The seventh annual Adventure Rage may have turned out to be the toughest Rage yet. It was also certainly one of the most fun!
This Adventure Rage was hosted out of
Caberfae Peaks Resort outside of Cadillac, a beautiful area of northwestern lower Michigan, surrounded by beautiful terrain and scenic rivers.
Teams began arriving on Thursday evening to go through gear check, navigation check and receive their maps and UTM points. Complete instructions would come on Friday morning following breakfast at Caberafe. Teams would have a few more hours to finish maps and gear and get to the start by the 1pm kick-off.
The race would start with teams in their canoes and kayaks on the beautiful Manistee River just outside of Mesick. Before long the Manistee would back up in Hodenpyl Dam Pond and the paddle to CP1 was largely a flatwater paddle of 6 miles. At CP1 teams had a short portage and got back into the quick flowing Manistee for 11 more miles. This is one of the most scenic sections of the Manistee River with high banks on either side. The river is fairly open for most of this section, yet it still flows fast. It is also very remote and a good place to catch a view of Bald Eagles. The take out of this section was at Red Bridge for CP2. The field was right on top of itself at this point with Solos Planet Rock, Freespeed and Peckerhead Racing and 4 person teams SISU and YaVyster leading the pack only 15 minutes apart.
At Red Bridge, teams would drop their paddles only and head off on an 8 mile trek that would begin to shape the race. In addition to several 150-200 foot climbs, teams found some challenging navigation going after CPs 3-6. Teams would emerge at CP7/TA1 in quite a different order than what they entered the woods. Team Chrysler and YaVyster would come out neck and neck ahead of the field. Milton Basement Racers, Freespeed and SISU rounded out the top 5 at this point.
At CP7/TA1 teams transitioned back into their boats for 7 more miles of river paddling on the Manistee. Most teams flowed through this section without too much ado and in to CP8. Support Crews met their teams at CP8/Blacksmith Bayou for a mini transition out of the water and onto their bikes. Once on bike, teams headed up Firetower Rd to CP9. At CP9 teams were instructed to head down to the single track at the bottom of the hill. This was the Big M single track and teams were in for a treat in some of the best mountain biking in northwestern lower Michigan. Most teams were reaching this point right around dusk. The lead teams had the advantage of getting in several miles in the daylight. On the track teams would find CPs 10-13, in about 7 miles of single track. Checking in at CP14, teams were free to transition with their support crew or continue on to more single track. After CP14, racers would get about 14 more miles of single track. CPs 15-19 were waiting for them along the trail, but teams were free to navigate their own routes and head off on two track roads if they so chose. Peckerhead Racing was first off the single track with a slamming ride where he passed 4 teams. Free Speed, YaVyster, Milton Basement Racers and Team Chrysler were all within striking distance, a half hour or less back.
Back at the TA, teams transitioned off their bikes and got ready for an Orienteering course at the Big M. There were 9 points in total on this O-course in about 9 miles. Just five of these points were mandatory for teams. Teams started hitting the O-course right around midnight. So the lead teams were going to hit this trek completely at night. This would make it more challenging dealing with the terrain in darkness. Points were located in reentrants, on hilltops, spurs, saddles. There were also three points located to the east that were located on features in and around swamps. Total elevation gain and loss neared 1000 feet for those teams that attained all points. This is also the location where most teams really got to experience the mosquitoes of Northern Michigan. It has been a wet early part of the summer in this area and the mosquitoes were out in full force. Throughout the night, flashes could be seen off to the west, which were lightning strikes of an approaching storm. This area also started to take its toll on teams as the heat of the day lead to nauseated stomachs and sick racers. The teams did receive a bit of wake up refreshment when the storm finally arrived and gave them a refreshing downpour. The rain only last an hour or two and moved on. It was this O-course where Milton Basement Racers really separated themselves from the field. They obtained all the points on the course in just 3:41. They were followed by Peckerhead Racing and YaVyster who came out about an hour and half and two hours later, respectively. Salomon Bobkittens also put together a nice O-course to jump back into the middle of the action.
