2014 Madnaess Results
16 Mar 2014

Collins takes 2014 Winter Madnaess Series Title!

Michael Collins won the overall 2014 Winter Madnaess Series Title with a total of 77 points edging out Chris Gladwin who came in second with 69 points and Michael Reese in third with 65 points. Rounding out the top five were Victor Nikolenko in forth with 60 pts and Michael Geary in fifth with 52 pts. This is the fifth season that CAOC has hosted the winter series which utilizes a mass start and a "Madnaess Box" handicaping system to allow runners of differing age and gender to all compete against one another. The box contains a number of check points (usually 6 or 7) and based on age you get to skip a certain amount of locations. If the course has been laid out well many of the competitors will come to the end close to one another making for some exciting sprints to the finish. Points are given for each competitor to finish the course within the 90 minute time limit with first place getting 25 points followed by second with 24 points and so on. Points are tallied over the four races and the runner with the most points wins. A total of 46 runners competed in this years series.

The first race of the series was held on December 8th at Miami Woods where Oivind Naess won in a time of 31.08. Maricel Olaru took first place at the second race at Poplar Creek on January 12 covering the tough terrain in 53.00 minutes. Event 3 was held at Harms Wood on February 23 and Oivind Naess out sprinted Natalia Deconescu on route to the final check point to take first in 33:50. Deconescu was the top female in the series finishing in 9th position overall with 41 Points. Madeline McCarren was the second female overall in 13th place with 35 pts.

The final event was held on March 16 at Waterfall Glen where 15 year old junior runner Jan Erik Naess finished in first place with a time of 34.57. Although sunny the low temperature with high windchill made for some very cold conditions for the run. Recently the Forest Preserve made some significant changes in the trail system in the area to resolve flooding problems near the start area. These changes have greatly improved the network as well as opened up a large area of dense forests which made for good running but created some "challenges" with the map for the race.

Series Champion Michael Collins took the title with four consistent runs finishing with two 5th places, one 7th and an 8th in the final race.

Special thanks to all the volunteers that made the series a success.

Series Summary