Thanks everyone for making Adventure Day an exciting, fun, safe, and successful event! We really appreciated having so many of you join in on such short notice. Quite honestly, with the small window of time we had to work with, we thought maybe 10 teams would be able to make it. You can imagine how thrilled we were when more than twice that many found a way to be there!
This event would not have been possible without the dedicated cooperation and efforts of teams Vyster (Rick S), Master Lock Albatross (Nick R, Joe E), and Ya Mule (Pam S, Carol J, Paula W, Tom W, Teri B, Mark H, Tony G). We also would like to thank a few others who helped guide us through the process of running the event, and/or were out there volunteering: Andy M, Tammy & Leo G, Beth S, Dennis M, and Tressie G. Sure had a great time working with you guys to make this happen!
Typical mid-November weather greeted everyone with a light layer of frost over Lapham Peak.
Fortunately, the day stayed dried (well, except for a few paddlers!) and the winds behaved, so all in all a great day for adventure racing.
The Evergreen shelter provided a great place for the pre-race meeting where participants were informed about what to expect throughout the day.
A couple of opportunities were presented to racers to give them more to think about as they progressed through the course. One was the chance to memorize the names of other participants and recite them back later in the race for time bonuses. The other was that somewhere on the course there was a "mystery object" hidden on an orange and white warning pole that would would be worth "something valuable" if found and returned. Teams were also informed that one of the goals of the event was to collect puzzle pieces along the way by completing specified tasks. By the end of the day, teams would have 7 pieces that could be assembled to form a rectangle and allow for the possibility of gaining time on other teams. However, getting puzzle pieces was only part of the game. The other was to do so while being fast and accurate. Teams really needed to be on the ball since each missed answer or check point (CP) would result in a 15 minute penalty.
At the end of the pre-race meeting everyone was instructed to gather in the parking lot for a 9:00am start. The only other piece of information given was that the race would start with a direction being yelled out that would indicated which corner of the parking lot team captains would head to for the first puzzle piece and clue sheet. Let the fun begin! Once "northwest" was yelled, the scramble was on!!
Little did teams know, they were about to encounter the first surprise of the day.
No one was told that there were actually two versions of the trek clue sheet and that only the first clue on each version was the same.
Perhaps a little evil, but we were looking for some good cheap entertainment and we got it. :-)
The looks of confusion and self-doubt were priceless as some teams worked on getting their bearings while others ran off in different directions.
Overall, teams seemed to do very well at getting the bearings from the clue sheet and finding the targeted objects.
One regret we do have is that we were not able to see the look on everyone's face as they met each other around the halfway point while progressing in opposite directions around the roughly 3 mile trek loop. :-(
As is turned-out, almost every team came back with the correct answers for questions about ribbon count and color on specific targets.
Teams Three D and Big Lil set the pace for the trek with Ya Mule Moraines, Ya Mule Eskers, and the others right on their heals.
With the second puzzle piece in hand for finishing the trek, teams wasted little time getting to their wheels and heading out on the bike course. The course was a scenic 26.5 mile loop south of Lapham Peak that utilized a couple nice stretches of the Glacial Drumlin trail, a few quiet neighborhoods, a tour through a golf course, a ride around a campground, and just a lot of very nice country roads. Teams soon found out that it isn't always easy to answer seemingly simple questions when you're huffin' and puffin' with other teams in hot pursuit.
The main goal of the bike was to obtain pairs of letters from specified signs found throughout the ride and teams did very well at this.
We also saw a few teams starting to emerge from the pack during the bike. Not only was Chasing Squirrels chasing squirrels (which might have cost them a few minutes here and there!), but they were also chasing Ya Mule Moraines and ended-up catching them right as they got back to the park.
With Adventure North and D Squared arriving several minutes later, the leader board began to take shape.
However, as fast as the first 4 teams were, they weren't able to accomplish what Team KREW did while also riding at a great pace.
Upon arrival back to the park, we soon found out that Team KREW had in their possession the highly coveted "mystery item"!
We quickly had them re-hide the item (which was a giant toy pirate pistol that Tony found the day before) and told them to present it at the end of the race to find out what it was worth.
Although teams were able to acquire the third puzzle piece for completing the bike, they would have to get through a surprise question to get the fourth. Most teams had no problem naming the capitol cities of the states that surround Wisconsin, but more than one team ended-up with sore arms for not knowing. If teams couldn't come-up with the surrounding states, we were kind enough to point them to the letter pairs they just collected on the bike which just so happened to be the abbreviations of the states in question. But that's where the kindness ended. If teams still couldn't name the capitols, each member had to do 15 push-ups, and the team had to wait up to 15 minutes or hope another team that knew the answers came in before the 15 minutes were up. And now you know why it was important to pay attention in those grade school geography classes! :-)
At this point it was time for the paddle and we decided to try something a little different to help eliminate the need for a support crew. Each team had to designate one member to drive the canoe down to the launch while the remaining team members biked there. With the launch being just a couple miles away, we found that this plan worked pretty well. We also decided to go with a relay format which not only meant that teams would need just one canoe, but also that people new to paddling wouldn't get stuck with a monster paddle.
