The 2021 SEER series presented by Pandora’s continued with round #3, the Nightmare Extreme on May 15, 2021 at Hale Mountain in Alabama.
What Was The Race Format?
The Nightmare Extreme starts at dusk and finishes in the dark. After the inaugural year in 2020, SEER’s track director Derek Bratcher used the course in reverse direction, and added plenty of new, challenging sections like Timo’s Hole and Nightmare Creek.
SEER’s standard race format is three hours of race time with multiple checks: This time there were three splits where Gold/ Silver riders stayed on the main course and Bronze/ Iron riders continued with scaled down sections.
The start of the race was on top of a hill, about 1 mile from the parking area. The start format was LeMan style, which usually adds an interesting twist to the procedure ;o)
How Was The Weather?
SEER’s good weather luck strike continued for the night race: Blue skies, sun and warm temperatures while racers inhabited the parking areas, and scouted out the start area as well as some of the nearby sections. With the clear skies, it was not before 8:00 pm CST until the woods turned totally pitch dark. It cooled off some, but stayed pretty warm.
Was The Course Spectator Friendly?
One of the check points, also the finish/ lap tent, was within walking distance from the parking area. If you liked to hike, you could be at the start area within 20 minutes, at the top of a hill. Some side-by sides found their way to watch the fun LeMan style start of the race.
What Did The Course Look Like?
Since it had not rained a lot in the area over the course of several weeks, the course was pretty dry. Some spots stay wet, due to little creeks, but the majority was holding up very well. No many deep ruts or worn out trails. The majority of the racers completed multiple laps due to the great conditions.
Who Came To Race?
After a hurricane in 2020 passing by, SEER was able to double their race entries from the previous year. There were 80 racers from 15 different states putting on bright lights and heading off into the night!
Who Were The Winners?
SEER’s race director Gary Barr got to hand out the prize money and the cool plaques at a nightly awards ceremony to familiar faces. The current leader of the SEER championship, Ryder LeBlond, secured another spot on the top of the podium. This time he had 2020 champ Nick Fahringer closing in on him, but Ryder finished a few minutes ahead of him. 2020 vice-champ Quinn Wentzel completed the podium in third.
Official Results
Highlights Video
Thank You and See You At Round #4
The next round is our premiere hard endure GPS race at Kairos Resort in Virginia, on June 19, 2021. We promise this is going to be a very scenic, +30 miles single-lap course. Don’t miss it!
Get your GPS out and let’s practice navigating! Maybe you will be a winner of a cool SEER trophy?!
Photo courtesy of Brittany Johnson and Hunter Williams.
Written by SEER team member Lisi Bratcher