Wrapping up the Hard Fall, the Green Mountain Adventure Racing Association released its full results for the 2024 race. Overall winners were 2M team The Rivals with 70 Checkpoints. Second Place (and first in the Premier Coed division) was Team Strong Machine with 69 checkpoints. Rounding out the podium was another team from Canada: Team Jackelope with 62 checkpoints

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As dawn broke, many teams began opting to forego Transition area 7/8 and bike directly to the finish at Mt. Snow. Those teams with podium ambitions however found themselves in an incredibly challenging trekking section: steep, soggy, and thick bushwhacking to one high point after another in the total darkness of a cloudy and rainy night.

It’s not possible to run 27 hours straight without several of those being in complete darkness. That’s what teams at the Hard Fall experienced as they arrived at the Harriman Reservoir for a challenging stage of the Hard Fall. Set across the reservoir are checkpoints that can be accessed both by land and boat.

Stage 4a and 4b are located at Pelham Lake Park with an orienteering trek and a stand up paddleboard for teams to tackle.

At the end of the Deerfield River in Charlemont, MA, teams dragged their boats from the water to the refreshing sight of a food truck serving up ice cream and sandwiches. They also saw their bikes for the first time in the race.

Teams arrived at Transition Area 1 after having completed the first trek and a river swim. Their next challenge was to inflate their packrafts and charge down the Deerfield river for 11 miles, hopefully riding the bubble from a daily dam release upstream.

In order to complete Stage 1 and make it to Transition area 1, teams needed to cross the Deerfield River. At a brisk 55 degrees, the water was consistently described as “refreshing.” Racers had mixed success with keeping their gear dry as they worked their way across the quickly flowing river.

Racers at the Hard Fall are now on their way to Rowe, Massachusetts, the formerly secret start location that was just revealed in the pre-race briefing.

Teams gathered this morning at 5:30 am at the Mt. Snow ski resort for final checks, map pickup and a few hours of strategy before the start of the 2024 Hard Fall. Arriving well before dawn, racers had just a short time to prepare for the next 27 hours of racing.

Maps, rules of travel and flyover for the 2024 Hard Fall are now live!

This will be the last time for a few days that we see these teams looking fresh and clean. They’re about to embark on a 27 hour journey through the Green Mountains and surrounding areas - roughly 95 miles of paddling, trekking and biking. Working their way through 10 stages these teams won’t sleep for the duration of the race. And while it’s dry now, the weather forecast is calling for rain later this evening.

The 2024 Hard Fall adventure race promises upwards of 95 miles of trekking, biking and paddling that encompasses over 80 checkpoints to find. Designed by Shari Hymes and Tom Martin of the Green Mountain Adventure Racing Association, this year’s course promises a broad variety of stages where quick and efficient transitions may prove vital for podium contenders.

While the name of the race, the “Hard Fall” is a reference to the original 24 hour race held in 2021, GMARA is back at it again, this time with a summer edition of the Hard Fall. Teams heading to the Green Mountain State for this year’s race should expect to find a lot of control points. While there has been some internet speculation on the generous size of the course, the actual number of checkpoints will remain under wraps until race day. Teams will also have an additional three hours to complete the course as the race organizers have been able to allow for a 27 hour race this year.