DOVER — This weekend, about 125 people will descend on Mount Snow to compete in a grueling adventure race that will test their courage and endurance.
Hard Fall Adventure Race The event will be held at Mount Snow starting Saturday, August 17. Participants will compete in a 27-hour race that will be a mix of paddling, mountain biking and hiking/trekking with teams of two, three or four participants competing. Each team will also have to navigate the course using a topographical map and compass. The race will start at 9 a.m. on Saturday and end at noon on Sunday. Race director Tom Martin said he expects that time window will be necessary.
“I expect the winning team to be close to the 27-hour limit,” Martin said. “There may not even be a team that makes it through all the checkpoints and reaches the finish on time.”
While Martin said teams can make the decision to camp and rest if they wish, the clock continues to tick and teams that choose to do so won't fare as well.
The winner of the race will be the team that passes the most checkpoints throughout the race. In the event of a tie for the number of checkpoints, the team with the fastest time will be declared the winner.
The last time the Green Mountain Adventure Racing Association (GMARA) held the Hard Fall Adventure Race was in 2021 in the Northeast Kingdom. This weekend’s race is the first time Martin believes GMARA has held a race in southern Vermont and it came about through Martin’s acquaintances, Shari Hymes and her partner Mary Scheerer, who live in southern Vermont and are both frequent adventure racers. When Martin was considering designing a new course for the Hard Fall, he reached out to Hymes to help him find a location in the southern part of the state and design the course.
The race was originally supposed to last 24 hours, but ultimately, according to Martin, GMARA had to choose between changing the course or changing the time limit.
“It started as a 24-hour race, then we designed the course and looked at how long we thought it would take the riders from start to finish, and then we realised we either had to cut out some interesting sections of the race or make the race longer and so we made it longer,” he said.
There will be nine to ten different stages of the race, meaning that throughout the race there will be multiple sections of paddling, mountain biking and hiking/trekking disciplines. Runner's Guide 2024 which can be found on the GMARA website, each stage of the race will take no more than three to four hours.
While there are trails along the course, Martin said one of the things GMARA is known for is a certain level of difficulty in the navigation aspect of their races.
“We really like to get people off the trails and into the woods and work hard on their map and compass,” Martin said. “Other organizations are leaning more toward trail areas, even for the walking sections. (That) doesn’t mean we don’t have trails in our race, we certainly do, but there are going to be significant sections of this race where people aren’t on a trail and so I think that attracts people who like the challenge of navigating and seeing the really cool, remote wilderness of Vermont.”
Martin said adventure racing typically attracts a lot of triathletes and athletes who enjoy endurance racing. However, adventure racing is distinctly different from a triathlon. In addition to the fact that triathlon typically comes down to who is fittest, Martin said participants also know what to expect when it comes to the course and the transitions between the run, bike and swim. Adventure racing is different in this regard because there is no set course.
“You kind of guide people through a course in the sense that you put checkpoints and they're going to go in that general direction to try to get them, but whether they follow the trail or whether they go over the mountain or whether they go over the river is up to them,” Martin said.
Additionally, Martin said the course for a triathlon is posted in advance, allowing participants to know where they will be going as well as other details such as the elevation gain or loss of the course. In adventure races, participants are typically not given a map until about an hour before the race begins, making it difficult for them to prepare.
The Hard Fall Adventure Race is a qualifying race for the American Adventure Racing Association. National Championshipswhich will be held in West Virginia this year. The winner of the premier division, which consists of three- and four-person mixed teams, will earn a free ticket to the national championships. The event is also a regional qualifier, which allows people to earn points toward qualifying for the national championships.
Last year, GMARA held the nationals in Jeffersonville and Martin said it was a huge success. People who had never been to Vermont before were impressed with the terrain, he said. Another aspect of the event that was well-received, and for which Martin said GMARA is somewhat known, was the post-race banquet and awards ceremony, which is an element that will also follow the Hard Fall Adventure Race this weekend.
“At the end of the day, people spend a lot of money to attend an event and it’s pretty cool to have an official closing ceremony that brings everyone together and gives them a chance to sit down,” Martin said. “The stories that people tell are really interesting. Being able to have time to relax, have a bite to eat and share stories with other runners is really cool.”
For more information on the Hard Fall Adventure Race, visit the GMARA website at www.gmara.org.
