd overall and 1st in the Solo division with 32 points at 3:48pm. Soloist Bill Scanlan came in 4th overall and 2nd in the Solo division also with 32 points at 3:50pm. Rick Waldo was 5th overall and 3rd in the Solo division also with 32 points at 3:52pm. Team Kestrel was 6th overall and 2nd in the 2 Male division with 32 points as well and finishing at 3:57pm. Hiawatha took 7th overall and 2nd in the Coed division with 32 points and finishing at 4:00pm even. Ed Broadbear came in 8th overall and was the 4th Solo with 31 points at 3:54pm. Team Chrysler was 9th overall and 3rd in the 2 Male division with 31 points at 3:56pm. Team Furious rounded out the top 10 and was the 5th Solo with 30 points at 3:36pm. Over the Bars grabbed 3rd in the Coed division (15th overall) with 28 points at 3:52pm. Smartblast 2 took the 2 Female division title at 25th overall with 24 points at 3:43pm. P2 took 2nd in the 2 Female division (62 overall) with 15 points at 3:46pm and Tough Nuggets was 3rd (76th overall) with 15 points at 3:55pm. Just me and the clock was the first Solo Female with 19 points at 3:41pm and was 40th overall. Dirty Girl was second in the Solo Female and finished 55th overall for that divisional win with 17 points at 3:50pm. Phoenix rounded out the Solo Female division with 16 points at 3:10pm (57th overall).
Congratulations to all the teams that came out to test their skills in the sloppy conditions of the 09 March Madness. The course was definitely long and tough and pushed the most experienced racers to their limits. Everyone that pushed through the course should feel very good about themselves!
We want to thank our group of hardcore volunteers! They braved the soggy conditions the entire day, many of them helping to man the ropes section with no shelter throughout the day, starting well before the actual start of the race. Our races could not be successful without such a dedicated crew!
As always thanks to our sponsors: We also saw fantastic support from Salomon North America, who is again a huge sponsor of adventure racing in Michigan. Hammer Nutrition, Seal Skinz, Suunto and Zanfel all have long been big supporters and key to our success.
