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The MVP Health Care

Bitter Pill 2011 Results

If you're looking for a point-by-point breakdown, head here, or see the simple results.

This year's MVP Health Care Bitter Pill couldn't have gone better! (Do we say that every time? Maybe, but its always true. :) Our amazing volunteers and staff raced around the woods setting checkpoints in the downpour just before 33 teams arrived to register on Friday night. Some racers took advantage of our famous navigation clinic, and then everyone tried to grab what sleep they could.

After a 4:30am captain's meeting in the dark, teams got about 10 minutes to look at their maps before a 5am start on foot. 6 points in any order brought them to some beautiful vistas, a huge field of wild blueberries, and back to pick up their bikes for some fun logging roads and hike-a-bike out to a reservoir. There teams dropped their bikes, and trekked and swam to pick up four points. (Comments from the local fishermen seeing teams of three swimming the reservoir towing drybagged backpacks were priceless.)

More biking, and then a trek/bushwhack to a surprise climb, one truly incredible vista view of Lake Dunmore (easily in the top three locations we've ever included in a race), a hidden pond, and other points while fighting their way back to the transition area where lead teams received the present of... more biking! (Of course.)

Some great riding (what an epic downhill), and then another swim/trek leg saw racers finding their way around Silver Lake before hopping back on their bikes for the ride to the finish (remember that downhill? yeah... what goes down...)

At the end of the day, team Untamed New England was unstoppable, turning an early lead into a course-crushing 9 hours 56 minutes - an hour and a half faster than the next team Snot Rocket Science. The only other team to finish the full course, Sunrise Adventure Sports, crossed the finish at 12:03. Every team had a full day, stretched themselves to the physical and mental limits, and went home with a smile!

After a long day in the heat and sun, many racers jumped into the Blueberry Hill Inn's stream-fed pond to cool off and clean up, picked a handful (or two) of fresh blueberries, then got a post-race massage, listened to the live band, swapped stories, ate and drank (great meal!), and cheered for the winners as they each walked away with their share of one of our largest prize vaults ever.

Folks that stuck around until it got a bit darker were treated to a slideshow of GMARA memories. What a great walk down memory lane - there was much laughing and reminiscing over all our years of racing. We'll be posting this soon too - look for an update with the link to it.

This year's course was a great mix of endurance, navigation, pain, fun, and beauty - something for everyone! Friday night's deluge combined with high temps on race day and loads of distance made this a contender for our toughest course ever. Despite that, I was able to see racers at many points mid-race, and regardless of where they were or what they were doing, everyone was smiling. Racers, volunteers, spectators - everyone had a great day. How could we ask for more?


Full, exhaustive results: http://www.gmara.org/bitterpill/results11.shtml
All Photos: http://gmara.smugmug.com/Races/Bitter-Pill-2011-all

See a photo you love? Mouse over it and click the green thumbs up - the most popular go to the best of gallery here: http://gmara.smugmug.com/Races/Bitter-Pill-2011-best-of

Please, if you have any photos or blogs about the race, send them to us at info at gmara.org, and we'll put them online for everyone. I'll post 'em here when I get them:


Of course, a huge thank you to our sponsors:
MVP Health Care
Eastern Mountain Sports
Outdoor Research
Black Rapid camera straps
Catamount Outdoor Center
Grangers
Trail Runner
Untamed Adventure
Zanfel poison ivy wash

And to our partners:
Amalgamated Culture Works (best. shirt. turnaround time. ever.)
Blueberry Hill Inn (beautiful Vermont inn - worth a visit!)
bevo catering
CVPS
Local music by Breaking Bread
Middlebury Mountaineer
Sustainable Wellness Massage

And last but definitely not least, our volunteers and staff: Bert, Blythe, Chris, Colin, Graham, Hanna, Jenn, Jim, John, Justin, Kate, Kristin, Laurie, Ryan, and Shawn. You. All. Rock! Seriously - we couldn't do it without you. Post-race celebration dinner details, coming atcha soon!

Keep an eye out for details on our next race! (Wanna help? Let us know - we promise you'll have a great time, and there's a discounted race entry in it for ya!)

--

Race on!
-Tim & the GMARA gang

See the full results table or the simple results.

Bitter Pill results from other years:
Bitter Pill 2010-08-07
Bitter Pill 2009-08-01
Bitter Pill 2008-08-02
Bitter Pill 2007-08-04