The APEX Race
Team SleepMonsters/Likeys.com Tackle the Apex Adventure Race
Ian Grace / 24.05.2011
The four members of Team SleepMonsters/Likeys.com first met in July 2009 in New England, USA. Gary Davies and Natalie Taylor raced together as a mixed pair in the 3day UntamedNE adventure race and Ian Grace and Mark Bottomley raced together as a male pair. It was the first multi-day adventure race for Gary and Natalie but Mark and Ian had previous experience and finished 3rd overall.The team started as an idea when Ian Grace and Gary Davies were relaxing after the 2010 Adidas Terrex Race in the UK. Both raced in different teams in that race but were keen to continue competing in overseas multi-day adventure races the following year.
<b>The Team</b>
Mark Bottomley has extensive experience in mountainous terrain and is the main navigator. His first ever multi day adventure race was the 2007 Scotland ARWC. 2009 was a good year for Mark with strong performances in UK races. Mark is strong on foot, bike and paddle.
Ian Grace started AR whilst working in Hong Kong in the 1990’s and got hooked in 1999 when the Action Asia challenge series was introduced. While in HK he took part in Mild Seven Outdoor Quest in Borneo, and various other one and two day races around the region including China and Thailand. He took part in the 2008 Bull of Africa, USA Untamed NE 2009 and the 2010 UK Adidas Terrex. Ian's preferred and strongest AR discipline is mountain biking.
Gary Davies first experienced AR in 2007 and competed in short races but since then he has competed in races of longer duration and in 2009 stepped up to multi-day AR. Gary has competed in the USA UntamedNE 2009, Portugal XPD ARWC 2009 and UK Adidas Terrex 2010. He’s the team organiser and is a 'jack-of-all-trades' but master of none! His preferred and strongest AR discipline is trekking/running in the hills.
Natalie Taylor is the youngest in the team (by far!) and started AR by competing in the 2008 Bristol Rat Race. Since then she has quickly gained experience in AR and competed in the USA UntamedNE 2009 and UK Adidas Terrex 2010. She also supported the Adventure Sports Mag Team in Portugal XPD ARWC 2009. Natalie's strongest AR discipline is trekking/running in the hills. She knows how much the boys like faffing and treats them like children when the need arises! She is also a qualified Doctor which might prove useful in this race.
<b>Training & Expectations</b>
The team's main objective is to finish the race as a team of 4 and completing the full course. The team haven't raced together as a foursome so they're going to find out some new things about each other in the race. The team members have however spent some time together on training weekends.
<b>Support</b>
The team are supported by SleepMonsters, and the online outdoor retailer www.likeys.com. During the race they will be using clothing supplied by Columbia Sportswear including the amazingly warm Tectonicâ„¢ Softshell which they put to the test at a recent wet and windy training weekend on Dartmoor. The team would also like to thank Gary, Andrew and James from Enduranclife for the kind use of their Kayaks and facilities during the build up to this race.
The team members are very grateful for their contribution and support.See All Event Posts
