Check out this short training clip of Kyle Peter and Marco Amselem from Team Tecnu Adventure Racing as they prepare for the Costa Rica Adventure Race!

LBL Adventure Challenge – 24 Hours

Sunday, March 25, 2012
By: Garret Bean

Tecnu Adventure Racing arrived in Nashville at 11:00pm on Thursday night for the Bonk Hard Race Series – 24 Hour LBL Adventure Challenge. The team consisted of Kyle Peters and Garret Bean from northern California, Ryan Ognibene from Boulder, CO, and Mindy Fernando from Michigan. This was to be the first time these four had EVER raced together before, and it was the be the first race of the 2012 season for Tecnu’s new domestic squad, and expectations were high.

On Friday afternoon, after another quick stop at the Waffle House, the boys met up with Mindy, the new Queen of the Machine, at the Paris Landing Inn. The stage was set in a room overlooking the lakes and it was time to unpack and get the gear ready. The bikes came out of the bike boxes and after a quick rebuild it was evident that the airport had done damage and the pulley on my derailleur was broken in transit and Kyle’s brakes that were recently serviced weren’t grabbing like they should. Rather than risk broken parts on the trail and losing control on the bike, it was time to do some shopping. I headed into town and found a bike shop that got me a pulley and worked on Kyle’s brakes for about 2.5 hours. Meantime the rest of the team was assembling gear, sleeping, and eating.

We reconvened at 7 PM that night, got our gear wrapped up, and headed to the pre-race briefing. As expected, everyone there knew Kyle from his two years at the helm as Captain of Tecnu. Mindy, Ryan, and I were relatively unknowns and some thought we were brought over from the Tough Mudder series. It was great seeing the teams that we knew about, the ones that we have raced against in the past and a lot of new faces for some of us. The course had been set; it was a trek, to bike, to paddle, to orienteering course, to bike, to paddle, to trek, to bike. A lot of transitions that would make organization and planning a key part in the race. Earring Doug Judson, Tecnu Team Manager, was tracking all of this from Nor-Cal and relaying the briefings to the friends and sponsors of team Tecnu.

At 7:25 am saturday morning, there were 120 adventure racers singing the national anthem, although I’m sure the campers in the nearby State Park were not appreciative of our early morning revelry. We lined up at the gate and bolted out at the proverbial gun, some racers yelled go. The teams were off and Tecnu bolted to the front. We went up and a little off trail and down a mountain. Within the first five minutes we had lost our passport… whoops. Well so much for the blistering start. We doubled back and went searching, contemplating whether or not to get a new one from headquarters. After some searching on the hillside, we found it; the passport was never put in the cursed pocket again. We reset and it was time to catch up, from first to last, argh!. Shortly we came across the walking racers in the back; yes we were dead last and passed by all. Then we started chipping away, I followed Mindy as she took charge, parting the sea of people and led us past about 70 % of the field. The first checkpoint (CP) was in a re-entrant and by this time we had caught up to Alpine Shop, one of the best known teams in the field that day. We grabbed it quickly and set off to knock out the next couple CPs. We bush whacked and attacked each CP with precision, by the time we got to the bikes we had traveled about 10 km, and reset the rankings and found ourselves in 3rd place out of 51 teams.
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Check out this video gear review of the OutThere USA MS-1 Pack.

OutThere USA MS-1 Pack Review from Randy Ericksen on Vimeo.

Only four months after opening registration, the Untamed New England Adventure Race is sold out with its final spot going to a team from Quebec, Canada.

This is the third straight sellout for the expedition adventure race that has established itself as THE destination adventure race in the Eastern US if not all of North America.

“There are teams from all corners of the continent: California, Alberta (Canada), Florida, and all points between,” stated Clay Abney, Marketing Director for Untamed New England. “The race continues to attract international teams from as far away as Ecuador, Sweden and Denmark.”

With over four months to go until the racing begins, this marks the fastest the race has ever reached capacity.