Now it was time to leave the Big M/Udell Hills area and head east toward the Pine River. The first challenge on this 25 mile bike leg was finding a snowmobile trail that cuts through a swamp. It was deceiving because it doesn't look much like a road, more like a swamp. But it was only a couple hundred yards through the wet two track before it dried out and was rideable again. CP21 was located right on this two track and teams were lead out to a more main road heading east. After a few miles on dirt, teams came out to pavement, headed through the small town of Dublin and continued east on pavement. The pavement lulled teams into a false sense of security because shortly past CP22, teams found their routes turn into sandy two tracks and the navigation was not easy. By this time the heat of the day was beginning to emerge. Just a few miles past CP23, teams came out to Walker Bridge Canoe Livery for another TA at CP24. Milton Basement Racers lost a majority of their lead on the field in this section, but still held the top spot. Peckerhead Racing was just minutes off the lead now and YaVyster was an hour back. Free Speed and Salomon Bobkittens were just a half hour back of that, still in contention.
At Walker Bridge, teams put on the Pine River in rafts for a 6 mile paddle down the twisty and scenic Pine River. Four person teams were in four man rafts, while solos and two person teams both paddled in single one man rafts, the infamous packrafts. This was a welcomed section as teams were off their bike and feet and could relax a little in the cool water of the Pine. This section took teams 1:30 to 2 hours and they held relative position.
Back in the saddle at CP25, teams made their way north on a 15 mile bike leg back up toward and leading into Caberfae through CPs 26 & 27. This ride was on pavement, dirt roads, two tracks and even some trails as they got into Caberfae. Again it was a relatively straightforward leg without much shift in team positions. Milton Basement Racers and Peckerhead Racing came in neck and neck with about an hour lead on the field. Free Speed, Salomon Bobkittens and YaVyster were all within 20 minutes of each other.
Once at Caberfae teams received a new map with 10 points for an O-course. The points were largely on hilltops in the surrounding area of Caberfae. Total distance would be close to 8 miles for teams if they went after all points. Because of the length of the course, many teams were not able to go after all of the points, so it really became a game of strategy at this point.
Milton Basement Racers came into the finish at 4:45pm having obtained all the O-course points and taken the overall victory as well as the 4 person coed division title. Free Speed had the fastest O-Course (of those teams obtaining all points) split and moved up into second overall and first in the solo division, finishing at 5:19pm. Peckerhead Racing was just 4 minutes back at 5:23pm for third overall and second in the solo division. Salomon Bobkittens finished at 6:10pm grabbing 4th overall. As a 4 female team, they were technically ineligible for prizing, but never the less, they had an impressive showing. YaVyster finished at 5:42pm, but missed punching CP23 (which they rode right by and later punched out of order). As a result they were issued a costly 30 minute penalty and ended with an official finish time of 6:12pm landing them fifth overall and second in the 4 person coed division. These were the only teams to obtain all points on both orienteering course. No Brains No Headaches took sixth overall, third in the 4 coed division, finishing at 6:45pm with 16 of the 19 orienteering points. SportslabBrighton.com and Ghostduster finished at 5:28pm with 8 points each, but earned first in the 2 person division and third in the solo division, respectively.
Congratulations to all teams that were able to compete and especially those that completed this challenging course. The disciplines and terrain were tough and the heat and humidity were brutal. The mosquitoes were difficult to deal and with and tested the racers sanity. It was also a very rewarding, fun-filled and scenic course that lead teams through some of those most beautiful areas of northwestern lower Michigan!
A big thank you goes out to our Sponsors! With Salomon and Suunto having a crew on hand for the events and Jeep bringing up a vehicle for show, REI supplying the awesome performance Racer Shirts, our sponsors were well represented. We also had great prizing from Hammer Nutrition, Rail Riders, Seal Skinz, Zanfel and Superfeet.
We would like to thank all of our fantastic volunteers that came out to support this event. Many of whom were also volunteers at the simultaneous 10 hour race. What a group! We would also like to thank Caberfae Peaks Resort for being such an accommodating host and providing a great post race banquet. And thank you to the Super Crew of Pine River Paddlesports Center who moved boats throughout the events.
Labels: Adventure racing, adventure rage, infiterra sports, race report
Mountains Plus has been an eager supporter of Checkpoint Zero for years. They help equip our team, they sponsor our races and they're all fired up about the Checkpoint Tracker Adventure Racing Series presented by Inov-8.
