The Happy Mutant Adventure Race Series:Hot Springs
NYARA, Desert Rats Win Inaugural Happy Mutant Series Race in Utah
News Release / 29.01.2016
Happy Mutant’s three-day non-stop adventure through the canyons, mesas and high desert of southern Utah concluded after dark on Monday evening as NYARA pedaled their dusty mountain bikes into the parking lot of the Holiday Inn Express in St. George. Their passport held the punches of 33 checkpoints (out of a possible 40), crowning them winners of the first edition of the Happy Mutant Adventure Race Series. NYARA team members Olof Hedberg, Whitney Hedberg, Scott Mead and J.D. Eskelson were all smiles upon their arrival.
“Overall it was a very tough race due to the muddy conditions and some cold nights, but we just reminded ourselves that everyone is having the same issues,” Olof Hedberg said. “We had the added difficulty of never having raced together as a team before with J.D. and Scott. But we worked together well throughout the whole race and the outcome was fantastic for us.”
Desert Rats, a team composed of Chad Spence and Vince Trudelle, led the race from the beginning and the two-man team from Canada finished first overall Monday night. Journey Racing, a co-ed foursome made up of racers Ian Hoag, Katie Ferrington, Fletcher Hamel and Jason Brown, took third overall and second in the co-ed elite category to finish in the money.
“Every time we’re in a race with them it’s always neck-and-neck, but it seems like they always squeak out a win somehow,” said Hoag after the race. “We’re so hungry to beat them but it will have to wait until next race.”
Unplugged Adventures finished third in the co-ed elite category and Off-Course Navigation finished fourth. Sasquatch and the Dude took home second place in the two-person male category, while 361 Adventures finished third and Epic Adventures was fourth.
“We didn’t have the result we were hoping for but at the end of the day we had a good time,” said Jon VanDis of Unplugged Adventures, who will be directing his own 72-hour Happy Mutant race in Iowa in May. “We were excited to be a part of the first race in the Happy Mutant series. It’s got a lot of energy with it and it’s a pretty promising vision for the future of adventure racing in the United States.”
On the third and final day of the race, teams left Little Creek TA in the early morning hours following a nighttime navigation on the mesa. At 5,000’ of elevation, temperatures on the mesa dropped into the teens and left teams struggling with the difficult decision of trying to sleep in the freezing cold or fighting off sleepmonsters through their second night of racing.
Teams then headed out on bikes to the Gould Rim area, where they covered another 15 miles of foot-o, collecting six points, including a few on prominent peaks with expansive, 360-degree vistas.
From Gould Rim, they returned through the town of Hurricane on bikes (some teams visited a drive-through burrito restaurant for lunch) then biked uphill to the Sand Hollow TA, where they once again headed out on foot for a cruxy 26-mile orienteering section. Most teams started in daylight but as night fell, weary navigators struggled to pick up CPs buried deep in ravines and hidden in plain sight out in the wide desert plain.
Throughout Sunday night and Monday morning and afternoon, teams straggled back into the TA, reporting varying degrees of success on the nav. Desert Rats and Journey Racing each picked up two of the six CPs, while NYARA collected four to seal the win. They arrived back to the TA after dark and then rode the remaining 10 miles of tarmac back to the finish. Not long after their arrival, they were awarded a sizeable prize purse for their first-place effort.
“One thing that stands out about Happy Mutant Adventure Race Series is the financial support they give teams. It’s a throwback to the golden days of how the sport used to be, with high-level competitions with financial backing drawing the best athletes in the sport,” Olof Hedberg said. “I think this series has a tremendously bright future. Given its passionate people, staff of dedicated volunteers and financial backing like this, it’s bound to be a success.”
SleepMonsters
