Wild Goose Chase Gravel Grinder

The Wild Goose Chase Gravel Grinder is a last hurrah before you put the bike on the trainer and burn rubber in the basement. Enjoy autumn in North Central Missouri's famed golden triangle. Tour the roads through Swan Lake National Wildlife Refuge, time trial through the Grand River bottom lands, and don't forget to pack you climbing legs for just a few of those Missouri green hills. Multiple distances for riders, racers and the gravel curious mean good times for all. 

This event is held in conjunction with the Sumner Wild Goose Festival where you can enjoy an entire day of family fun with games, crafts, food, drink, music and more.

Race date: Oct 28, 2023- 8:00 a.m
Location: Sumner, MO Community Park
Camping: Oct 27 & 28, 2023, Sumner, Mo Community Park (Free dry camping, for hookups call (660) 856-3364)

Nearby camping at Pershing state park. 

Packet Pick up: Friday Oct 27, 2031 4pm - 8pm & Saturday Oct 28, 2023 6:30am - 8am

Routes: 80 Mile Race: COMING SOON 

             50 Mile Tour: COMING SOON

The Grand Tour 

The non-competative 50-mile course traditionally has about 2000 feet +/- of climbing. This course is not technical, although you may expect some fresh gravel. This is a beginner friendly course or a fast course for the experienced. This is a fully marked course with many opprotunites for photp op stops. We provide a free drop bag service at the hafway point in Brunswick, MO, "Home of the World's Largest Pecan".  There will be several refreshment stops along the way to build camraderie with your fellow tourers as you make a liesurely loop through the Grand River Bottoms.  Be sure to stop at each one so you don't miss out.   

The Grand Tour Relay

Split the distance with a friend! Leave Sumner, meet your relay partner in Brunswick, let them finish the tour while you head back to the finish line party.  Great option for couples with kids! The Goose festival will have lots to do for the 

GRAND TOUR RULES

1. All rules of the road must be obeyed at all times. This course is open to public traffic. It is likely you will see farm equipment, large trucks, multiple railroad crossings and highway crossings.  

2. An approved helmet must be worn while on the course.

3. This is a staggard start and not a timed event.  The first wave of riders will start at 8:05am, with a following wave starting every 3 minutes until all riders have left.  

4. It is each rider's responsability to be safe, be a sportsman, and be prepared for emergencies while on course.

5. Multiple stops for refreshments and camarderie wil be provided along the route. Ride with old friends, make new friends, enjoy the scenery. The stops are the spirit of the tour.

6. Grand Tour Rider's shall not assist racer's after the race has statrted (the racer will be DQ'd).

7. Have Fun!!

The World's Largest Gravel Race

The 80/100mile race is back by popular demand. This course is seperate from the 50-miler and is un-marked. Expect a challenging experince with a cash payout reward for the top finishers in each category.

Darkearly Racing has secured $100.00 ADDED prize money for the men's category and $100.00 ADDED prize money for the women's category, additionally 35% of race entry fees will be reserved as prize money. The number of payouts grows as entrys grows.

1-6 riders (2 payouts) 60%, 40%

7-11 riders (3 payouts) 50%, 30%, 20%

12-20 riders (4 payouts) 40%, 30%, 20%, 10%

21-30 riders (5 payouts) 30%, 25%, 20%, 15%, 10%

31-49 riders (6 payouts) 29%, 24%, 19%, 14%, 9%, 5%

50-70 riders (8 payouts) 25%, 20%, 16%, 13%, 11%, 8%, 5%, 2%

71+ riders (10 payouts) 25%, 20%, 15%, 11%, 9%, 6%, 5%, 4%, 3%, 2%

* Men must enter the Men's Category

* Women may enter the Women's or the Men's Category

Water stops will be provided along the course.

RACE RULES

1. All rules of the road must be obeyed at all times. This course is open to public traffic. It is likely you will see farm equipment, large trucks, multiple railroad crossings and highway crossings.  

2. An approved helmet must be worn while on the course.

3. This is a mass start, manually timed event. The race directors word is final. You may be required to show the race directors the milage on your gps unit or phone.

4. No rider is permitted to pass the lead vehicle during the neutral rollout.

5. It is each rider's responsability to be safe, be a sportsman, and be prepared for emergencies while on course.

6. Men must enter the men's category. Women may enter the men's or women's category.

7. This race is self supported. Outside help not available to all riders is prohibited. Racers may assist other racers.  Grand Tour Rider's may not assist the racers.

8. Race Number must be visible from the front of the bike/rider.

****NEW FOR 2023!

The Super Prestigious VIP Professional Gravel Racer Category

Participants in the Super Prestigious VIP Professional Racer Category must first be selected by the wild goose chase lottery.

How the lottery works: Register for the Pro category, come out on race day, we will scratch of a Missouri lottery ticket and if you win $100.00 or more you get to race!

Professional gravel racers may earn super star status by becoming the winner of the Wild Goose Chase pro category.  The Pro race will begin when the last tour rider crosses the finish line. Ten's of adoring fans will cheer and wave as you head out on course to compete for bragging rights on the World Largest Gravel Race course. The finish line party will move to Main Street where your race directors wil be singing karaoke (poorly) and waiting to spray the winner with a very bougie bottle of sparkling wine (with a cork and everything). 

Since this is not a chip timed event the winner will be subject to a thorough interrogation by patrons of the Sportsmn's Inn, chosen at random by the race directors.  A line of questioning may include verification of landmarks on the route such as Ol' bills pond, the stump with the barbed wire in it, the low spot where you can dump the boat in when the Grand floods and other easily identifiable landmarks. (like a very hostile redneck polygraph)

Professional racers must submit to examination of their bicycles ( by sawzall if necessary) to confirm no motors or other propulsion systems are in use.