We are proud to introduce the Quest Adventure Race Team who will be heading to the US Adventure Racing National Championships in Maryland in October. Emily, Dusty & Brent will be sharing updates as they train and race in preparation for Nationals.
Meet the Team & read more about their first race together:
We are excited to do our first 24hr race as the Quest Adventure Race Team in Cle Elum this weekend. We each like to push our limits and find out how we can push past them. This race will be a good challenge and practice for us as we head to the USARA Nationals Race in Maryland this fall.
The forecast for this weekend is calling for high’s around 90 with lows dipping down into the 50’s overnight in the valley…and potentially much colder up high. As a result, we have had to think a little harder about what we want to carry with us since the temperature swings could be severe. To complicate things even more, we are supposedly going to spend a portion of the race doing something called “river trekking”. While we don’t have any specifics, we can only imagine that it will mean getting really wet…potentially at night. While we don’t want to over-pack, we certainly want to make sure that we stay plenty warm throughout the entire race.
We will also be prepared to filter water out on the course because we may have some very long stretches between transition areas with no sources of potable water.
Navigating at night will be a challenge that we haven’t yet had to deal with during our previous races. It will be especially difficult since none of us have spent any time on the trails and dirt roads around Cle Elum.
All these difficulties will make this weekend an excellent training opportunity for nationals in October. We will definitely meet all these same challenges again in Maryland. We are preparing the best we can, and hoping for the best, but there will undoubtedly be some mistakes made, and additional challenges revealed. Our goal is to have the best race we can, and identify potential improvements and things to practice between now and October.
The race starts at 10am tomorrow!
~Emily, Dusty & Brent