Sunday, June 22, 2008

No Plan Survives First Contact With Primal Quest


Travis Macy, John Jacoby, Aaron Prince and Robyn Benincasa study maps they will use during the 500-mile Primal Quest adventure race.

Adventure racing team Merrell/Zanfel Adventure attended a mandatory pre-race briefing this afternoon here at Big Sky Resort in Southwest Montana. They sat in the back of the room, looked kinda bored. They were eager to get their hands on the post-meeting prize: Maps! Maps! Give us our maps! When the briefing ended, teams got the maps -- there are 10 maps in all -- that would show, in detail, where the checkpoints for Primal Quest Montana will be. With the desired goods in hand, the team scooted back to its condo to begin studying the routes they will take through different sections of the course.

Some route choices aren't choices at all, but are mandatory routes required by the race organizers. Everywhere else, though, a thorough study of possible routes is adventure racing strategy. If you can get from Point A to Point B by going over a 5,000 foot mountain, or by going eight miles around the mountain at a pretty constant elevation, which way is better? It comes down to the skill set of the athletes on the team, and which way would be most efficient for the group as a whole.

But as Robyn pointed out as the team was marking its maps, plans have a way of not working out. She's pretty sure that'll happen again, likely soon after the race begins tomorrow morning!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Good luck guys. Have a great race and beat NIKE!