First Ludington Adventure Race Draws 77 Contestants

race winners Henrickson and Paine (photo from PHAST)

based on a news story in the Ludington Daily News

Local men, Todd Henrickson and Geoff Paine, are the winners of the first Hamlin Blast Adventure Race. This honor did not come to them from lack of competition! 36 teams, made up of 77 racers entered the three-part event.

Adventure Races consist of bicycling, orienteering, and canoeing. This new venue includes portions of Hamiln and Victory Townships in Mason County. Paul Havens of Jenison chose to come north rather than participate in a Kalamazoo triathalon. His teammate voiced their excitement at the choice: "It was a blast," he said.

organizers Klevorn & Maclean (photo from PHAST)

Event organizers Andy Klevorn and Dave Maclean were pleased with the turnout. "Congrats to all the racers who finished their first race, it's quite an accomplishment to put it all together," they wrote in the race wrap-up. They are hoping to attract 200 racers next year. Maclean and Klevorn have teamed up and participated in six previous Adventure Races.

See PHAST- Play Hard Adventure Sports and Tours
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German Reseach Confirms Lost Hikers Do Go in Circles

based on a news article in the New York Times (free registration required)

German Research has again demonstrated that when visual cues, such as the sun or moon are lacking, people really do hike in circles.

"'People really do walk in circles,' said Jan L. Souman of the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Tübingen."

Volunteers were tracked both in forest and desert situations to see if they could orient themselves. When the sun or moon was visible, hikers traveled roughly in a straight line. But Dr. Souman said that an absolute visual clue is necessary. Absolute means, outside of the perception of the other senses.

Such things as nearby visual images, a sense of turning from the inner ear, and feedback from bones and muscles combine in the brain. These are processed to create a sense of how the body is and has moved in space. But these alone are relative, and not enough.

Experienced hikers and guides were not at all surprised by the finding. No one should trust their own senses when in a situation with no outside landmarks. A compass or GPS unit is critical when no absolute point of reference is visible.

The German research also showed that people do not consistently circle in one particular direction. Earlier studies suggested such an outcome. Souman's study showed that people began to veer in one direction or the other, and then this became pronounced and defined the direction of their circle.

A licensed Maine guide, Carroll M. Ware, pointed out that this simply emphasizes the lesson that people should take to heart when lost: sit down and stay put. Additional wandering only makes the job of rescuers more difficult.

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Adventure Race is New Pentwater Summer Event

Summer Groove is a 15-hour endurance event being held on July 28 in Pentwater

The endurance race will run from 3 am to 6 pm and includes orienteering, mountain biking, canoeing, trekking and rope use. There will be solo, two-person, co-ed, male, female and four-person co-ed divisions.

"This is going to be a big event drawing lots of new visitors into the community. There will be 250 entrants, plus their families," Shaw [Pentwater Chamber of Commerce Executive Director] said.

Matt VanderSys of Endurance Sports in Muskegon began talking to Shaw two years ago.

"He thought Pentwater was a lovely town and would be a great place to have a triathlon," Shaw said. "I proposed it to the chamber board but they didn't want to do that. Matt came back to me with the endurance thing, the board approved that, and I jumped right on it.

"The area has a lot of natural wilderness," VanderSys said. "It has waterways, elevation changes, trails and two-tracks, which are all the things we look for."

from the Ludington Daily News
See The Groove
Contact Matt VanderSys 231-843-4993
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