The record setting sellout can be attributed to 3 main reasons, explained Race Director Grant Killian: “It’s a testimony to our ability as an organization to deliver an authentic adventure race with emphasis on a real back-country experience; we’ve been organizing great races since 2004 and word has spread about the Untamed New England Adventure Race. It’s also validation by our racers who can’t wait to explore the wilds of our course in Maine, based from Northern Outdoors Lodge. Finally, it’s a statement that the sport of adventure racing is vibrant and capturing the hearts of endurance athletes who are bold enough to give it a try.”

Forty-five of the teams racing in Untamed New England are listed at www.UntamedNE.com/Teams.aspx — but the full race roster will not be announced until March, as a few teams are finishing payments and formalities surrounding their registration.

Teams still interested in participating can join the waiting list, and there are still teams looking to add a teammate or two. Visit www.UntamedNE.com for more information.

About Untamed New England Adventure Race
Untamed New England is a 4-day expedition adventure race that is a qualifier for the Adventure Racing World Championship. The race includes mountain biking, canoe and kayak paddling, trail running, off-trail trekking, orienteering and fixed ropes. The 2012 edition will take place in the Maine wilderness. www.untamedne.com

December is here and if you followed either of the previous posts (the first one or the second one) on training for a big adventure race, such as Untamed New England, you’ll know that I owe you one non-physical, one physical, and one “Untamed Aspect” training suggestion for the new month.  My aim, as I mentioned in the previous material, is for you to arrive to the race start as prepared as possible and ready to make the most of your race experience.  I would consider this December material in tandem with the previous suggestions, as these monthly installments will create a cumulative body of knowledge that can help you to make the most of your time preparing for the race.

First up: a non-physical step you can take to prepare. Safety on the race course is your first responsibility, and a Wilderness First Aid (WFA) class will give you specific training for handling emergencies in the wild.  Everyone hopes they never need to use the skills developed through a First Aid class, but it isn’t a cliché to say that this measure can be a life-saver!  If you hang around adventure racing long enough, you’re bound to find yourself in situations where you, your team, or another team you encounter on the course has a need for your Wilderness First Aid training.  It’s only a matter of time.  Let’s hope it never happens, but you owe it to yourself to be prepared.  Typical WFA classes take 2 full days, and if you want to take backcountry safety training to a higher level you can do the 5-day Wilderness First Responder (WFR) class.  Truly, any medical training can be an advantage in a race, but these WFA and WFR classes are all about improvised care with the limited resources of a wilderness setting. Continue Reading

The APEX Race, (Alpine Expedition Adventure Race) returns to Berner Oberland for the second edition of “the most beautiful adventure race in the world”.

The beautiful Swiss Alpine region of Berner Oberland will once again host the Swiss World Series Adventure Race, the APEX Race. Host venue will be the town of Interlaken, known as the “Adventure Capital of Europe”, situated beautifully at the foot of the Alps and right in between the Lakes of Brienz and Thun.

Dates for the 2012 edition have moved forward a couple of weeks and are set for June 5th – 10th, which will again ensure adventurous experiences from different seasonal conditions.

The race in 2011 was set up to be one of the most beautiful and scenic races in the world and afterwards many teams would also regard it as one of the toughest and most challenging.

30 teams representing 17 different nations took part in the event and all greatly contributed to the positive, and friendly atmosphere that also came to characterize the event. Continue Reading

GearJunkie.com, a top publication on outdoors adventure, is proud to announce a partnership with Minnesota-based Team WEDALI. Beginning in January, the champion squad will be renamed ‘Team GearJunkie/WEDALI’ for the 2012 adventure racing season.

For the past year, captained by veteran racer Justin Bakken, WEDALI dominated the domestic AR scene, including a first-place finish in the 2011 Checkpoint Tracker Adventure Racing Championship. In 2010, WEDALI was also crowned the nation’s No. 1 team, winning the United States Adventure Racing National Championship event by beating the best teams in the country in a tough 24-hour race.

“WEDALI has been a top team in the United States for years,” said Stephen Regenold, editor and founder of GearJunkie.com. “We are psyched to sponsor this world-class squad and have WEDALI on the ‘Team GJ’ roster.”

