Adventure racing grows in Grand Rapids

Last year Michigan Adventure  Racing offered two urban adventure races. In 2012, they will put on nine new adventure, trail and bike races in the Grand Rapids area.

Mark VanTongeren and his team of five adventure race aficionados had planned to organize four adventure races a year, one for each season. Then VanTongeren approached them about doing a couple of trail races, and that seemed like a good idea, too. From there VanTongeren tested the idea of a simple, fun, crazy race. "We'd talked about it before, but we were committed to presenting adventure races. The idea kept coming up and we decided to do a zombie run. It'll be a 5k run, out in the country somewhere with lots of zombies and an interactive adventure race component," he said. Oddly, responses to the survey that VanTongeren conducted indicated the favored time for a zombie run was April and thus a zombie race on April 28th at Robinette's Apple Haus and Winery is being organized. 

Snow or no snow, the first adventure race of the year is set for February 11 at Cannonsburg Ski Area. Thus far, 176 people are registered to participate. It will involve navigation, human dogsledding, snowshoeing, snowtubing and snowbiking. 

A spring adventure race is set for Millennium Park for May 19. It will involve biking, running and canoeing. "It will be really interesting. There's a lot to that park and people will enjoy exploring it," he said. 

June 16 will be a Hurt the Dirt trail race at Seidman Park in Ada. Runners will be able to choose from 5k, 10k or half marathon distances.

July, exact date to be determined, will be the summer Urban Adventure race and the one year anniversary of the first race.

On September 22 at Pando in Rockford, there will be a fall trail run is set with 5k, 10k and half marathon distances.

On October 6, the ArtPrize edition of the Urban Adventure Race returns to downtown Grand Rapids. The last race like it had more than 700 participants. (Read about the logistics and fun of Urban Adventure racing here.)

For bikers, a combination mountain bike and road race with endurance distances will be offered on October 20.

Closing out the season at the end of October is another Zombie Dash 5k.

Just a year ago as the first race was being planned, VanTongeren quit his job in corporate marketing. Since then, he's grown the venture and is working nearly full time as a race director handling logistics, sponsorship, equipment and promotion.