TeamSOG Competes in Untamed New England

TeamSOG (Scott Pleban, Kristin Eddy, Toby Angove, and Brian Mayer) will be making the long drive up to unknown Maine territory this weekend to compete in the Untamed New England Adventure Race. The team has spent the last several months planning and training for the race. With help from our sponsors, friends, and family we are ready to compete to win.

The race is an AR World Series Qualifier. The top three teams will qualify for the World Championships in September in the French Alps with the winner earning $5000. The race is headquartered out of Northern Outdoors resort (HQ for the only American east coast Eco-Challenge) in The Forks, ME. Untamed New England has become the US’s premiere expedition AR event. This is deep New England wilderness, with large stretches unmarked by roads or trails. The course promises to be true to Adventure Racing’s roots.

As would be expected the field of teams is incredibly impressive and world class. Past winners are back including our own Scott Pleban (2009) and reigning champs Pentathlon Des Neiges – Processi. Almost all of the premiere North American teams are on the roster including, Untamed NE, DART-Nuun, GearJunkie/Yogaslackers, along with the typical local talent of Odyssey Adventure Racing/ImONPoint.org, GOALS ARA, NYARA, and AR A Decade Later. If that wasn’t enough the top two teams from Denmark will be flying over to race. And oh yeah, did we mention the defending World Champion Swedish/French team, Thule, will be toeing the line. The winner and even the podium finishers will be going away with some serious bragging rights.

The race starts at 9am on Wednesday June 20 and teams are required to be off course by 10am June 24. The estimated race length is between 200 and 250 miles depending on route choices. The race will include mountain biking, whitewater rafting, canoeing/kayaking, packrafting, trail running, off-trail trekking, orienteering, rappelling, ascending, and tyrolean traversing. The ARWS website will have tracking throughout the race. You can go here to get updates on what’s going on and where teams are on the course. You can also send shout-outs to the teams which are always appreciated.
http://www.arworldseries.com/arwsportal/untamed/

There were many logistical challenges that we had to face in preparation. One of the biggest was the acquisition of packrafts. A packraft is a small portable boat used for travel on all bodies of water. The rafts had to be small enough to fit in our packs but big and sturdy enough to handle Class II, maybe III, water. This will certainly promote a true wilderness race course and add strategy to the race but it also added a lot of stress to the team as to what our approach would be. We were lucky enough to come across Jackson Hole Packrafts/Packraft Rentals Anywhere (jhpackraft.com). Our use of their top of the line packrafts turned into a partnership between Jackson Hole Packrafts/Packraft Rentals Anywhere, American Adventure Sports, and TeamSOG. They are now the official packraft outfitter for the team. We can’t thank them enough for their support and assistance in dealing with such a unique and demanding challenge. 

We’d like to thank our other sponsors for enabling us to compete at the level we do. Not only do they produce the best racing gear from knives to lights to shoes to bikes to clothes to food to watches to bags, but they support us and our goals as a team. SOG Knives are great tools and are carried by the team during the race. Scott Sports, has everything you need for adventures from bikes, to running shoes, to apparel, to winter gear. Princeton Tec also provides the team with the best light on the market, the Apex Pro, as well as the lightest, the EOS. We get the highest quality adventure apparel from Darn Tough Socks, Greenlayer, Headsweats, and Zensah. The team is powered by one of a kind Honey Stinger Waffles. The team also races with the best Adventure Racing packs on the market from OutThere USA. We would also like to give a big shout-out and thank you to Switch Eyewear, Soleus Running, Kigo Footwear, Eagles Nest Outfitters, Liberty Bottle Works, Elete Electrolyte, and Cablz.

American Adventure Sports (www.americanadventuresports.com) is really the key to our team’s success. They are our presenting sponsor and work with us to make sure we have everything we need to race and win. You can check out their store at www.shopadventuresports.com and find all the gear the team uses.

The race has also joined forces with other local adventure races in the East Coast Adventure Racing Series. This is a testament to Untamed Adventure’s commitment to the sport of AR and confirmation that the ECARS as a legitimate AR series.

We will try and post updates to our Facebook page leading up to and following the race but may be limited by internet availability.
https://www.facebook.com/#!/TMSOG

Be sure to check out the interview of TeamSOG, along with other teams, prior to the race at:
http://www.untamedne.com/Content_SOG.aspx


Thank you for all your love and support,
Brian, Toby, Kristin, and Scott
TeamSOG