GearJunkie/WEDALI joins GearJunkie/YogaSlackers underneath the publication’s “Team GearJunkie” umbrella. Each squad will have its own roster (and potentially even race against each other in events next year!) but the squads will remain distinct on the GearJunkie Team micro-site at www.GearJunkie.com/Team.

“WEDALI is thrilled to be joining forces with our friends at GearJunkie,” said Justin Bakken, who co-founded WEDALI in 2003 and now serves as captain. “We appreciate GJ’s enthusiasm for adventure racing and the commitment to bringing our sport to the masses.” Continue Reading

Couple gets engaged while racing in world’s biggest adventure race

Sixty kilometres is a long way to mull over a question that will change your life forever, especially when you’ve had to swim and kayak before hopping on a mountain bike nursing an engagement ring that’s at the heart of that burning question.

So how nervous must Michael Cain, 30, have been as he tackled the Anaconda Adventure Race knowing that he had to keep the ring safe and sound (and his mouth shut) until the final 2.5km beach run, where he planned to propose to his girlfriend, Shannon Trend, 26, also racing?

The couple was competing for the second time in the Augusta, Western Australia event, as mixed team ‘ Sporty and Aqua Ted’. Michael had planned the surprise knee-bend for six months: longer than he trained for the event itself.

“It will remain one of the most memorable days of my life,” said Michael after finishing the world’s largest adventure race with a smile (she, of course, said yes).

“The day turned out even better than planned: not only did she say yes when I proposed on the beach, we also improved our finishing time over last year by 18 minutes!” Continue Reading

We have been juggling the idea of a team ranking for a few years and have finally decided to pull the trigger. Our panel has based our inaugural rankings based on an informed opinion of team’s performances at key races in the US (and a few international ones where relevant). This will be a monthly addition to the site so race hard and perhaps you will see your team’s name on the list (if not already) moving forward.

AR Power Rankings:

1. Tecnu Extreme/Staphaseptic—Strong showing at both CPT and USARA Championships (2nd at both), winners at Gold Rush, 12th at the AR World Championships in Tasmania (top North American team there), strong showing at APEX Switzerland race, 6th at RTNX — Kyle Peter is poised to be the first big AR star of a new generation of athletes, in our humble opinion
2. Dart-Nuun-SportMulti—1st American team at APEX in the Swiss Alps, 3rd overall at Gold Rush and 3d overall at RTNX — Tecnu beat them head-to-head at Gold Rush in Sept and that’s good enough for us to place them under Tecnu
3. Wedali—Won the CPT Nationals race, 3rd at USARA Nats (behind hybrid of Tecnu/SOG teams); 9th at RTNX; overall body of work for 2011 too impressive to bump them out of our top 3
4. Team Bones—3rd at Expedition Idaho (1st American team), 16th at the AR World Championships (2nd American team) has them in our 4th spot. They rarely race the shorter events, but for the big epic races you can count on Team Bones powering through the course
5. GearJunkie/YogaSlackers—Despite a 6th place finish at CPT, they took 2nd at Gold Rush, 4th at Exped Idaho (2nd American team), and 5th at RTNX (2nd American team). Perhaps the best performance by this team was their 2nd place finish this year at what may be the hardest race on the planet, the Wenger Patagonian Expedition Race. The longer and tougher the race, the more money I’d put on these guys. I have no problem slotting them in at #5.
6. Team SOG—They won USARA Nationals and took 2nd (on a hybrid team) at CPT Nationals — so maybe they should be ranked higher, but their inconsistency in race personnel made us uncomfortable placing them above this 5th spot. Their 6th place finishing Expedition Idaho team, for example, was vastly different than their USARA Nationals team. Still, 6th place on this list is pretty darn good!
7. Odyssey Adventure Racing/ ImONPoint.org—They won the USARA Nationals Masters division (finished 4th overall) and took 3rd at CPT Nationals. No expedition race results of note for this bunch in 2011 (although Mark Lattanzi has had a great race at the World Championships in Tasmania on the “Dancing Pandas” team) Continue Reading

Check out this cool video of Team DART-nuun-SportMulti from the folks at 1iOpen Productions. Though the video spotlights the team, it is a great promo for the sport of adventure racing. If you are not enticed and engaged by this clip…you may be on the wrong site! Enjoy!

