What a day for Primal Quest: Badlands!  Racers encountered a myriad of obstacles including lightning, hail, torrential downpours, surprisingly cold temperatures, and relentless uphills on the U-Haul Mountain Bike Course.  Several teams cited the Centennial Trail, which all teams have been following today at times, as a highlight of the race so far (along with caving, which was a common favorite).  Team Merrell Haglofs Multimania raved about the views from certain peaks along the way.  All teams have echoed that the continued support and interest of the South Dakota locals has been a morale boost and a definite hallmark of PQ: Badlands.  Teams report honking and cheering, people following them or asking for photos with them, amazing hospitality from restaurant and store owners, and meeting many locals who have been tracking the race online and specifically come out to meet the racers.  It has been an eye opening experience for these racers, who were not expecting such warmth from people not involved in the race.  Several teams have even opted to take advantage of the race course to see the sights, traveling down Main Street to get through the historic town of Deadwood, where Wild Bill Hickok was gunned down (also known to fans of the HBO Series, “Deadwood”).

Jason Quinn (Team Bones) engulfs a burger made by the Silver City Fire Dept - sold as a fundraiser for $5 to any racer with a hankering

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Team Big City Mountaineers appears to have rolled in to CP9 just in time to make the 11:30 cutoff time.  All teams arriving after them will be “short-coursed”… transported forward and allowed to continue racing unofficially / unranked.

While Team OrionHealth.com continues to dominate, with Salomon/Crested Butte and a bevy of other lead teams giving chase, the rest of the field is contending with wet weather and some very cold temperatures.  It’s hypothermia weather out there.  Teams were drenched with a rolling thunderstorm that swept pouring rain through the course, soaking teams (and the bike paths).  Now that the racers are wet, the temperatures are plunging overnight to 40 or lower in some parts.  PQ Staff has deployed blankets and warming stations to the TAs, where racers may receive medical care without disqualification.

While all race cutoff times have been extended 6 hours, many teams are still struggling to keep from being short-coursed.  Teams near the end are being shuttled forward and will continue the race as “unofficial” teams.  This will give them the best chance of experiencing more of the race course even though they are out of contention for ranking.  Teams SMAC/SOLAR and Native Eyewear are currently being moved.  Teams MAAR, SOAR, Subaru Canada, S2/Synergy, SMART, and Semper Fi are unlikely to make it to the next TA by the 11:30 cut-off despite the 6 hour extension, and will continue unranked.

More media coverage for Primal Quest Badlands presented by SPOT:

- For some great news and info straight from the course, be sure to check out Team iMoat’s offical website, where they are posting video, photos, and stories from the course. Great stuff so far!

- The Sierra Sun has an excellent profile of the athletes on Team Aquan/iRule who are currently holding down the 13th spot on the leaderboard.

- Travel website Gadling.com posted a pre-race article about Primal Quest Badlands that introduced the event to the adventure travel crowd.

- Adventure World Magazine continues its coverage of Primal Quest Badlands by taking a look at some of the great photos that are being uploaded to the PQ Flickr gallery.

- SleepMonsters.com, one of the best adventure racing websites on the Internet, is posting race reports on their Primal Quest Badlands page, which can be found by clicking here.

- Checkpoint Zero is also posting news from Primal Quest and featuring the race in its Twitter feed.

- The Daily Republic invites South Dakotans to experience Primal Quest.

- The Outside Online Blog has a pre-race profile of Primal Quest that includes video from the exciting Galatin River stage from last year. Ah… the memories. ;)

A correction to an earlier story,  Team Spanos has not withdrawn from Primal Quest Badlands presented by SPOT. One of the team members has suffered a non-serious injury that will prevent that person from continuing on, but the rest of the team will proceed as an unranked team. They will still be allowed to finish the race, but will not be ranked amongst the offical finishers should the complete the 600-mile course.

When the racers set out yesterday morning, the weather was mild, with mostly clear skies over head. The sun was warmer as the day went on, and for the most part, the teams enjoyed a pleasant summer day in the Badlands. But, as anyone familiar with the area can tell you, the weather can change quickly, and today things are much different.

As I write this it is raining HARD in HQ, located in Rapid City. And while I was on the course a few hours back, the weather moved in, with dark clouds causing the temperatures to drop substantially and bringing, big, heavy, and cold drops of rain with them. It is safe to say that the weather is having an impact on the athletes at the moment.

Want further proof? Check out the image below, which was sent to me by PQ River Director Josh Galt from one of the checkpoints. High winds and rain have set in, or as Josh says: “Weather no longer summer as winds and rain come to crazy horse”. Thanks for the photo and the weather report Josh!