After 29 hours of racing, Team Alpine Shop finished 5th overall at the USARA Adventure Racing National Championships in McHenry, Maryland this past weekend. Team members David Frei, Emily Korsch, and Jeff Sona have been training for this event all year, and were thrilled to improve upon their 8th place finish from 2013.

[caption id="attachment_2448" align="alignnone" width="495"] Photo Credit: Vladimir Bukalo[/caption]

The race started out with a run...straight up the 600' ski hill of WISP Resort. After reaching the top of the hill, teams were challenged with a swim relay through ASCI's man-made whitewater park, featuring Class III-IV rapids. Then, teams ran back down the same ski hill to get on their bikes for the rest of the race - a combination of mountain biking, paddling, and trekking to find over 40 checkpoints scattered throughout the hills of Western Maryland. And as with all adventure races, the course is not marked - teams must use a map and compass to navigate their way through the race.

[caption id="attachment_2449" align="alignnone" width="396"] Photo Credit: Vladimir Bukalo[/caption]

Team Alpine Shop made an early strategy choice to skip two of the paddling checkpoints as allowed by race rules, and found themselves near the lead for much of the day. After battling back and forth with Team Checkpoint Zero from North Carolina and Team Odyssey from Virginia, Team Alpine Shop pulled ahead in the overnight orienteering section of the race. Team Alpine Shop maintained their lead over these teams for the remainder of the race, but were beaten at the finish line by 4 teams who had not skipped the paddling checkpoints early on. Team Tecnu from California repeated as National Champions, and Team Bushwhacker from Illinois came in a close second place. Team Untamed/madathlete.com from New York and Team DART-nuun from California rounded out the top 4 positions.

Overall, Team Alpine Shop covered approximately 9 miles of paddling, 26 miles on foot, and 80 miles on mountain bikes, all through the hilly Maryland terrain. In addition to the grueling course, the team dealt with fierce headwinds, heavy rains, and temperatures dipping into the low 40s around sunrise - a tough combination when you're trying to bike at top speed!

[caption id="attachment_2451" align="alignnone" width="443"] Photo Credit: Vladimir Bukalo[/caption]

Next year's USARA Adventure Racing National Championships will be held in Eastern Kentucky, and Team Alpine Shop hopes to continue their climb into the top ranks of American adventure racing teams.