In the latest issue of Adventure World Magazine Robyn Benincasa of Team Merrell/Zanfel Adventure shares some of the navigation tips that have made her one of the most successful adventure racers in the world.

From the article:

If you are a good navigator, you can write your own ticket in the sport of Adventure Racing. Your race calendar will be full before you know it, with invites from some pretty solid teams. But navigation is a mix of art and science that needs to be practiced continually, so your best bet is to hook up with a local orienteering team (most of the sport’s best navigators have a competitive orienteering background) and see how good you can get! Plus, learning to navigate is just darn fun.

Here’s the quick down low on what you need to know to get from point A to point B while navigating. Make sure you have all of your DATAH before leaving for that next checkpoint!

To read the article in it’s entirety click here.

Thinking of signing up for the next Primal Quest Sprint Series (and wondering what you’re in for)?

An overview video of the first PQSS race is available now. Re-live the May 10 event and revel in the beautiful scenery of Pocahontas State Park, Virginia. You can view the video on the PQSS web site. Also, be on the lookout for an announcement about PQSS video releases, including a Web news release of PQSS Race 1 and a DVD produced by Race Day Films,capturing all the action of PQSS Race 1.

In the mean time, you are welcome to advance order the PQSS Race 1 DVD at a special pre-release price of $14.95. Please visit the PQSS Store for more details and to order.

Dear Primal Quest Volunteers,

I want to personally thank you for either taking time out of your busy schedules to come out and support Primal Quest Montana; or for having expressed an interest in doing so. We are all very grateful for your devotion to this sport, to PQ, and to creating an event that will change many lives, including yours! Primal Quest volunteers are widely known as being the most dedicated and experienced in the industry, and we truly owe the success of our events to you! One of the most frequent compliments we receive from competitors is how impressed they are with the professionalism and hard work of our volunteers.

My involvement with producing adventure races dates back to 1997. During that time we have produced hundreds of multi-sport events and have built, in my opinion, the most experienced AR team (staff and volunteers) in the world. For the most part, our staff all started as volunteers. Many of our best volunteers who had the desire, time and willingness to do more joined our staff ranks. If you have an interest and the time and would like to be more involved with Primal Quest and the Primal Quest Sprint Series, please be sure to let me know. Both PQ and the PQSS are going to expand and we are looking for some more great talent to join us for this expansion.

Don D. Mann
Director
Primal Quest Expedition Adventure Race
A Don Mann Production

The Blackwater: Escape and Evasion Adventure Race was announced just a few days ago, and already it’s building buzz in the AR community. Mike Bitton from CheckPointZero.com has written an excellent article about the event after speaking with Primal Quest CEO Don Mann who is managing this new race. The article takes a peek at what we can expect out of the Blackwater E&E and explores the potential role of Erik Prince, the founder of Blackwater Worldwide, in the future of adventure racing.

The following is an excerpt from the article:

Don Mann, former U.S. Navy SEAL and the CEO of Primal Quest, is an adventure racing entrepreneur with an unusually rich history. During his decades as an “operator” on the Teams, Mann did countless things he can’t tell anyone. But here’s a little something he told me. Adventure racing has a new prince. And it’s a prince with a capital P.

Back when Mann was on duty at SEAL Team 2, prepping to lead fellow sailors through a Raid Gauloises expedition adventure race, he was approached by a member of SEAL Team 8, one Erik Prince, about what essentially amounted to a sponsorship for Mann’s adventure racing team. Prince liked the concept, Mann said, of a SEAL Team competing on a global stage. And, lucky for Mann and his AR teammates, Prince had just come in to some money. “He wrote me a check on the spot,” Mann recalled. The men have been friends ever since.

To read the entire story click here.