Adventure Racing. What an incredible sport! For those of you who are unfamiliar with it, Adventure Racing is one of the fastest growing sports in the world, and has been called the sport for the new millennium; even though it is one of (if not THE) toughest. At its essence, Adventure Racing is a multi-disciplinary, human-powered endurance sport. The most famous Adventure Race was probably the Discovery Channel Eco-Challenge which took place all around the globe. Most races have some common elements: mountain biking, paddling (canoe and/or kayak), and trekking/navigation (hiking off trail with a map and compass). Each race will then have other disciplines that will depend on the location of the race. Some examples of other disciplines include camel riding, dog sledding, mountain climbing, rappelling, and many more.
Adventure racing is a team sport where teams of two to five members collectively work their way through a series of checkpoints in races ranging from a few hours, to up to 10 days or more. Generally speaking, adventure races are difficult undertakings that take people out of their comfort zones and force the team to work together. Typically fewer than fifty percent of the teams finish within the allotted time.
As you might have guessed from my background of activities, I am incredibly excited to be a part of this amazing sport. It fits me to a tee, and I have gained tons of experience and knowledge while competing.
I started out by helping to assemble a team of Adventure Racers comprised of people from Michigan and named the team Mich-Adventure. With Team Mich-Adventure and beyond, I've raced in over 40 adventure races ranging from 8 hours up to 10 days. The races have been held both nationally and internationally, in some great locations. We have had some great times, and have done rather well with several first place finishes and many top ten finishes. It just comes naturally from our passion for the outdoors, and our desire to train, race and win.
My first race was the Odyssey in Virginia, in which some of the members of Mich-Adventure ran as Team PeopleSoft. We went as Team Peoplesoft in honor of our first sponsorship. My company (at the time) had been great in the fact that they have given the team gear to race with. More importantly, they had given encouragement towards the race.
I'm proud to say that I've crossed the finish line in every race that I've done. Some have been after the allocated time; so it's considered a disqualification, but I prefer to not give up.
If you, or someone you know might be interested in the possibility of racing or have a spot open on a team, please feel free to contact me. Note that I haven't raced in a while now, but I still keep in touch with many racing organizations. I've made some great friendships over the racing years; and can highly recommend some folks; like infiterra for instance. Great guys, and they host great races.