Wilderness Traverse
Old-School AR is BACK!
Pete Cameron / 10.06.2010
“Good afternoon, Pete speaking�, I gave my usual greeting, admittedly concentrating on my computer screen still.
“Hi, Dear!� It was my wife Leanne, sounding particularly chipper for a Monday morning. “I’m pregnant!�
(pause)
What now? First…joy, of course. Then…oh gawd, what about the Wilderness Traverse!?!
* * *
Last winter, a few of us lamented over lunch about the demise of the true and classic entry point to adventure racing; the 24-36 hour wilderness-based epic. We really missed the type of event that inspired us to challenge our physical and mental limits, took us across swaths of remote back-country, and drained our wallets in favour of the lightest and fastest gear we could find.
Then it dawned on us; the answer was sitting at the table, wolfing down a hefty plate of fries. What if we could convince him (aka. Bob Miller) to stage an old-school throw back race à la Dave Zietsma’s Raid the Norths?
A short while later, and after a few more convincing emails and phone calls, the Wilderness Traverse had taken life and was a go for June 2010. Teams began to form as word spread virally over the internet and some of the ‘old-guard’ of the sport had their interest peaked by the creation of this new event. Before long, there were 19 teams signed up, all awaiting what backwoods creation Bob had laid out for them.
As for our coed foursome, Team Untamed New England, we ended up being a little bit of a mishmash of characters.
SleepMonsters
