Team Profile: Team Dancing Pandas
Posted on 12/12/05 12:04 PM| by Will
By Brock Foreman
December 12, 2005
All adventure racers share a gritty determination, and you can hear this determination in the voice of Mary “Mash” Glanville, team captain for Dancing Panda. “If we have to crawl across the finish line, we’ll finish the race” says Glanville, 42, as she recounts the time when she and her teammates heroically carried one of their own across the finish line. Glanville recalls another race where she suffered her own bruises and a nearly debilitating pulled tendon in her leg. Despite the injuries, Glanville continued to push herself and help her teammates achieve a top finish. In another supremely inspired - albeit vastly more comical – effort, Glanville once trekked through the night without pants after a punishing bike ride left her cringing with first degree saddle soreness.
Some say that endurance athletes like Glanville – those willing to run through the pain, push past the point of exhaustion, and, say, hike through the woods without clothes – are often running from something deep inside. The motivation usually stems from some pivotal life experience. In fact, there are many stories of people turning “Forrest Gump” after they lose a job or a loved one. In his recent biography, “Ultramarathon Man,” Dean Karnazes explains how the death of his sister compounded his mid-life crisis and fueled his unparalleled ultra-running binge. Similarly, Glanville’s childhood might explain her proclivity for long-distance racing, a bug which bit her after a friend convinced her to enter a mountain bike race in 1999.
Glanville was born in Soviet Russia where her father had been confined to a concentration camp. Eventually, her family was forced to flee west, and, as refugees, she and her family arrived in Toronto in the early 1970s. It is plausible that the adversity of being uprooted from her home and raised in an unfamiliar country shaped and hardened Glanville and gave her the courageous heart of an adventure racer, not to mention the drive to succeed as a busy executive in a biotechnology company. Certainly the Forrest Gump – Dean Karnazes theory of psychology explains why Glanville might be drawn to a sport like adventure racing and Primal Quest.
Of course, Glanville might just like adventure racing because it is, well, fun. This is more likely the case, especially considering Glanville’s light-hearted attitude and complete lack of angst. Do not forget, her team’s name is “Dancing Pandas,” an esoteric reference to an old Kit Kat candy bar commercial featuring two playful Pandas.
“You’ll never hear a team laugh harder. We never stop laughing even when it’s tough…we’re out to have a good time,” says Glanville as she describes her team’s smiles-will-get-you-miles philosophy. She adds: “During the race you’re going to see ugliness in yourself. When you’re in extreme stress, your true self comes out, and I know people who race once and they never want to see that side of themselves again. As long as someone can laugh at themselves, and really want it, they can do it!”
Glanville is clearly in it for the camaraderie she shares with her teammates. She loves it when they share funny stories during the race. The team often revisits the time Glanville’s husband of 18 years and team co-founder, Rob Glanville, 40, was searching for a checkpoint and, in a fit of sheer terror, came bounding out of the woods with a bear at his heels.
Along with laughter, Glanville says music is a key ingredient in the team’s race strategy. Music is their caffeine, it keeps them awake at night during the race. Like most teams, her team constantly looks for more ways to shed ounces from their gear. However, they will never part with their 375 gram MP3 player and mini-speakers. “We’re working on a new play list for PQ,” says Glanville. The team favors newer bands like Spoon, The Killers, and Franz Ferdinand. And when the going gets really tough? “We play a lot of crap from the ‘80’s.” Glanville chuckles, adding that blasting Depeche Mode will probably help the team avoid future bear attacks.
Glanville and her husband reside in San Diego and have raced together since 2000. New to the team this year are the couple’s good friends Eric Ervin, 30, and Mike Bell, 35, also from San Diego. Glanville says everyone on the team has day jobs as well as very understanding families that thankfully allow them to pursue their passion.
Glanville feels that despite her dubious ropes skills and her husband’s uncontrollable horse allergy, her team’s skills are well-suited for longer, expedition-length racing. While they realize they are not in contention to finish near the top, they aim to finish the full 800Km+ Primal Quest – no small feat of endurance and teamwork. Her team looks forward to training their muscles for their first PQ…and for the strenuous laughter and dancing that always accompanies them on their races.
