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.

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 Blue Ridge Outdoors Magazine has written a nice profile of the Primal Quest Sprint Series. Here’s an excerpt:

It’s been called one of the most difficult athletic events in the world, and now a little piece of it is coming to the South. Primal Quest is an annual high-profile expedition-length adventure race that finds the toughest competitors shelling out thousands of dollars to tackle some of the toughest terrain in the country. Past events have taken racers into the Utah desert and the remote San Juan Mountains of Colorado for over 400 miles of mountain biking, climbing, trekking, and paddling. But running an event of this magnitude—coverage has included spots on ABC and ESPN—is no easy task, and last year race organizers considered ending the event for good. Suddenly to the rescue came Don Mann, a former Navy SEAL and adventure racing pioneer from Virginia Beach, Va., who formerly owned promotion company Odyssey Adventure Racing, which produced the epic BEAST of the East adventure race. Mann sold Odyssey with no intention of returning to the sport, but out of nowhere, opportunity came knocking.

Read the rest of the article by clicking here. 

Article by Brian Knight

Last month we teased the arrival of the new Primal Quest Sprint Series (http://www.primalquestsprintseries.com/), a series of shorter, faster, higher energy, adrenaline-fueled sprint races brought to you by the same folks who produce the longer, harder, more intense Primal Quest expedition race.  In February, PQ management announced the dates and locations for the first three events. 

 2008 will see racers, runners, mountain bikers, paddlers, triathletes and any other athlete looking for a challenging and fun experience battling it out at these exciting east coast locations: 

• May 10             - Pocahontas State Park, Chesterfield VA (registration is now open)
• September 6    - Moraine State Park, Pittsburgh, PA
• October 4        - US National Whitewater Center, Charlotte, NC

 In 2009 the Sprint Series expands from three to as many as eight total races. And while management is still working on the dates and locations for ‘09, hosting offers have poured in from more than twenty states and three countries.  Come next year you might find yourself with Primal Quest racing opportunities stretching from Maine to California, Florida to Alaska (and oh yeah, Canada, Mexico, and Costa Rica too)! Adding to the excitement is the series’ grand prize.  The individual who earns the most points from the ’08 and ’09 seasons combined wins a FREE entry into the next year’s (2010) Primal Quest expedition race.

Read the rest of this entry »