Team DART-Nuun-SportMulti: Ultra Endurance Racing from 1iOpen Productions on Vimeo.

By Grant Killian

So I didn’t scare you away with this previous piece and you’ve now got a big race on your calendar. It’s time to get serious about your preparations.

I’m going to use the Untamed New England Adventure Race as the model in this material, but really most any good adventure race would suffice as a goal. I’m fond of saying that if you’re not at least a little bit scared at the starting line, you need to find a different race . . . so be sure to have an event in your sights that’s a challenge.

Untamed New England features trail running/trekking, mountain biking, paddling, ropes, orienteering, packrafting, and whitewater rafting. It makes sense to tackle each of these disciplines, but I also want to touch on safety, nutrition, packing, sleep strategy, and all the other facets to expedition adventure racing. In the months to come, I will target specific steps you could take to prepare in each of these areas, and throw in some other training thoughts along the way. I’ll try to cover as much as I can!

I will assume you’re reasonably fit; by this, I mean you could go run a 1/2 marathon this weekend without injuring yourself or needing to walk — your pace isn’t a concern as much as your overall fitness level and ability to exercise continuously for at least a couple hours. I presume you’ve got a good base of endurance and aren’t a couch potato. If this sounds like an unreasonable assumption for you, you should consider volunteering at the Untamed New England race to see first-hand what’s involved. Gradually build up your exercise level over the next year or so until that 1/2 marathon threshhold is a comfortable distance.

With that lone assumption out there, let’s look at specific steps you could take this November to better prepare for the Untamed New England race next June. I’ve organized tasks into 3 groups: 1 is Non-physical, one is Physical, and a third section I’m calling the “Untamed Aspect” where I go into detail on some really Untamed New England specific material.
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It was mid-summer, 4:30am in the Green Mountains of Central Vermont. Prime adventure race time. This was GMARA‘s summer event, the 12-hour MVP Health Care Bitter Pill adventure race.

The captains meeting took place in the dark, and teams got about 10 minutes to look at their maps before a 5am start. Teams took off on foot, trekking to 6 points in any order — some beautiful sunrise vistas, a huge field of wild blueberries, and then teams returned to the start to pick up their bikes for some fun logging roads and hike-a-bike out to a reservoir. There teams trekked and swam to pick up four points. Comments from the local fishermen seeing teams of three swimming the reservoir towing drybagged backpacks were priceless!

More biking, followed by some bushwhack to a surprise mountain climb, and teams enjoyed one truly incredible view over Lake Dunmore. Another swim/trek leg, this time around Vermont’s Silver Lake, and then teams completed more mountain biking to the finish.

In the words of race director Tim Curtin, “At the end of the day, team Untamed New England was unstoppable, turning an early lead into a course-crushing 9 hours 56 minutes – finishing an hour and a half faster than the next team.” GMARA president, Chris Yager, observed how the Untamed New England team were “Consummate professionals and great ambassadors of the sport. We loved having them on the course.”

The Untamed New England race team consisted of Dave Lamb, Molly Housman, and Dave Romilly. In winning the race, they earned a place at the USARA National Championship race later this year. Continue Reading

A portion of the tagline for Atmosphere Raid the North Extreme (RTNX) reads “Real Wilderness.” After more than three days of racing the RTNX unmarked course in BC’s West Kootenay, participating teams have no doubt that they are being tested in some of the most ‘real wilderness’ imaginable. And they have to be prepared for it physically and mentally.

Challenging weather earlier in the week took its toll on some racers, leaving teams to deal with ill and injured teammates. In these cases, teams have to decide whether to rest and hope time heals; call for help, take care of the injured teammate and continue on as a smaller team; or, return to the last major transition area and withdraw from the race.

By Wednesday morning, four teams had faced setbacks that left them at TA3 at the end of the first paddle on standby to complete a shortened version of the course: Adrenaline Rush, Blue, HTFU/Sunovion, Nord Vrai, Suburban Rush. Cranksports Team Currahee, the last on the paddle, arrived at TA3 mid-morning, greeted by staff and Shaw TV and were able to proceed onto the shortened course in the afternoon. Though HFTU/Sunovion set off on the short course, they returned later that night to TA3 due to one team member being ill.