In a continued effort to expose first time racers to as many aspects of adventure racing as we could in the limited time, we decided that we'd use an aerial photo of the shorter paddle on Lower Nemahbin Lake and a USGS map of the longer paddle on Upper Nemahbin Lake.
All teams handled the paddle well and got the 4 CPs with Ya Mule Drumlins finding a way to float the fastest and pull back into contention.
The "Adventure" teams ("Monkeys" and "North") also had strong paddles as did Chasing Squirrels who proved they didn't need to chase anything by getting off the water first.
We did decide to bring the most distant CP in a little after the first 12 teams completed the paddle and we saw things were taking a little longer than expected.
Unfortunately, a couple teams decided not to use their canoes for the entire paddle and got a little moist so to speak.
Much to their credit and perseverance, both teams got back in the boat and continued on despite an increasingly chilly breeze.
Some of you might be wondering if by chance this year's "swimmers" where our beloved "Spoon Your Sib" champs from last year's Fall Classic, but such was not the case.
Unfortunately, our superstar spooning siblings Kathy and Paul B where not able to race, but can be seen in a surprisingly dry paddling state on the Fall Classic site. :-)
But we digress... Back to the race! Paddlers where not able to obtain the fifth puzzle piece until they re-secured their boat to their vehicle and had it checked. Teams were actually very proficient at doing this and we felt a lot better knowing there wouldn't be canoes bouncing down the road on the way back to the park. Upon arrival back to Lapham, the lead teams wasted no time checking in, grabbing an orienteering map, and heading into the woods. Chasing Squirrels was first into the sticks, but had their lead cut into by strong rides back from the paddle by Ya Mule Moraines, Adventure North, Adventure Monkeys, and Bon Jovi Fan Club. The O course was designed so that odd numbered CPs were easier to find than even numbered CPs. This not only allowed for teams to warm-up, but also gave inexperienced teams some options when deciding how courageous they wanted to be on the course. However, all teams where told that CPs 1-4 where mandatory in an effort to get them up to the lookout tower. Once at the tower, they had to answer a question pertaining to a name on the tower and also had a chance to recite the names they'd been memorizing throughout the day. Each name would be worth a 1 minute time reduction and teams could also then obtain the sixth puzzle piece.
And now the wait was on... Each of the lead teams had varying amounts of navigation experience and it would come down to who could run the trails and woods the fastest while not making mistakes. Adventure North showed why you can never count them out by burning-up the course in just 1:11. Great job guys! But not to be denied were those Chasing Squirrels who had the second fastest split at 1:13. Ya Mule Drumlins also had a great split of 1:16 and pulled themselves back into the heat of the battle.
With the lead that the Squirrels took into the O course, they were the first to get to the seventh puzzle piece and went to work on trying to solve the puzzle.
However, they soon found out that its not over until its over.
While working on the puzzle, Ya Mule Moraines strolled in with chance to take over the top spot with a quick puzzle solve.
Since the Moraines came in with a higher name memorization count, there was a very real chance they could overtake the Squirrels.
The pressure was on! The Squirrels were not able to solve the puzzle which threw all the pressure on the shoulders of the Moraines.
Could they solve the puzzle, and could they do it fast enough to overtake the Squirrels?!?
Solved!! But.... Not quite fast enough. Both teams had raced great races in answering all questions perfectly and finding all CPs.
But when it was all said and done, Chasing Squirrels ended-up with a 3 minute advantage over Ya Mule Moraines after around 5 1/2 hours of racing.
Adventure North also aced the course and kept themselves in the hunt right up until the end where their final numbers had them just 9 minutes out of second place.
Ya Mule Drumlins used a strong finish to close in on the Adventure Monkeys who also raced solid the entire day and these two teams ended-up in a tie for fourth just slightly off the pace set by the leaders. All teams managed to get to all parts of the course which is very good for the amount of first timers that were out there. Great work everyone!!! We were also pleased to see that for the most part people heeded warnings to play safe throughout the day. Unfortunately, a couple teams took the directive to "remain close at all times" a bit to the extreme on the bikes and paid the price. We were very happy/relieved to see these teams move on relatively unscathed and even caught them smiling again later in the day. On the other extreme we had a team that apparently did not fully realize the importance of staying together and became separated at the end of the day. Fortunately, we believe that team has learned their lesson as they were reunited just before dark. :-)
And what was the "mystery item" worth??? Turns out Team KREW was rewarded with free entry into Adventure Day! Who would've thought that goofy toy pirate pistol would ever be worth anything?!? But the surprises weren't done yet. In a totally unprompted and very generous move, Team KREW approached us a short time later and quietly informed us they wanted their winnings to go towards the causes we were supporting. Wow, very cool! You guys are AWESOME!! :-)
For those of you who may have struggled with the orienteering, you perhaps can take some comfort in knowing that yours truly didn't exactly accomplish his last mission of the day with flying colors. With just a couple CPs left to retrieve after dark, Nick and I went out to get them. Let's just say that the one I went after was not retrieved as quickly as it could've been and leave it at that. :-) Nick, thanks for being patient and not prematurely calling in the rescue helicopters! Once again, thanks everyone for coming out to Adventure Day!! We hope you had as much fun as we did!!
Mike R