Races Galleries

The MVP Health Care Frigid Infliction 2008 - all but awards : Yet again, Mother Nature gave us a perfect day for racing with temps reaching the upper 20s and fresh falling snow. Teams came from all over the US and Canada to race, including some from as far away as Kentucky, Ontario, Quebec, DC, and a huge contingent from Princeton. After getting maps at ~4:30am and having some time for questions and plotting, teams walked along a dark trail to starting line lit by luminaries. At 5:18, the racers were off - three snowshoe points in any order had the first teams back in just over an hour. From there, 4 cross-country ski points brought them to a crackling fire and smiling Jim who had them start candles for gear-check. One more CP and TA 2 meant a new map and leaving skis behind for an hour or so of post-holing toward the tyrollean traverse. With four ropes there weren't many bottlenecks, and most teams got past the challenge without needing assistance. Last but not least, 7 snowshoe points in any order, including a small cave (!) and a smiling family. Finally, the finishline! After trading the lead back and forth all day with Berlin Bike, teams Eastern Mountain Sports and EnduranceAventure.com pulled ahead to cross together in 1st place with a time on course of 7:49. Nipping close on their heels, teams Sunrise Cafe and Team Vermont crossed together to tie for 2nd with a time on course of 8:08. 10 teams finished the entire course, which is a huge accomplishment - this race was anything but easy, and as always there were quite a few teams brand new to the sport. (Including the Princeton folks - they loved the race. Other colleges - represent!) All teams were more than happy to shower, grab some Madhouse Munchies, and wait for dinner and prizes. A few even took advantage of the hot-tub and the ever-popular massage therapist. Lots of stories told, lots of fun (and sweat) had, and a great experience overall. Many thanks to all our sponsors - title sponsor MVP Health Care, prize sponsors Eastern Mountain Sports, ibex, TrailRunner, Eddies Energy Bars, Zanfel, North Star Sports, Madhouse Munchies, Catamount Outdoor Family Center, EnduranceAventure, Pop Soda, and a huge thanks to our massage therapist Ginger Kipp. If you have photos you'd like included, contact photos at gmara.org. If you write a review, article, or blog about the race (please do!), send a link to tim at gmara.org and I'll add it to the results page - great free publicity, and I can guarantee at least a hundred eager page-views for your site. Results and blogs available here: http://www.gmara.org/frigid/results08.shtml See everyone at The Bitter Pill this August 2nd! You know you wanna...

The MVP Health Care Frigid Infliction 2008 - all but awards

The Bitter Pill 2007 - All : All the photos from this year's Bitter Pill 12 hour summer adventure race. Results and wrapup available here: http://www.gmara.org/bitterpill/results07.html More info here: http://www.gmara.org/bitterpill See everyone in March at The Frigid Infliction, the largest winter adventure race in the US! (Yeah, we're proud. :) Oh, and by the way - if you're not already a GMARA member... what are you waiting for? Free race entries and free rentals and 15% off at EMS aren't enough for ya? How about these discounts too? Click here, slacker: http://www.gmara.org/join.html!

The Bitter Pill 2007 - All

Bitter Pill 07: Course Design : Random shots taken during course design. (Yes, that's snow in June.) Sorry - the shots of the nettle fields didn't come out, and you don't want to see that anyway. (You want to experience it! Muwahahaa!)

Bitter Pill 07: Course Design

The Frigid Infliction 2007 - GMARA (all) : A winter adventure race hosted by the Green Mountain Adventure Racing Association on March 3rd, 2007. 24 teams spent 10 hours in the wilderness with a map snowshoeing, postholing, skiing, completing a tyrolean traverse, and getting plenty of prizes and stories to tell! Visit GMARA.org for more info.

The Frigid Infliction 2007 - GMARA (all)

The Frigid Infliction 2007 - Racer Submitted : Photos submitted by our racers. If you have some of your own, please email them to photos at gmara.org, and I'll get them posted!