Custom Cellular had made it into the high alpine of Valhalla Park and were in second place when cold, wet weather, including ice pellets, exacerbated a previously existing medical condition in one team member, so they elected to return to TA3. The team arrived early morning visibly disappointed but safe. Pentahlondesneiges.com elected to move forward as a team of three from TA3 after some irreconcilable differences with a teammate. SOG was at CP8 Ice Creek Lodge when one of their members elected to withdraw from the race. The team moved forward as a team of three. Dancing Pandas, after 20+ hours in Valhalla Park, elected to return to TA3 and take on a shortened course so that they would be able to experiemce as much of the course as possible rather than risk missing a cutoff while in the Park. The Pandas rested at TA3 for a few hours and set off again at midnight. Climb4SMA (Torti) was at the base of the trail up into Valhalla when one of their team members fell ill and they elected to return to TA3.

The remainder of the field is working their way through Valhalla Park and into the rest of the course. There are incremental cutoffs in place at various CPs to expedite the flow through the course as the finish line cutoff creeps closer. This allows teams to continue to move through the course, experience its challenges, and make their way to the finish line unassisted.

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Mother Nature added an extra layer of complexity to the Atmosphere Raid the North Extreme day two challenges as racers worked their way through the Slocan Valley and into Valhalla Park. The weather fluctuated between brilliant blue skies and epic proportion downpours throughout the day and well into the night.

Current race leaders, Team WildernessTraverse.com are living up to their reputation as a team to watch during this RTNX event as they have a commanding lead over the next ranked team. Team WildernessTraverse.com were seen in Kootenay Lake paddling and testing out the demo canoes after Kaslo’s Welcome Dinner. WildernessTraverse.com were through the third transition and into canoes very early on Monday. Chasing after them are Team Custom Cellular and Team GearJunkies.com/Yogaslackers.

Meanwhile the remaining teams continued to work their way to the transition area at Retallac over the course of the day. A few gear, navigational and medical issues affected some of the teams, which caused several delays in the estimated arrival time for many. Some teams came into Retallac with a quick turnaround strategy; as the day wore on and the longer teams were out on course, the more transition time they would elect to take. Event medical staff kept busy attending to blisters, scrapes and bruises from the trekking section. The overgrowth of aggressive plants like Devil’s Club and Alder are making the treks very arduous in some places. Foot care is of the utmost importance during events of this intensity and these are early times as yet.

Local team Kootenay Kaos arrived at the paddle transition in Silverton after 9pm, in the dark, in the midst of almost monsoon rains, and to the supportive cheers of friends and family. They would have spent 5hrs on mountain bikes riding in less than ideal conditions and were preparing to trade their bikes for canoes to paddle 20km down Slocan Lake to the next transition. As they changed clothes, fueled and got organized for the paddle, more teams continued to arrive by headlamp in the dark, damp night. Despite the challenging conditions, teams’ spirits were amazingly high with anticipation of the paddle and subsequent stages that lay ahead.

As weather conditions deteriorated throughout the night, more and more teams were suffering from the side effects and were spreading more thinly throughout the course. A few teams lost racing companions due to injury so substitutes were made (or in some cases not) to enable teams to go on and complete the course as uncategorized or unranked. Some injured or sick racers elected to press on, with the commitment of first aid check-ins at each possible checkpoint and transition area.

At the Silverton transition, some teams opted to wait out the weather and get some rest before moving forward. Other teams were gone within 30 minutes.

The next series of challenges arise in the much-anticipated Valhalla Park area where racers will be visiting heli-accessible Ice Creek Lodge high in the alpine. And snow.

A year’s worth of training and preparation were put to the test today for 120 athletes from around the world as Atmosphere Raid the North Extreme (RTNX) kicked off at 10 am in Meadow Creek, BC. Blue skies and sunshine smiled down on the prominent start line arch as racers cycled though.

