Posted: May 26, 2005

Adventure Racing: The Appalachian Extreme crowns the WINNER!

After several lead changes, Team Eastern Mountain Sports navigates to first place and the FREE entry to the AR World Championship this November in New Zealand

(Bethel, ME) – At 7:02AM Tuesday, 24 May 2005, Team Eastern Mountain Sports, comprised of Team Captain, Jennifer Shultis, teammates; Vytenis Benetis, Dave Lamb, and Pete Swenson, crossed the finish line at Sunday River Ski Resort’s Grand Summit hotel.

To say the Appalachian Extreme had its many ‘extremes’ would truly be an understatement. With relentless rain and nearly freezing temperatures for the extent of the race, the weather became another discipline in itself. This weather and the difficult navigation proved too much for many of the teams, even the most experienced.

Team Supplierpipeline, one of the favorites to win, enjoyed an early lead, coming into the first staffed checkpoint of the first mountain bike in first place. Then, the team seemed to be “off the map” so to speak. At the next recorded checkpoint, Supplierpipeline was suddenly in 18th place, having had trouble navigating the maze of ATV trails and other roads. Team Subaru USA, another team in contention, led the race well into the 3rd leg, a mostly trail-free, intermittently deep snow covered, 33-mile trekking leg. However, with only 2 checkpoints to go in the trek, Subaru USA called in on their Satellite Phone, and requested that their support crew come pick them up. It wasn’t the first time the race leaders fell victim to the navigation.

After nailing the fastest trekking leg, and paddling a very fast 34-mile section of lakes and tricky portaging sections, the 2004 Appalachian Extreme’s 2nd place finisher, Team Simon River Sports pulled out of the final Transition Area (TA4/CP27) at 9:20AM on Monday on bikes with a huge 10-hour lead. Four hours later, they had returned to TA4, having made little progress. After finally making it to the next checkpoint (CP28), it would be CP29 that would elude them the longest, eventually handing over their lead sometime early Tuesday morning to Team Eastern Mountain Sports.

Only 3 teams finished the FULL course. Aside from the winning team, Team DART, from Washington state, took 2nd place, and the guaranteed entry to the AR World Championship. One 4-person all male team, Team Adventure Pocono finished the FULL course as well. There were several teams that finished alternate courses including Simon River Sports, Cyclefit/Archipela, ATP/Odyssey, NEMO Equipment, and GOALS ARA. Unranked finishers included SPTU/Darn Tough, NEARA, 20-40 and Blind Faith.

The buzz at the closing party included comments about the beauty of the course, its remoteness, the hospitality of strangers along the course, and the race’s challenging navigation. When asked to comment about some of the teams claiming the race may have been too difficult, Race Director Norm Greenberg just simply said, “some teams seem to have forgotten that the Appalachian Extreme is a AR World Championship Qualifier. It’s supposed to be difficult!”

The Appalachian Extreme is a proud member of the Adventure Racing World Series. The Adventure Racing World Series is an international circuit of premiere adventure races representing 10 countries creating a 12 month calendar of professional events around the world. The series events are: Beast of the East - USA, Raid the North Extreme - Canada, EcoMotion Pro - Brazil, Appalachian Extreme - USA, Explore Sweden - Sweden, The Bull of Africa - South Africa, Terra Incognita - Croatia, Bergson Winter Challenge - Poland, Wilderness ARC - Scotland and Southern Traverse -New Zealand. Adventure Racing World Series events are qualifiers for the Adventure Race World Championship.

Racing Ahead, Inc. is also the producer of the New England Adventure Race Series with events in June (Discover Portland Urban AR, ME), July (Lodge at Mount Snow, VT), and August (Gunstock Resort, NH), as well as the Southeast's Mountain Sports Festival 12-hour Adventure Race.

Visit the race website at: RacingAhead.com.