GMARA
Bite-Size Adventures

Who:
Teams of 1-4
What:
The Hinesburg Town Forest Winter Adventure!
When:
March 6th-14th, 2021 (you pick)
Where:
Hinesburg Town Forest, Hinesburg, VT

Looking to get outdoors, on your own schedule, for a challenge where you control the difficulty? Then the Hinesburg Town Forest Winter Adventure is for you!

At GMARA, we try to design our races so new teams can participate, have fun, and make it to dinner. To be honest though, “The Bitter Pill” and “The Frigid Infliction” aren’t exactly a walk in the park. Most GMARA events are 8-12 hours of competitive endurance racing, including trekking, biking, paddling, swimming, rock climbing, skiing and snowshoeing. It can be hard to know whether you’re up for a challenge like that! Even our “Test Your Nettle” events still require real gear, planning, and only take place at a set time.

That’s where these bite-size adventures come in. You sign up and receive maps via email before the event starts. You’ll have at least a week to drop in when convenient and take on as much of the challenge as you want to. You’ll get outdoors, improve your navigation skills, and experience a new area, or an area in a new way. Low-pressure outdoor adventure fun!

Important context:

  • This isn’t a race against other teams; It’s your team vs. the outdoors. Heck, there may not even be another team out there at the same time you are.
  • No set start time! The orienteering flags will be hung in the woods with care, and you’ll drop in when convenient to tackle the challenge.


GMARA will be handling course design and registration for the Hinesburg Town Forest Winter Adventure at the Hinesburg Town Forest in Hinesburg, Vermont. You can arrive for your adventure anytime from March 6th-14th. Snowshoes are the recommended mode of transport for all checkpoints, and we would advise against using XC skis. You’ll decide how many checkpoints to get, in whatever order you like. We’re excited to partner with the Hinesburg Town Forest Committee to hold this winter adventure in their woods for the first time.

Teams attempting to capture all the points will likely take 3-8 hours, depending on your navigation & conditioning. For new teams or those just looking for a nice day out, feel free to get a subset that is appealing. Coming for just an hour is perfectly acceptable – it’s all about what works for you. If you’re feeling ambitious and want to get them all, you can even break it up into a couple visits if needed!

Here’s how it works:

  • You’ll register on the GMARA website. You’ll need to fill out the GMARA Event Waiver to participate.
  • Shortly before the event officially opens, you’ll receive an email with map(s) and instructions. You’ll print those out.
  • Head to the Hinesburg Town Forest at any time from March 6th-14th to participate. There are multiple trail heads, and while you are free to start from any of them, we planned the event for racers to start from the Hayden Hill EAST Trailhead. Directions can be found here. We will note this again in our email with maps.
  • You’ll use the map (and highly recommended a compass) to navigate to orienteering flags in the forest.
  • Send us a picture of your results.
  • Feel successful about what you’ve achieved!

A few notes:

  • If coming from outside of Vermont, you must follow the Vermont cross-state policy recommendations.
  • Hinesburg is being kind enough to let us on their land, please respect the forest! Be sure to leave no trace/pack out what you pack in!
  • Please keep your team size small. If more than four people, break up into two teams.
  • Bring masks and put them on if you’re near other people. You won’t even need to touch the checkpoint markers; you’ll just record a number onto your result sheet.
  • Respect anyone you meet on the trail.
  • For those who did the recent Catamount Winter Adventure, be ready for some elevation! Hinesburg is hilly! 🙂


Good news! There’s very little required gear for this event. Here’s a helpful list for what to bring:

  • Your maps and instructions. You’ll receive these via email and print them out ahead of time (No printer? We can help!) We suggest you have them in a ziplock bag or map case to protect them from the elements.
  • A compass. You could try to navigate just using the trail system, but we recommend you learn how to use a compass for this event.
  • Something to write with. A pen, pencil, or fine-tip sharpie should all work well enough.
  • A mask. Please wear it when near other Hinesburg Town Forest property users.
  • A whistle. If anything goes wrong, this will help others find you.
  • Snowshoes
  • Water. Food. Camera. Anything to make your day more enjoyable.

Updates

Here's the latest news about this race:

Teams

Team # Division NameRacers
1OpenTeam McGannGabriel McGann, Amanda McGann, Gideon McGann, Kayra McGann
2OpenEmma Wants a NapTom Martin
3OpenFit2Excel- Adventure JohnJohn Stawinski, Gill Stawinski, Sheila Stawinski
4OpenPurple PrawnAlec Duling
5OpenRing Ding DuoDean Wiederin, Julie Cimonetti
6OpenUnicorn SparklesTim Sullivan, Kristen Sullivan, Addison Sullivan, Andrew Sullivan
7Open2 Steps Forward, 1 Step BackSam Werbel, Nicole Duquette
8OpenH-burg MainersPat Mainer, Ray Mainer
9OpenThe VT AvengersCaptain America, Iron Man, Spider Man, The Hulk
10OpenThornyBrenda Rose, Scot Rose
11OpenGeoff and KellyGeoff Elder, Kelly Elder
12OpenQuincy Ate Our MapsChris Yager, Sam Yager, Jack Yager
13OpenCool KatsDavid Croke, Ethan Croke
14OpenSterling FactsAllison Van Akkeren
15OpenNorth Street BoyzRichard Olmstead, Nick Gray,
16OpenCloudkickerKit Vreeland
17OpenSorority GirlsAmy Sayre, Tessa Sayre, Kate Sayre, Josie Sayre

Totals: 41 racers

Register

Registration is closed for the previous event and not open for possible future events. If you'd like to be notified when things are planned, sign up for email from the contact page.

For reference, these were the rates for the previous event:
  • Mar 04 - May 01: $20 per racer.