The introduction to RTNX was a lengthy, challenging mountain bike stage on a forest service road that gained 1000m of elevation over 15km. This seemingly short distance was taking some teams as long as 4hrs to complete due to the elevation gain. Such a challenge early in the race saw racers employing teamwork tactics to conserve energy. Stronger climbers towed weaker climbers, stronger riders pushed their teammates, and fatigued racers pushed their bikes up the steep inclines. With a 500km unmarked course to cover, racers will employ a variety of strategies like these to ensure each team member has the fitness to tackle the rugged terrain ahead.

A big factor in teams’ success yesterday was proper management of hydration and exposure to the sun. With temperatures climbing to normal summer highs and teams climbing to higher and higher elevation, heat from the sun became quite oppressive at elevation. One racer was overheard saying that it was “nice, beautiful weather for suffering!”

The first transition stage was located at Retallack Lodge, a cat-ski lodge located in the area of a former 19th century mining town. RTNX Base Camp relocated to the Lodge and awaited the first team’s arrival. Retallack provided very comfortable and welcoming accommodations for race staff and crew as they supported racers coming through the transition area. The first team arrived into Retallack at a little before 1am. Team WildernessTraverse.com spent approximately 30 minutes refueling, changing clothes and donning equipment to transition to a mountain bike stage in which they would eventually make their way, sometimes through snow pack, to the top of Idaho Peak, which is renowned for its vistas. From the top of Idaho Peak, racers will ride the historic Wakefield Trail, which zigzags its way down from the peak with extreme exposure, which can be an intimidating factor for some.

Teams will eventually make their way to the second transition area for a 20km paddle south on Slocan Lake from Silverton to Slocan City.

Team Nord Vrai is currently in Nelson, BC getting ready to start the check-in process for this year’s Raid the North Extreme. This team consists of 3 Coloradians and one New Yorker. This will be the first time this team combination will race together.

Who are the team players for this year’s RTNX?

Chrissy “The Greek Freak” Nacos
Age: 36
Biggest asset to the team: Chrissy greatest asset is her Greek determination. As a chemical engineer, let’s just say she is the “organized one of the bunch. This special skill is highlighted in everything from her final preparation including labels to her meticulous training schedule down to the minute. As a single parent with a full time job, we all know how challenging it is finding enough time to train. Yet she still crushes her team mates.

Lisa “Bone Crusher” Lieb
Age: 41
Biggest asset to the team: Bringing “Foxy Roxy – the Trek Top Fuel 99” – one hot Mountain Biking chick that can hammer. She is a professional mountain biking guide from Colorado who gets to ride incredible terrain on a daily basis. As an ex – Xterra Athlete, she has the ability to downhill while texting multiple people. Her experience base will come in handy as she is towing her boys up the mountains. Lisa has been known to practice crashes just to prepare for a race to toughen her up, thus the reason they call her the “bone crusher.”

Scott “The Mule” Cary
Age: 37
Biggest asset to the team: Lead navigator. He has spent time with local animal trackers, Indian spirit guides and other non orthodox ways of making sure we can successfully navigate the local landscape by all means possible. Scott has been known to find secret passage ways and short cuts just by tasting the land. Recent reports out of Colorado has confirm another sitting of Sasquatch, however we know it was just Scott in the back country. Although he tells us he has trimmed so he does not scare the local kids. Scott “the Mule” is known for carrying large loads and eating everything in sight, but don’t call him an a$$.

Keith “Krash” Ash Continue Reading

Anticipation continues to build for the 120 exceptionally fit and skilled adventurers who have signed up for the 2011 edition of Atmosphere Raid the North Extreme (RTNX). After a comprehensive registration process, including skills tests, racers received the course maps on Friday night and were given 36 hours to research and plot their strategies.

Today was the second and final pre-race preparation day during which the racers, their gear, and the entire RTNX Base Camp were relocated approximately 1 hour north of Nelson to the beautiful, welcoming Village of Kaslo. Here racers had access to their bikes and gear boxes for the last few hours; received SPOT tracker radios, which organizers will use to track each team along the course via GPS (the live tracker map is accessible at the Live HQ for the race www.raidthenorthextreme.com); and attended a final course and safety briefing where they had their last opportunity to ask questions and clarify concerns.

