GMARA
Bite-Size Adventures

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.

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! 🙂

• 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

• March 17, 2021 - 2021 Hinesburg Town Forest Winter Adventure Summary & Photos
• February 21, 2021 - 2021 Catamount Winter Adventure Summary & Photos
• February 6, 2021 - Catamount Winter Adventure Maps Sent Out
• January 16, 2021 - 2021 Race Schedule
• October 23, 2020 - 2020 Catamount Adventure Summary and Photos

Teams

Register

• Mar 04 - May 01: $20 per racer.