Team Tecnu Extreme/Staphaseptic is normally led by captain “Earring” Doug Judson, a seasoned adventure racer who has years of experience in the sport. But Doug recently suffered a serious injury while training for Primal Quest Badlands presented by SPOT, and the team will now soldier on without him with Charlie Kharsa stepping in to the captain’s role while Judson recovers.

Sidelined until late Fall, Doug is currently rehabbing a partially torn calf muscle and Achilles tendon, as well as a broken bone in the same foot. None of those injuries compare to the sting of missing Primal Quest however, as he says “That’s [PQ] our Olympics and our chance as adventure racers to once again test the boundaries of human endurance with good friends.”

Doug also says he’s disappointed that he’ll be missing the epic course that the teams will be racing on in August. He expects the Badlands to offer incredible mountain biking legs, rope-work, and caving sections. But he also predicts “excruciating death marches” broken up by amazing sunrises and sunsets. Last year, in Montana, he was forced to withdraw after five days on the course due to near kidney failure, as a result of pre-race pneumonia, that put him into the ICU unit. A good run in South Dakota would have helped to dispel the demons of Primal Quest 2008.

For their part, the team is not only preparing to race without Judson, but they are very optimistic about their chances. Kharsa says that the team is very well rounded with a great deal of experience in expedition length races. He says that they are world class paddlers, great on the mountain bikes, and very strong on foot as well. “We feel that our strengths are that we genuinely like each other, respect each others abilities to NOT quit, and we don’t have any glaring weaknesses,” Kharsa adds. But he cautions that in any race the length of Primal Quest, adversity always appears in some form, “the true measure of a team is how we will tackle it together when it does”.

Mark Richardson is the man tasked with filling Earring Doug’s rather large shoes, but Judson says that “Mark is a great navigator, level-headed, well rounded, and a VERY welcome addition to Tecnu Extreme/Staphaseptic adventure racing.” He adds that Richardson has meshed very well with Kharsa, as well as his other  teammates Jared Hanley and Melissa Griffiths. “We are optimistic about where they will end up,” he says, referring to where the team will finish in the Badlands.

With less than two months to go until the start of the race, the team is very happy with the progress of their training. With their fitness levels at an already high level, they have been more focused on team dynamics, or as Kharsa says, “We are just working out the kinks, fine tuning our race minds so that they work as a collective unit come race day. ” He adds that they are all healthy and excited to get to the starting line together.

The new captain says that the team is very much looking forward to racing in South Dakota and can’t wait to get out on the course. The spiritual and historical significance of the Badlands is not lost on Tecnu Extreme/Staphaseptic either, with Kharsa saying “We are looking forward to respectfully racing, leaving no trace, on some of the most historically rich land in the United States.” He says that they are particularly excited for some of the caving and trekking sections, where they’ll be crossing backcountry that has seen little traffic since Crazy Horse and his people wandered the region.

As for Doug, he offers the following advice for his teammates who will be racing without him in August, ‘Enjoy the journey.  We will not be able to do this forever.  This sport allows us to see and do and accomplish amazing things.  Things most on this planet would only dream of. Race hard. Travel light and fast. Remain Safe.  Remain friends, and NEVER forget first place.  The pain will fade, but the memory of the journey with good friends will last till we are old and sitting on the front porch drinking O’douls.  Life well this life! And don’t forget to take some pictures.  The summit is worth remembering.” Wise advice indeed!

Finally, the team would like to thank the following sponsors for their support: Tecnu Extreme/Staphaseptic, Keen Footwear, Hot Chillys, Asolo, Lowe Alpine, AT Paddles, Princeton Tec, Nuun, Headsweats, O2 Rainwear, Rudy Project, Kinesys, Superfeet, Leki,  and Blue Seventy.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 1st, 2009 at 9:00 am and is filed under Primal Quest. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.