Later in the day, Kaslo Mayor Greg Lay walked throughout the waterfront Base Camp location, greeted racers, spoke with the local team, Kootenay Kaos, and extended a warm welcome to racers during the racer briefing.

Atmosphere RTNX made closer connections with the Kaslo community last night by partnering in a fundraising dinner with parents of a local group of 5th graders from JV Humphries School. The fundraiser contributes to sending the children on a school trip to Fort Steel Pioneer Village, approximately 4hrs away, near Cranbrook BC. The pasta and salad buffet was entirely prepared and served by the children’s parents. Anyone interested in supporting the fundraiser efforts can email sinclairjsarah@gmail.com

With full bellies and a tight timeline Racers donned headlamps and huddled around their maps until well after dark as it was their last chance to transfer additional information onto their race maps. Quiet time hit close to 10:30 pm as this would be the last solid night of sleep teams will see for several nights.

Tomorrow morning racers are transferred to Meadow Creek for a 10 am start.

Checkpoint Zero/Tech4o heads into Raid the North Extreme as the points leader in the Checkpoint Tracker Adventure Racing Series with the National Championship just a few months away.

Who are the team players for this year’s RTNX?

Michele Hobson, 42, Tough as nails competitor willing to drag the team to the finish line if necessary. Good with a bo staff.
Paul Humphreys, 37, Strong on foot, great team motivator, and ropes expert. Token kiwi of the team. Nunchuck expert.
Peter Jolles, 35, Lead navigation, strong mountain biking, and computer hacking skills.
Chris Brown, 37, Expert mountain biking skills, top notch navigation skills and long race experience. Can dance like nobody’s business.

What is your team doing to prepare for the big race?
Peter Jolles:

Most of our training has been as individuals as we all have different schedules and live fairly far apart. Most recently we used the two day Endorphin Fix as a training race. We learned a few key things there that we hope will help us in RTNX.

In a longer race you’ll surely need to catch a bit of sleep; can you talk about your sleep strategy?
Peter Jolles:

This race will be slightly difference from the other long races I’ve done, so I’m not really sure how we plan to address sleep. In past races we’ve pushed hard until we can’t go any further, and then take a bit of rest. That works in 2-3 day races, but in a longer race we’ll need more. I’m hoping that 2-3 hours a day will be enough to keep us sharp, but not slow us down too much.

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WEDALI, the 2010 winner of the USARA National Championship is on the ground in British Columbia and prepping for the start of tomorrow’s Raid the North Extreme. Justin Bakken sent his answers that he typed via his iPhone while traveling yesterday.

Who are the team players for this year’s RTNX?

Scott “Erl” Erlandson, 42
Team sweeper. Keeps everyone together. Stays awake to drive us home safely.

Fredrik Goransson, 35
Woods walker. Speaks in Swedish to the wildlife. Carries food in beard to “save it for later.”

Rachel Furman, 28
Whipper snapper. Bushwhacker. TA fire cracker.

Justin “Biz” Bakken, 31
Moonlit walks on the beach with map and compass. Can time travel.

What is your team doing to prepare for the big race?

We put on a Sprint AR two weeks ago to limit our training as much as possible. We did a lot of armchair AR involving watching RTNX DVDs, visualizing, and harnessing the power of hope. A little trekking, biking, and paddling to spice things up. We’ll be sitting in a car for three days to taper as well.

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The picturesque city of Nelson today played host to more than 120 racers from North America and beyond as they completed a detailed registration process and attended the Opening Ceremonies for the 2011 edition of Atmosphere Raid the North Extreme (RTNX).

Atmosphere RTNX, Canada’s premiere expedition-style adventure race takes place from July 23 to 31, 2011 in the West Kootenay region of British Columbia. Four-person co-ed teams will face extreme challenges including a rugged wilderness, team dynamics, sleep deprivation and gear failure as they bike, trek, paddle and use ropes to navigate more than 500km of unmarked terrain through the Selkirk, Purcell and Monashee mountains over six non-stop days.

