Rss/XmlRookies Win 2nd Place at Big Muddy Ranch Rogaine
Photo by Cristina Fillis
Rookie Rampage team members (from left) Lyle Kopnicky, Scott Markham, Mike Bitton, Kim Reinholdt and Ivan Arredondo, pose on one of many hilltops during their third and final loop at the Big Muddy Ranch Rogaine near Antelope, Ore.
Are you kidding me? We actually WON something?! That's so totally against the grain of what Rookie Rampage -- an all-newbie adventure racing team -- is supposed to be about! But it's true. When the Big Muddy Ranch Rogaine results were announced for the 12-in-24-hour "mixed" (read co-ed) division, team Checkpoint Zero-Rookie Rampage was called to the front of the room to receive its prize!
Scott Markham, Cristina Fillis, Kim Reinholdt and Mike Bitton, accepted their ribbon-clad Columbia River Orienteering Club (CROC) patches, smiled for the cameras, and still could not believe what had just happened. We won something!
Since we've got more than four folks who normally train with us, we also had more than four Rookie Rampagers at the Big Muddy. Ivan Arredondo and Lyle Kopnicky raced as a two-man team called Rookie Rampage Lite. For the most part, we all stayed together throughout the event, racing as one oversize team.
Strategies for nabbing as many control points as possible during the 24-hour event staged near Antelope, Ore., were as varied as the 80 participating teams. Some in the 8-hour division plotted mini-loops of an hour or two that brought them frequently back to headquarters, or the Hash House, as organizers called it. Others, in the 12-hour and 24-hour divisions, stayed our for six, eight or 10 hours at a time. Because we could be out for a total of 12 hours during the 24-hour race, we planned three loops.
First was a three-hour loop to the northeast of the Hash House. It featured some sketchy rock scaling, a nifty cave, and hundreds of painful grass seeds embedded in our shoes and socks. Next came a 7-hour loop to the northwest of the Hash House. It included what felt like several hours of uphill hiking, Lyle's first control point "kill," and the only missed control point of our entire race. On our final "morning after" loop, we grabbed two more checkpoints to the southwest of the Hash House before declaring ourselves done. That loop included lots of limping on sore ankles, knees and hips, as well as continuous bow-legged sauntering by my chafe-laden self.
We love the Big Muddy. Scott, Cris and I did the 8-hour event in 2006, and had a super fun time. This year, we were back with twice as many participants. Obviously, we'll be back in 2008. But how many friends will we bring? Will we double again, and make it 12? Tune in next spring to find out!