The Frigid Infliction 2007 - Racer Submitted

The Frigid Infliction 2007 - course design : March 3rd, 2007 - the date is fast approaching! While we've been putting the final touches on what promises to be a grueling course, Mother Nature has been helping us out - Bolton's gotten snow since these photos were taken, and we're currently in the middle of a nor'easter that's predicted to drop up to two feet in the next 24 hours. Teams are responding - we've got 20 teams signed up already, and they're coming from as far as Canada, Ohio, North Carolina, New Jersey, Massachusetts... Click to find out more at http://www.gmara.org/frigid. Register soon - only 5 spots left!

The Frigid Infliction 2007 - course design

March 3rd, 2007 - the date is fast approaching! While we've been putt ...

Updated: Feb 14, 2007 8:20am PST

The Bitter Pill 2006 - New Images 8/16 : Images taken by Zdenek Benes, scanned from slides. Let us know if you'd like larger copies of any of these images.

The Bitter Pill 2006 - New Images 8/16

The Bitter Pill 2006 - All : The Bitter Pill Adventure race at Bolton Valley Vermont: 12 hours of orienteering, trekking, biking, canoeing, and rappeling in some of Vermont's gnarliest terrain. A great time was had by all - hard race, everyone made the 80 foot rappel, plenty of good food, prizes, post-race massages, and lots of smiles from everyone... no complaints here! For more details and race results, go to http://www.gmara.org/bitterpill Special thanks to all our volunteers, to Jim for his terrific course design, to the folks from Petra who sat on a big rock for 6 hours with almost nothing to do, and especially to our sponsors: EMS, Mad River Canoe, Umiak, Northstar Sports, TrailRunner, Bolton Valley Resort, and Ginger Kipp. See everyone again at The Frigid Infliction this winter - bring your friends, bring your enemies... just find a way to race! Oh, and by the way - if you're not already a GMARA member... what are you waiting for? Free race entries and free rentals at EMS aren't enough for ya? How about these discounts too? Click here, slacker: http://www.gmara.org/join.html! - Tim (tim at gmara.org)

The Bitter Pill 2006 - All

PPBS 2004 - All :

PPBS 2004 - All

The Bitter Pill 2004 - All :

The Bitter Pill 2004 - All

PPBS 2005 - All : The Pillage Plunder Booty Siege 2005 at Smugglers Notch - all photos

PPBS 2005 - All

The Bitter Pill 2005 - All :

The Bitter Pill 2005 - All

Updated: Jun 17, 2006 7:07am PST

The Bitter Pill 2005 - Best Of :

The Bitter Pill 2005 - Best Of

Updated: Jun 16, 2006 7:32am PST

The Frigid Infliction at Bolton Valley 2006 - Race Photos! : Our first winter adventure race came on the day with the greatest snowfall of the year! 16 inches+ the night before, and snow continued all day long. Great conditions for an amazing race - fun was had by all. Please add your comments and ratings to these - we'd love to hear from you.

The Frigid Infliction at Bolton Valley 2006 - Race Photos!

Our first winter adventure race came on the day with the greatest snow ...

Updated: Mar 06, 2006 9:30am PST

The Frigid Infliction at Bolton Valley - Course Design : Our first winter adventure race is March 4th, 2006! Cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, postholing, and a tyrolean traverse - all while orienteering through the wilderness of Vermont in winter. http://www.gmara.org/frigid for more info and results.

The Frigid Infliction at Bolton Valley - Course Design

Team GMARA at Racing Ahead's 24 hour series final 2008 : Team GMARA goes to Racing Ahead's 24 hour series final. Each of us travelled about 85 miles, gained 2800 meters of elevation, burned 12500 calories, and drank ~13 litres of water. The weather went from the predicted 85 degrees and sunny to roving thunderstorms dumping huge amounts of water off and on all race. There was a memorable portage through a tunnel under all four lanes of route 89, and the final trekking rogaine leg was especially cool - great orienteering map with 20 points to go find, made extra tough by the thick nighttime fog. (There was a lot of stringing folks out to both search for a point and not lose the trail.) Thanks to Tracey, Steve, and all the volunteers of Racing Ahead for putting on another great race! More info, photos, and results here: http://www.racingahead.com/24-Hour.html

Team GMARA at Racing Ahead's 24 hour series final 2008

Team GMARA goes to Racing Ahead's 24 hour series final. Each of us tr ...