The inherent risk in a race of this nature means teams must bring a high level of skill and endurance to the start line. Atmosphere RTNX designed a comprehensive mandatory registration process-including navigation and rope skills testing, bike and first aid gear checks, medical and insurance paperwork, and more-to ensure that racers have what it takes to safely challenge the course.

“A number of teams were exempt from some of the mandatory skills tests today,” said Race Director Geoff Langford, “which really speaks to the caliber of competitors attending this race. It’s going to be an exciting week!”

Following registration, teams gathered together for the Opening Ceremonies, which included a welcome from Trail, BC (the finish line location) Mayor Dieter Bog, race staff introductions, and a mesmerizing Cirque de Soleil style demonstration of “acrobatic yoga for adventure racers” by members of Team GearJunkie/YogaSlackers.
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After winning the 2010 Checkpoint Tracker Adventure Racing Championship, Odyssey Adventure Racing/ImOnPoint.org is heading to British Columbia for Raid the North Extreme. They are currently in 2nd place with the 2011 Checkpoint Tracker rankings and 3rd with the USARA National Rankings.

Who are the team players for this year’s RTNX?

Charlie Roberts, age 37.
Biggest asset to the team: Charlie is an excellent navigator, an incredibly gifted athlete and is very strong in all the AR disciplines.

Sara Dallman, age 42.
Biggest asset to the team: Sara is a fast racer and she brings the most racing experience to the team. She has raced all over the world, and that will be a huge resource to draw on as the race progresses. She will also be the team “doctor” watching out for all of us – especially late in the race.

Jen Moos, age 28.
Biggest asset to the team: Jen is insanely fast, extremely motivated and always positive. Whether it is in a TA, on the bike, paddling or on foot she doesn’t stop.

Shane Hagerman, age 41.
Biggest asset to the team: I am the Captain. That means I should have a cool hat. Unfortunately, I don’t have a cool hat and even if I did they wouldn’t let me wear it.

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Atmosphere Raid the North Extreme (ARTNX), Canada’s premiere expedition-style adventure race, is proud to announce a new media strategy that focuses on gaining maximum exposure for all stakeholders through a unique online experience that evolves in tandem with the race itself.

“Adventure racing is a dynamic and exciting sport and we have chosen to move away from our traditional media approach to develop a content-rich, in the moment, online experience including daily videos, blogs, social media feeds, and interactive message boards.” said Geoff Langford, Race Director for Atmosphere RTNX. “This bold new move allows us to share all of the race week excitement and drama with as many people as possible, as close to real time as possible.”

Atmosphere RTNX’s innovative media strategy will allow viewers to be immersed in many aspects of the race – from watching daily racer videos and tracking their locations on an interactive map, to catching a rare glimpse of behind the scenes action – as it unfolds. It will be the next best thing to being there.

The newly designed race week portal is now live at www.raidthenorthextreme.com with pre-race information and updates. Live action race feeds will commence with the crack of the starter’s pistol at 10 am on July 24th, 2011.

Atmosphere Raid the North Extreme, the six-day, non-stop expedition race, takes place from July 23 to 31, 2011 in the West Kootenay region of British Columbia. It will feature four-person co-ed teams from around the world as they navigate more than 500 kilometres of unmarked terrain through the Selkirk, Purcell and Monashee mountains. Teams will face extreme challenges including a rugged wilderness, team dynamics, sleep deprivation and gear failure as they bike, trek, paddle and use ropes to navigate their way to the finish line in Trail, BC.

ABOUT FRONTIER ADVENTURE SPORTS & TRAINING INC:

Frontier Adventure Sports & Training Inc (Frontier) is the leading adventure racing company in Canada, operating the popular Raid the North adventure racing series. Now in its 14th year of operation, Frontier has an international reputation for solid logistics, challenging courses and events built around the history and tradition of each region. Atmosphere Raid the North Extreme is one of just two qualifier events in North America for the Adventure Racing World Series to be held this year in Tasmania. Each Raid the North race always remains true to its slogan: Real Wilderness. Real Navigation. Real Adventure.