“I can’t say enough how lucky I feel to have raced with the same three guys for four years,” says Jari Kirkland. “I know that this is the exception to what a lot of people have experienced, and I would never take it for granted.”

Jari (whose name is pronounced “Yari”) races on Colorado-based Team Salomon Crested Butte with Jon Brown, Bryan Wickenhauser and Eric Sullivan. “They really are family to me. I look forward to a few more great years with them.”

Prior to getting started in AR, Jari had been racing Xterra. She met Jon at a race, “another 24 hour solo race where, in the middle of the night, you ride up to about 11,500 feet, put your bike on your back and hike over a 14,000 foot peak. It was a bit crazy.” Jon told her that his team was looking for a girl to compete with them in a race called Primal Quest.

“So I lipped off and said I would do it – when really I knew nothing about it. Then, less than three weeks later, I was in Tahoe at Primal Quest!” Jari had practically no training, and most of the gear that she raced in was borrowed. “But that is how it started, and it’s a perfect fit for me.”

Jari started in sports when she was young. A self-proclaimed “airforce brat”, while in school she competed in soccer and swimming. Later, at university on a sports scholarship, she competed in swimming and cross-country – a combination that made for a smooth transition to triathlon after she graduated. She turned pro in Xterra in 2004, and a year later set the solo women’s record at the 24 Hours of Moab mountain bike race – a course record that still stands today.

Since 2004, when she joined team Salomon Crested Butte, AR has been her main focus. She and teammate Jon dated for three years, but broke up a year ago. “We’ve still done randonee and adventure races together. It has been hard for me, but for now I am sticking it out.”

One of this team’s obvious strengths is indeed just how committed to one another they all are. Unlike some teams, who fly in from all over to unite for a competition, Jari, Jon, Wick and Sully live close enough to one another that they can train together. “We see each other once a week on average,” says Jari. “We are all friends as well as teammates. Together, we are the core. The only time someone else races with us is because one of us is injured.”

Jari is the team’s navigator – a role very seldom taken on by a woman. She believes that this is because of guys’ greater physical strength. “You have to be on top of the maps at all times,” she explains. “To be constantly pushed to your physical limit while also trying to navigate is not ideal.”

Like many woman AR competitors, Jari does well in the longer races. “I seem to be able to get stronger as the days go on,” she says. Biking is her strongest discipline, and her current goal is to become a better runner.

Also, as for many women racers, another of her strengths is mental: she just will not quit.

Jari was certainly pushed to her limit at PQ 2006 through both heat and exhaustion. She could not keep any food down, and was worried that she might not be able to stick it out to the end of the race. “But the guys were so great. They would just hand me food and tell me to eat it – one cracker at a time. I feel blessed that I get to race with such great guys.” She acknowledges that not all woman racers get to have such a good experience with their teammates.

“We all suffered something terrible in that heat. There is something to be said about bonding with your friends and teammates though suffering together.”

The team’s suffering and teamwork at PQ 2006 paid off. Team Salomon Crested Butte placed a very respectable fifth.

Jari and her guys are looking forward to new challenges, along with perhaps a little more suffering together, for PQ 2008. “We would love to be in the top three. I think that, if we have a flawless race, we could be first - but with adventure racing, time is your friend. A lot of these people competing have been racing for ten or more years. We are still a very young team. So our goal is to be strong, and to come in the top three. I think that we can do it.”

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 20th, 2007 at 4:09 am and is filed under Interview, News, Profile, Teams. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.