Updated: Jul 23, 2008 9:06am PST

The MVP Health Care Bitter Pill 2008 - all : (Full results can be found here.) This year's Bitter Pill was our most grueling yet - the three top teams needed almost 11 hours to complete it all, but every team was finished within 13 hours. Some of the best racers in North America showed up for the challenge! 34 teams competed, including racers from 8 states and 2 Canadian provinces. The race started just before dawn with racers sprinting to a line of canoes on a slippery muddy beach. After paddling down the Waterbury Reservoir for about 45 minutes, they set off on a short trek to their bikes. Riding up the cotton brook road took them to the start of the first trek. 4 points spread across area peaks and streams took from 3 to 5 hours to find before returning for between 3 and 7 hours of biking. Another trek back to the boats, and teams that made the cutoff were treated to a refreshing swim across the reservoir to pick up a point. Lastly, a paddle-rogaine took teams up and down the reservoir in search of 8 points scattered in the woods. Some were harder to find than others, with a few on the water's edge while others were up hills and defended by legions of prickly green defenders. A thunderstorm held up quite a few teams for safety reasons, but in the end almost every team was able to paddle to the finish line on the muddy beach where the race started, 12 hours earlier! Last but not least, a terrific dinner in true southern BBQ style at The Cider House BBQ in Waterbury. Everyone traded stories, ate, drank, got massages, watched the slideshow, and cheered for the winners. There were lots of exhausted, grinning faces this year - it was great to see everyone have so much fun! There's no better feeling as a race director than hearing from the same person that they've never been so beaten, and yet had the time of their life. We couldn't ask for anything more! Many thanks to all our sponsors - title sponsor MVP Health Care, prize sponsors Eastern Mountain Sports, Point6 socks, ibex, TrailRunner, Eddies Energy Bars, Zanfel, North Star Sports, Madhouse Munchies, Catamount Outdoor Family Center, Pop Soda, and a huge thanks to our massage therapist Ginger Kipp. And of course, without our amazing volunteers, this never would have been possible. They gave up sleep, waded through the mud and braved a thunderstorm all while managing chaos - "thank you" could never be strong enough! If you have photos you'd like included, contact photos at gmara.org. If you write a review, article, or blog about the race (please do!), send a link to tim at gmara.org and I'll add it to the results page - great free publicity, and I can guarantee at least a hundred eager page-views for your site. See everyone at The Frigid Infliction next March! You know you wanna...

The MVP Health Care Bitter Pill 2008 - all

The MVP Health Care Frigid Infliction 2009 - all : Writeup coming soon. In the meantime, see results here: http://www.gmara.org/frigid/results09.shtml

The MVP Health Care Frigid Infliction 2009 - all

The MVP Healthcare Bitter Pill 2009 - all : The 2009 MVP Health Care Bitter Pill adventure race went off without a hitch! Beautiful weather, 50 teams from all across the US and Canada, and a gorgeous and challenging course gave everyone lots of great memories of the day. Here are all the photos we collected, mostly from organizers and volunteers, but a few from teams mixed in. Race results here: http://www.gmara.org/bitterpill/results09.shtml More info here: http://www.gmara.org/bitterpill See everyone at our next race, The Frigid Infliction, first weekend in March, 2010! (As usual, you are free to use these photos as you wish, but please give us credit, and if possible link back here or to the race website. Thanks!)

The MVP Healthcare Bitter Pill 2009 - all

The 2009 MVP Health Care Bitter Pill adventure race went off without a ...

Updated: Aug 04, 2009 7:38am PST