Last Updated: 11.Oct.2016

Thanks to the 36 competitors who braved the impending rain and the unpredictable challenges during our 2016 Craftsbury Checkpoint Challenge! The organizers and station managers, primarily GRP skiers and biathletes, enjoyed setting up 10 tricky stations and sharing laughs with the competitors as they strove to complete team-building tasks. Nine teams of four members each ran around on the COC trail system, navigating their way to stations marked on the map provided, where they could complete tasks to earn points. The winning team, Trump That (Keith Woodward, Eric Schulz, Eric Remick, Peter Duval), earned 323 points within the 2 hour time limit. Trump That earned points at 9 of the 10 stations, and though certain stations like Flag Matching gave them a bit of difficulty, they shone through their speed at accomplishing the challenges. The runner up team was Monogatari with 253 points, third was the Violent Femmes with 248. Several teams included multiple family members, and the highest-scoring of these was The Flying Platypi with three member of the Wright family; The Flying Platypi took home a prize for first family team.
Results can be found HERE.

In the photos at left, team Monogatari focuses on the "Synchronized Swimming" bucket challenge, and below, The Flying Platypi navigates the Equestrian obstacle course. Photos by Caitlin Patterson.

This year’s theme was Summer Olympics, and the challenges included:
• Opening Ceremonies “Flag Matching”, matching country names to flags where the list of matches is not visible from where the answer key must be filled out
• “Synchronized Swimming”, balancing a 5 gallon bucket on the toes of the 4 team members, and then everyone removing their shoes
• Weightlifting, building a structure out of wood from the forest to support a 45lb weight at waist height
• Trampoline-basketball, using a sheet held at the corners by all team members to propel a basketball into a hoop
• Equestrian, riding a stick-horse around a course of obstacles, while 3 team members are blindfolded and the 4th must verbally guide the horse
• Olympic-themed Charades, one team member acting out notable Summer Olympic events or playing 20-questions style guessing games for famous Olympic athletes while the other team members guess the identity
• Rhythmic Gymnastics, dancing to a song for several minutes, with points awarded by judges for creativity, planning, teamwork, and synchronicity
• “Squash”, where eggs must be lobbed by hand or lacrosse racket between two zones, and only 4 eggs can be used to complete 10 successful passes with structurally sound eggs
• Marathon, where teams must run to a distant checkpoint and memorize written information to prove their visit before returning to the original station
• BMX/Bike Relays, in which each team member must ride a different bike around the COC pump track and obstacle course, with different bikes having different point values and deductions applying for touching feet or missing obstacles