Salomon Adventure Challenge: Caledon Hills, ON

Salomon Adventure Challenge
Caledon Hills, Ontario

January 29, 2005

Walking (and biking and skiing and more) in a Winter Wonderland!

Winter? That wasn’t winter! If you participated in last year’s winter race, than this year felt like a warm blanket compared to the record low temperatures of 2004. Although the frostbite factor was significantly different, the fastest team was the same. Last year’s winner, team EAS/Hammer showed their strength for a 2nd year in a row. They had a commanding lead from the Le Mans toboggan start, to the snowshoe finish. Catch the race highlights below!

At 10:08 am, twenty-six teams toed the line for the 5th annual winter Salomon Adventure Challenge. Teams sprinted through the Salomon arches with toboggans in hand, on their way to the perfect toboggan hill just inside the main gates. Team EAS/Hammer took the lead closely followed by SupplierPipeline. Within minutes all teams had slid their way into the bike transition for a fast 8km bike to the first snowshoe section.

CP1/TA1
Teams left their bikes for the first snowshoe section. EAS/Hammer had a 3 minute lead on the field. Co-ed teams Supplierpipeline and Canadian Hardcorps were tied into this first TA. The Furgusons and The Screaming Carrots were the last teams out of the TA, almost 25 minutes behind the leaders. Firstymers had almost a 10 minute lead on Chicks Who Rip! in the female category.

CP2/TA2 – CP3
Out of the snowshoes and onto cross country skis. TA2 saw the first race casualty. One member from team NRP 11 was suffering from cramps and had to pull out of the race. The two remaining teammates continued on unranked. Dark horse Veronica's Secrets was holding steady in a tie for third with the local favourite Tree Huggers. Little navigation was required to this point – there was still plenty of race left to unfold.

CP4/TA3
Off the skis and back onto the bikes, EAS/Hammer now had a 47 minute lead on Adrenaline Rush, the next fastest all Male team. A tight battle for second place between Adrenaline Rush, Two Americans; One Guide and We're Doing What??!! had teams hopping in the TA with only 6 minutes separating the teams. Team BigMooseFans seem to have struggled their way to CP3 and chose to drop out of the race at CP4.

SupplierPipeline was still holding the lead with Tree Huggers just edging past Canadian Hardcorps into the bike leg in the co-ed division. Firstymers had kept their lead on Chicks Who Rip! in the female category. We can probably credit this lead to their last minute decision to leave the wood & cat-gut snowshoes at home and rent snazzy Salomon showshoes!!

CP5-CP6

Seven teams made the advanced cut-off but only six chose to tackle the section. Team Mocha Cocoa-Nuts made the strategic decision to skip the advanced section with the hopes that other teams would not finish in the allotted time. Teams EAS/Hammer, SupplierPipeline, Canadian Hardcorps, Tree Huggers, Veronica's Secrets and Adrenaline Rush all went on to face a long hike-a-bike section in the advanced course. With some great navigation, Team SupplierPipeline was able to beat EAS/Hammer’s trekking time to CP6b, although this still left them 12 minutes behind the EAS/Hammer's all male team. Canadian Hardcorps was third to CP6b making up some lost time.

CP7 – Finish
With a long final snowshoe section, teams were happy to see the Salomon arch once again! At base camp we could see the first team approach – Mocha Cocoa-Nuts, the first team on the regular course. They were closely followed by the fastest advanced course team, overall winners EAS/Hammer. SupplierPipeline finished first in the co-ed division, holding off challengers Canadian Hardcorps and surprise third place (coed category) finishers Tree Huggers. (Tree Huggers, who are loyal FAR racers, have really tightened their game and will be a team to keep your eyes on for this season!) In the all female category, the Firstymers were able to finish the course in the required time - leaving Chicks Who Rip! to finish second but unranked.

It was a great day for adventure racing, the weather was near perfect, the competition was strong and the course made for an amazing Saturday of adventure. The winter Salomon Adventure Challenge will be back! Just think – all the races to come can only get warmer. :)

10 things you may not have known about the winter race:

One team got a 10 minute penalty for ripping their emergency blanket in two as they only had two blankets instead of the required three.
A team used the exhaust from the TA truck to defrost their wheel hub. It froze again ten minutes later.
There are approximately 5 radio calls per minute at base camp.
Bikes for 11 teams will fit into one 16 foot cube van.
Team EAS/Hammer beat the TA truck to CP2 by seven minutes.
One photographer was injured on the toboggan leg as large men on crazy carpets screamed down the hill.
Veronica was not on the team “Veronica's Secrets” – she was replaced by a guy named Steve.
The team that had their shirts on backwards at the race briefing never turned them around.
Teams that did the advanced section were later heard to be saying: “That was harder than we expected!”
Patented blue-foam, duct-tape, bike shoes will be coming soon to your local bike shop.

TESTIMONIALS:

First off I would like to thank you for a great race.
We, Team CHC Frost Bike, had a blast!!

Thanks a bunch....Leesa, Jeff, and Mike.

I just wanted to thank you (now that I am no longer sore!) for the great race you put on. Now that I have seen how an adventure race should really be run, my standards will be so much higher.

Seriously, the venue, the weather, and the general friendliness of the folks was wonderful. The course was challenging, pretty well balanced (I wanted more skiing, but my teammates had other ideas), and the logistics were (to our eyes) flawlessly managed. Adam, from Caledon Cycling, deserves a special call-out for the great job he did on our bikes. I wish we could have stayed for a post-race party, but we both had Sunday commitments. I hope you and your crew got the fete-ing you deserved.

Thanks again.

--David Levine (one, now-guide-less, american)
Two Americans; One Guide