Madness Elimination Trail - 2022 Race recap
On Sunday, May 8, which also happened to be Mother’s Day the first ever Madness Elimination Trail took place at Highland Forest County Park, near Fabius, NY. Early May in Central NY is unpredictable when it comes to the weather and boy, we were treated with an incredible day for the race. Perhaps the most perfect and beautiful we could have asked for, in the 50’s and 60’s throughout the day and with plenty of sunshine and the smell of pine trees! Mother Nature most certainly delivered for us!
Trail conditions were also spectacular, given how wet and soggy many parts of Highland can be. While course marking, I was really shocked at how little mud there was, which meant 2 things, the race would turn in some fast times and teams competing in the final round would only have to contend with having tired legs from the mileage and elevation, not the conditions.
Being the first time a race like this has taken place I was unsure with how the format would play out but here’s what I found:
1. There were 3 distinct strategies teams employed.
a. Playing the long game - Some teams opted to “save themselves” for later rounds by taking it easy in Round 1.
b. Playing the averages - Some teams kept together or very close to finish with roughly the same times, counting on other teams/runners to either go out too fast or too slow.
c. Separate but equal – The fast kids went out hard and then held their breath to see where their teammates finished with the hope that the teammates were fast enough to make up the difference.
The interesting thing about whichever strategy was used, is that nobody really knew with 100% certainty what time they had to turn in in order to advance, making it tricky to figure out how much effort to put out! Predicting which teams were going to advance was difficult because of the different strategies and the varied timings of each individual. Of course, being a trail race you also have to think about the possibility of taking a wrong turn, even if it’s only a few seconds, that time could be crucial to determining who advanced and who didn’t!
Keep in mind, each lap also included about 400’ of elevation to contend with so if the miles didn’t get you, in the later rounds, the cumulative effect of the elevation certainly could have made the difference in the outcome of the Madness Elimination Trail! Each round included about 800’ of gain, in either the 4-mile course or 3-mile. So the final three teams to compete in Round 3 finished with about 2400’ of gain over 20 nearly 20 miles.
From a timing perspective, it was really fun to watch how the field changed from one lap to the next. For example, in Round 1, there was a tie for 4th place after lap 1 but during the second lap, “Lord and the Family Stone” made a big move to go from 6th place to 4th in order to secure a place in Round 2! While “But did you Die?” Moves from a solid 3rd place to 6th, ending their day early in the Madness.
Also notable in Round 1, the eventual champions, “Did you even run?” were nearly eliminated due to their strategy to take it easy, which nearly cost them a spot in the 2nd round! If not for double and triple checking the times, the difference between 5th and 6th place of 1 min 24 seconds allowed them to continue their trail journey for the day!
In Round 2, more drama unfolded as 5 teams battled for the final 3 spots to move on to round 3, but in order to get there, teams needed to navigate a new 3-mile course! While also adjusting their strategies. Only 1 min 24 seconds separated the first and second place advancing teams. Broken down further, only 33 seconds separated Zac and Greg as they crossed the finish line, while 1 min and 2 seconds separated their teammates, Karyn and Kali.
The other story coming out of Round 2 includes a really strong 2nd lap for the “Run First, Sign Later” team of Caroline and Todd. In both rounds, they worked their way into advancing by turning in a faster 2nd lap. So, “Run First, Sign Later” made a move between mile 11 and 14 in order to advance to the 3rd and final round.
All these moves up and down the board, made for a dramatic final 3rd Round. It was anyone’s M.E.T Championship to have because there was no telling how they’d respond during miles 14 to 20 on the day! After a quick break to get some nutrition, runners were off!
After the first lap, only 3 seconds separated 1st and 2nd place! “Run First, Sign Later” looked to continue their strategy of playing the averages, allowing the other teams to burn themselves out. With 2 very strong teams ahead of them, it proved to be very difficult to make the same move they had during the 1st and 2nd rounds. On the 2nd lap of the 3rd round, Greg from “Did you even run?” was able to pull away from Zac, from team “Zaryn”, and finished about 40 seconds ahead. Even with the 40 second or so lead, nobody knew what was happening with their teammates and it came down to only a :15 second difference between Karyn and Kali! Which made for a VERY exciting finish!
So, the results of the first Madness Elimination Trail, have “Run First, Sign Later” in 3rd with a 3rd Round combined time of 2:08:53. In second place, team “Zaryn” with a combined time of 1:55:31. The first-place winners and champions of the first ever Madness Elimination Trail, with a combined team time of 1:54:36 are “Did you even run?” duo of Kali Fatti and Greg Potter!
Congratulations to Champions “Did you even Run?” and all the runners that came out. A special thank you to the Highland Forest Nordic Ski Patrol for providing medical support, Onondaga County Parks and Mother Nature for providing the venue, and of course our volunteers, Lauren (Gus), Zac (Bowie), Tyler, Robin, Tim, and Ed for their efforts in delivering an event that I plan on being around for a very long time!
What started as an idea based on a conversation about a member-guest golf tournament ended with a group of runners competing and supporting each other in the first ever team trail running elimination event!
Thank you and Happy trails!
Iain
