Giant\'s Rib Race
Racing the rib in early spring
Joe Gabor / 25.04.2005
47 teams converged at the Albion Hills Conservation Area on a warm spring morning. Expectations of a great race were high as race organizer Mike Waddington pointed out, “our races attract top adventure racers, orienteers and trail runners, this year's race won’t disappoint with the many of top teams from central Canada taking part." Defending Champions EAS Hammer would be in tough this year, as 2004 runners up Foreigners were back as well as ’04 Raid the Hammer winners GHO Canada GHO. To add to the mix, some of the top adventure racers in Canada were there including Simon River Sports and Team Running Free who were joined by Bob Miller from Supplier Pipeline.
The race started with a short relay, where each team member ran a 500m loop up-and-over a steep hill. At the top of the hill, runners were given the advanced loop map and grid reference points for the CP’s 1-3. Teams then plotted the 3 CP’s and took off towards CP1. CP’s 1-5 were in a relatively small area, but required careful navigation due to the myriad of trails running in all directions. At CP5, the matrix, teams could split-up to find 4 extra checkpoints before heading to CP6. Having more than one person able to navigate on your team at this stage proved to be a huge advantage. At CP6, the all-male team Foreigners had built up a 35 second lead on another all-male team GHO Canada GHO.
The search for CP’s 7-10 started with a few kilometers of road running before racers dove back into the bush. These 3 CP’s tuned-up the teams’ navigation skills again as they prepared to tackle the advanced section starting and ending at CP10/CP11. This is where the race would surely be won or lost. Heading into the advanced section, about 1h15m into the race, Foreigners still held the lead over GHO Canada GHO but it was now by over 2 ½ minutes. The top co-ed team at this point was Coalition of the Willing who were in 3rd over 7 minutes back from the leader.
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