Giant's Rib Raid 2007

After running in T-shirts and shorts in late March, winter returned for this year's Giant's Rib Raid on Saturday April 7! The race course, designed by Mark Adams with help from Chris Piller, started and finished at the Halton Country Inn near Milton, travelling through Hilton Falls, Kelso and Rattlesnake Point Conservation Areas. The weather was a few degrees below freezing, with blowing snow flurries for part of the day, but there was an excellent turn-out anyway - 40 teams for the 25K event, and 6 teams for the new 10K event.

As always, the race was interesting and included a wide variety of challenges. Most teams began with members doing relay loops around the golf course, then heading over the stile to the Bruce Trail. After finding a couple of controls near the Halton Country Inn, we had a trail and road run to Kelso Conservation Area, where we did a long "Walk The Line" segment using a black & white map with little information other than contours, vegetation boundaries and the lake. There were 4 controls hidden along the line, and if a team missed finding one, they had to go back. After that, it was time to climb the ski hill, which was coated in slippery layers of snow and ice. There were several controls to find at the top of Kelso, using the "Walk The Line" map and an aerial photo from Google maps at different points.

Next it was time to run on Steeles Ave to the back of Rattlesnake Point Conservation Area. Still using an aerial photo, teams did a scramble where they could visit three controls in any order before doing a long trail and road run back to Hilton Falls. Next up at Hilton Falls was a new section called the MicrObe. The map contained a limited amount of information, e.g. just the top contour for a hilltop control, with blank space all around. The trails were also provided for relocation purposes, and a couple of major features such as cliffs. Teams visited controls in alphabetical order until they had found two controls with SI units. Then they could leave to find the next control. At #11, teams could split up to find the 4 controls in the Matrix, reuniting at #12. The next challenge was a tricky climb down a cliff to visit a couple of controls in crevices and rocky areas beside the Niagara Escarpment. Finally, teams ran to the finish line for pizza, prizes and stories.

Results are available here. The overall winners in the 25K event were the Foreigners with a time of 3:03. Our own Coach Hans and Team GHO Canada GHO finished 2nd overall. Beowulf was the top Coed team, and Lost Bearings were the top Masters team. The QuantiGHO Queen Bees won the female category. In the 10K event, team "Which Way is North?" took the top honours with a time of 2:42.

Great job by race organizers and volunteers. Thanks for all your hard work to give us a fun time!