Discussion: Untamed New England

I am putting the full length film from last years Untamed New England online in 10 parts. One a week. Be sure to check out Bash in episode 1.You can watch them here.
http://vimeo.com/channels/247022

Love it! I was wondering where Relentless was!

Uh oh! There should be a statute of limitations on broadcasts of sleep-deprived Day 4 team discussions. (red face...)

I will be playing that for ever. It is still one of the coolest moments I have seen in adventure racing.

And we're all still friends. Even you! ;)

"...If I was by myself I would do this..."
"Ok, lets go!"

HAHAA!! Classic material!

When all else fails, go for the ego.

In one of Randy's later installments, he follows our team to the CP and on to the finish line, and that shows another aspect of adventure racing. Although it took longer than usual to reach a decision due to our sleep-deprived state, all four team members were fully committed to the plan once we made our choice. The teammate who argued most strongly against going for the CP was the one who searched hardest for it along a risky cliff edge and ultimately found it.

Very cool!

As the guilty party behind Untamed New England, I watch that clip with a more nuanced understanding of the situation. Consider:

-The team in the film, Running Free, finished 2nd at the race in 2008, very easily could have won that year; lots of high expectations for them

-The team served a potentially crushing time penalty for losing their sat phone on the course (staff found and returned it to them, but they served a 2-hour penalty at the waterfall ascent site about 12 hours prior to this footage)

-Vocal misgivings by a few teams about the rogaine finish format (which our 2012 race will not feature, nor any other Untamed events down the road . . . this footage makes the case for me when I lobby this point with other organizers)

-The biggest thing to factor in that you will never get from the video clip: these guys raced an amazing race to even be in contention for the podium. They had out-navigated, out-thought, out-planned, and generally out-raced 40 of the other teams at the race. Only an elite bunch even had a shot at that final orienteering section.

And let me close by sharing that registrations have started coming in for our 2012 event, so check-out the registration details and hopefully we'll see you next June!

In Grant's defence, until I was in that situation, I would have thought that a rogaine section would be a good way to end a long race since it ensures that all teams get to the finish line banquet around the same time. Sometimes you have to test an idea to see its advantages and disadvantages. Shortly after the 2010 event, Grant announced that he'd decided against doing it in future events. He's one of the RDs who listens to his racers. Btw, the rogaine section caused no problems (other than a little extra anxiety) but some participants felt it didn't fit with the amazing wilderness journey of the previous 3 days. Great race, highly recommended!

great clip - I thought it was a very realistic of what actually happens on the race course. Any team that tells you that they have never had any problems with decision making while racing is lying to you.

As per revy, I actually didn't see anything I haven't been involved in numerous times myself:-). Maybe a more polite version we just saw - not enough potty mouth?

I told these guys when I filmed it how great it was, and I knew it was the opening of the film. The discussion also goes to show that adventure racers have a sense of humor or humour. Of course the first time IO saw Harps at Apex in Switzerland I filmed him talking about what CPs to get.
Make sure you watch the rest of the episodes,especially the last one when you get to follow them home.
http://vimeo.com/channels/247022