May 2015

END-SPAR 2015 Results

Results of END-SPAR 2015 (our sixth year of this race!) are available here.  As always, if you think there is a mistake, please let us know.

This was our first adventure race without Andy acting as course designer and race director, and I'm super glad so many teams came out to race.  The field included many teams who were either entirely new to the sport or had members acting as navigator for the first time. As someone who is not the best navigator in the world, I can understand how daunting it is to head out into a race with nobody more experienced to rely on.  The most common thing I hear when encouraging people to sign up for AR is that they would love to, but they don't think they can navigate.  So let's give a big THANK YOU to anyone who is teaching this vital skill and helping to grow the sport!

The course was hard this year, not only because the river conditions decided against rafting and forcing everyone to stand up and pedal or march the whole day.  The rogaine sections were tricky, the trail maps incomplete, and we misplaced one point on the map (the infamous CP E, which some of you found on the trail after we discovered our error and moved the point).  I'm thankful for everyone's understanding, but these things can be improved upon for the next race.  Due to the uncertain future of ENDracing, we can't promise anything for certain--but if you were looking for certainty, you wouldn't be doing adventure races.

Team captains will be receiving an email with a survey link and a graciously donated discount code for the Spruce Woods Adventure O.  If you like our races, the next one is END-BOB, right here in Grand Forks/East Grand Forks on June 6th.

 

 

END-SPAR 2015 is over!

Thanks everyone for an AWESOME #ENDSPAR yesterday!  It was a tough course for a spring race, but you all pulled through to the end!  

We'll have a longer race recap sometime soon, but if you get a chance, please check out the sponsors for this race: Dakota Harvest Bakers​, Plains Chiropractic & Acupuncture​, and all those listed on the North American Adventure Racing Series​ page.  Sponsorships aren't really for ENDracing--they're for you, the racers, and help keep costs low.

Special thanks to our small but dedicated volunteer squad: Dex, Betsy and Steve (TA1) and Sandi and Erin (TA2).  Without volunteers, these races couldn't happen at all.