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Summit Daily/Eric Drummond Adventure racers Brad Brozek, left, and Michael Wollpert of Team Ivy's Boys embark on a midnight paddle on Dillon Reservoir Friday night in the first leg of the Adventure Xstream 24-hour adventure race.
FRISCO - The annual Summit County stop on the Adventure Xstream adventure racing circuit ended literally too close to call Saturday.
A pair of four-person coed teams in the 24-hour race, Boulder Performance Network and Salomon/Crested Butte, crossed the finish line a mere 17 minutes apart at the Frisco Nordic Center, after about 15 hours of racing.
However, due to a rule on the orienteering section of the 91.5-mile course that requires all team members to have wristbands punched eight times, the winners are going to remain in doubt until later in the week. The uncertainty comes from the fact that the first team to cross, Boulder Performance, maintains it did indeed locate all required checkpoints on the O-course, but the four racers (Dave Mackey, Travis Macy, Stacey Moller, Scott Swaney) did not have their wristbands punched to reflect that.
It's a complicated rule to enforce, race director Will Newcomer said, but it is a rule.
A pair of four-person coed teams in the 24-hour race, Boulder Performance Network and Salomon/Crested Butte, crossed the finish line a mere 17 minutes apart at the Frisco Nordic Center, after about 15 hours of racing.
However, due to a rule on the orienteering section of the 91.5-mile course that requires all team members to have wristbands punched eight times, the winners are going to remain in doubt until later in the week. The uncertainty comes from the fact that the first team to cross, Boulder Performance, maintains it did indeed locate all required checkpoints on the O-course, but the four racers (Dave Mackey, Travis Macy, Stacey Moller, Scott Swaney) did not have their wristbands punched to reflect that.
It's a complicated rule to enforce, race director Will Newcomer said, but it is a rule.
"I don't have any reason not to believe them," he said, "but we have had teams" try to skate by the rule before.
With the winners getting $1,200 and the runners-up taking home $800, it's worth the extra time to make sure the results (available at www.gravityplay.com) are tabulated fairly, Newcomer said. Plus, there's more money on the line as far as the entire series is affected.
Opinions varied among the teams in question as to how they viewed the extra scrutiny required to decide the winners.
"There's some stuff at stake," said Mackey, an ultrarunning specialist, "but I think you can tell none of us are really butting heads with Will to get things set the way we want them to be."
With the winners getting $1,200 and the runners-up taking home $800, it's worth the extra time to make sure the results (available at www.gravityplay.com) are tabulated fairly, Newcomer said. Plus, there's more money on the line as far as the entire series is affected.
Opinions varied among the teams in question as to how they viewed the extra scrutiny required to decide the winners.
"There's some stuff at stake," said Mackey, an ultrarunning specialist, "but I think you can tell none of us are really butting heads with Will to get things set the way we want them to be."
Max Nuttelman of Crested Butte (who raced with Eric Sullivan, Jari Kirkland and Jon Brown) agreed - "For me, leaving not knowing whether we got first or second doesn't bother me" - while Macy was stuck in between.
"When there's money at stake, it's kind of nice to come home with 300 bucks instead of 200 bucks (per person)," said Macy, who handled the navigating for Boulder Performance. But, he added, "To ride 50 miles of world-class singletrack - even though you feel like you're on the verge of death - it reminds you why you do adventure races in the first place."
His teammate Swaney opined that their team should have won.
"We know in our heart of hearts that we got them all," he said.
"When there's money at stake, it's kind of nice to come home with 300 bucks instead of 200 bucks (per person)," said Macy, who handled the navigating for Boulder Performance. But, he added, "To ride 50 miles of world-class singletrack - even though you feel like you're on the verge of death - it reminds you why you do adventure races in the first place."
His teammate Swaney opined that their team should have won.
"We know in our heart of hearts that we got them all," he said.
Regardless of which team wins the premier race of three in the Xstream Breckenridge stop (there was also a 12-hour race Saturday and a sprint race today), none of the top racers was complaining about the event itself.
That was no surprise considering the course featured some of the best of Summit County's backcountry trails, including the Colorado Trail West Ridge loop, the Miners Creek-to-Wheeler segment and the Peaks Trail.
Teams also had to paddle for about two hours on Dillon Reservoir to kick off the race, which began at midnight Friday and gained 15,000 feet of elevation. It also included an inline skating section from Copper to Frisco.
Team Bagel Works, last year's runner-up, crossed the finish line third Saturday but had accumulated multiple hours of penalties for skipping some checkpoints, so it wasn't apparent where the team would actually end up in the results.
Colleen Ihnken competed for Bagel Works, joining a number of Summit racers in the field. Among others, Kevin Shelden entered as a 24-hour solo racer, while Seth Murphy and Todd Smith competed as a two-person 24-hour team.
That was no surprise considering the course featured some of the best of Summit County's backcountry trails, including the Colorado Trail West Ridge loop, the Miners Creek-to-Wheeler segment and the Peaks Trail.
Teams also had to paddle for about two hours on Dillon Reservoir to kick off the race, which began at midnight Friday and gained 15,000 feet of elevation. It also included an inline skating section from Copper to Frisco.
Team Bagel Works, last year's runner-up, crossed the finish line third Saturday but had accumulated multiple hours of penalties for skipping some checkpoints, so it wasn't apparent where the team would actually end up in the results.
Colleen Ihnken competed for Bagel Works, joining a number of Summit racers in the field. Among others, Kevin Shelden entered as a 24-hour solo racer, while Seth Murphy and Todd Smith competed as a two-person 24-hour team.
