195 First-Time Racers Conquer Winter At The Michigan Adventure Racing: Winter Edition

News Release / 09.02.2016

Michigan is known for cold winters but most people don’t realize that winter is just as popular for adventure racing as any other season. On February 6, 440 racers tackled the three-hour Michigan Adventure Race: Winter Edition in Rockford, Michigan, just northeast of Grand Rapids. Of those 440, 195 were competing in their first adventure race.

The promising numbers are the results of five years of offering racers that blend the core elements of adventure racing – navigation, trekking, biking and paddling (except in winter as even the rivers freeze) – with elements that attract a broader group of racers. These includes adding special challenges (similar to those on the Amazing Race) that often mix mental and physical skill, offering 3-5 hour races, and keeping them close to where people live, utilizing city and county parks where the terrain provides enough of a navigation challenge.

The Winter Edition stitched together a county park, private youth camp and winter sports park. The twenty one checkpoints were beginner and intermediate level. Because of the El Nino weather in this region, the snow height was much lower than previous years. With little vegetation, the course proved to be faster than any other winter race.

Besides running and trekking, racers were required to complete six challenges including two skill-based challenges: a fatbike loop just under one kilometer and a snowshoe loop of under 0.5 kilometer. Race organizers provided the bikes and snowshoes, possible because checkpoints were rogaine format and racers were sent out in four waves, seven minutes apart. These format changes allowed for the 210 teams to generally complete challenges without waiting in line and kept teams spread apart as they navigated.

Racers had to also complete four additional special challenges. While race organizers do not include these in their traditional, wilderness-based events, the Amazing Race-like challenges in the shorter races draw in first-time racers by the dozens. The 4-10 minute challenges in this race included a huge maze made from rope strung between hundreds of pine trees in a pine forest and using slingshots to hit targets with paintballs.

The winning team, Kyle Heys and Kai Koopman, finished the course in a blistering one hour and thirty-two minutes.

The next stop in the four-race series is the Epic Edition, 5 and 10 hours in Ludington State Park off the coast of Michigan, encircled by massive dunes, Hamline Lake and the Big Sable River, one of the most beautiful settings for an adventure race in the U.S.

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