Mission Impossible
How does one go about assembling a "winning" team for an extreme adventure race like the Red Bull | Divide & Conquer? How do I attract the top athletes in the world to do, and win, an event that's advertised as "four parts mountain sports relay, one part impossible?"
I'm still finding out.
Last year I was on an all-women's team of made up of Red Bull athletes from the different sports: trail running, kayaking, paragliding and mountain biking. But for this upcoming June 18th race in Durango, CO we decided to inject some testosterone to our team formula. And I think I've got some brave takers.
Marla getting a reprieve from climbing at the 2004 Red Bull Divide and Conquer. Photo by Christina Pondella / Red Bull
"Munny" from Canada was easy to enroll. He's from Canada afterall. Even rented a hyberbaric chamber to prepare for the altitude. He will be running the perilous seven miles of scree, a 4,000 ft climb from Silverton, CO up to Kendall Mountain. If she agrees to do this thing again, three-time world champion Kari Castle from will be returning to once again paraglide who knows how many thousands of feet down to Silverton. This is where world record holder Tao Berman will start kayaking 27 miles along the Animas River through some class V water. I'll be finishing up the last bit with a 27 mile, 7,000 ft, mountain bike climb to the Durango Mountain Resort.
Just reminiscing about last year's event makes me shudder. For me, it was simply a vulgar ride. The initial climb is about 3,000 feet over the first four miles. Tears streamed down my face. I remember one point in my race where I realized, there's absolutely no air up here! It was probably around 10,000 feet. Birds were viciously flapping their wings, not getting a bite of lift in this near-vacuum. And I tried breathing really hard, too. Hours into the ride/hike-a-bike, when I figured I must be near the finish, some guys at a feed station urged me on by yelling, “Great job! You’re almost halfway there!”
We finished up a respectable 11th out of 20 teams; we were the only all female team.
This year I hope Ned Overend won't be returning. He posted the fastest mountain bike leg last year, shamed us all, and really made it apparent that I was the weak link. But I'll be sure not to let my new teammates find out about that.
Mike Kloser fighting his way up a 3,000 ft climb at the 2004 Red Bull Divide and Conquer. Photo by Christina Pondella / Red Bull
www.redbulldivideandconquer.com
I'm still finding out.
Last year I was on an all-women's team of made up of Red Bull athletes from the different sports: trail running, kayaking, paragliding and mountain biking. But for this upcoming June 18th race in Durango, CO we decided to inject some testosterone to our team formula. And I think I've got some brave takers.
Marla getting a reprieve from climbing at the 2004 Red Bull Divide and Conquer. Photo by Christina Pondella / Red Bull
"Munny" from Canada was easy to enroll. He's from Canada afterall. Even rented a hyberbaric chamber to prepare for the altitude. He will be running the perilous seven miles of scree, a 4,000 ft climb from Silverton, CO up to Kendall Mountain. If she agrees to do this thing again, three-time world champion Kari Castle from will be returning to once again paraglide who knows how many thousands of feet down to Silverton. This is where world record holder Tao Berman will start kayaking 27 miles along the Animas River through some class V water. I'll be finishing up the last bit with a 27 mile, 7,000 ft, mountain bike climb to the Durango Mountain Resort.
Just reminiscing about last year's event makes me shudder. For me, it was simply a vulgar ride. The initial climb is about 3,000 feet over the first four miles. Tears streamed down my face. I remember one point in my race where I realized, there's absolutely no air up here! It was probably around 10,000 feet. Birds were viciously flapping their wings, not getting a bite of lift in this near-vacuum. And I tried breathing really hard, too. Hours into the ride/hike-a-bike, when I figured I must be near the finish, some guys at a feed station urged me on by yelling, “Great job! You’re almost halfway there!”
We finished up a respectable 11th out of 20 teams; we were the only all female team.
This year I hope Ned Overend won't be returning. He posted the fastest mountain bike leg last year, shamed us all, and really made it apparent that I was the weak link. But I'll be sure not to let my new teammates find out about that.
Mike Kloser fighting his way up a 3,000 ft climb at the 2004 Red Bull Divide and Conquer. Photo by Christina Pondella / Red Bull
www.redbulldivideandconquer.com
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2 Comments:
Marla you're a bad ass and a hottie! If you don't marry your boyfriend I'm available! :)
I can't believe you didn't ask me to be on the team! I mean, other than the fact that I run with all the grace of a drunk, paraglide like a rock, and have the kayaking ability of a complete imbecile, I'm sure I could be a great asset to the team. I'm sure you need someone to keep the beer cold.
The Hermosa Trail is awesome!
Rich
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