Project Athena in Costa Rica
Posted on 03/02/09 9:43 PM| by Kraig
National Geographic Adventure has posted an excellent article to their Adventure Blog about Project Athena, a non-profit organization co-founded by Robyn Benincasa, of Team Merrell-Zanfel fame, and her friend Melissa Cleary, an excellent athlete with more than 40 marathons under her belt.
The goal of Project Athena is to assist women with breast cancer or other health issues, to realize their athletic and adventurous goals. The organization grants “Athenaships” in an effort to encourage those dreams and to help make them a reality. For instance, in this story, Robyn and a group of very athletic ladies, including two cancer survivors, set out to compete in the Costa Rica Costal Challenge.
The following is an excerpt from the story by Adventure:
It’s day four of the Coastal Challenge (TCC) Rainforest Run—a six-day, 145-mile stage race across Costa Rica—and people are starting to wear out. Most of our feet are covered in blisters, and at only 8:00 a.m., the temperature’s shot well past 90. We’ve already been hiking for the better part of an hour when we come to a jungle-cloaked stretch of single-track that seems to shoot straight up into the sky. Our motivation evaporates.
It’s at this moment that Robyn Benincasa reveals what the rest of us have been suspecting all week: The woman is superhuman. Benincasa, 42, one of the world’s premier adventure racers, straps one of her teammates, who is (understandably) struggling a bit, on to a towline attached to her backpack and cheerfully starts bounding up the mountain, literally pulling her up the slope like an ox. The path climbs 3,000 feet in a mile and a half, but Benincasa barely breaks a sweat. “It just feels so good to know I’m back up and running!” she says.
To read more about Project Athena and their recent race in Costa Rica, click here.
