The News Tribune, the daily newspaper of Tacoma, Washington, has published an excellent profile of adventure racer Robyn Benincasa, captain of Team Merrell/Zanfel Adventure.

The article takes a peek at Robyn’s vast experience in the sport, including her numerous entries into Primal Quest and other expedition length races. It also discusses the hip injury that nearly ended her racing career, and her Project Athena Foundation, which is dedicated to helping women who have been afflicted with major medical issues to achieve their adventurous, athletic goals.

The following is an excerpt from the article:

In her 15-year career as a professional adventure racer, Robyn Benincasa has competed in close to 40 expedition-length events – gnarly, multiday, multisport killers such as Primal Quest and Eco-Challenge. She has biked through jungles in Borneo, climbed Himalayan giants in Nepal, trekked across lava fields in Fiji, rafted rapids in Chile – and racked up multiple world championship titles along the way. In her spare time, Robyn, 42, is a full-time firefighter in San Diego, on the nation’s first all-female crew. She previously competed in college-level diving and gymnastics and raced six Ironman triathlons.

To read the article in its entirety click here.

Marlene Wiig of Team CWC Stadium Dogs was profiled yesterday by the Victoria Times Colonist in Canada. Marlene discusses her Primal Quest experience in Montana, her urge to compete, and much more. An excerpt of the article follows:

Marlene Wiig spent a year training for Primal Quest, a gruelling 10-day race through the mountainous terrain of Big Sky, Mont. And she came home disappointed.

Just one day into the late June competition, she and her three male teammates had to abandon their quest. One member couldn’t continue because of a prior injury. Another’s pregnant wife was due any day. And race rules stipulate all four members of a team must complete a race or the team is disqualified.

To read the rest of the article click here.

(Photo by Candace Elliott, Canwest News Service)

With less than two weeks to go until the start of Primal Quest Montana Presented by SPOT, the race has has started to garner more attention. Here is a sampling of the coverage.

The Whitehorse Daily Star posted this story on Greg and Denise McHale, who will be competing on Team Peak Fitness. The team has been racing together for three years, and preparing for Primal Quest, and they certainly don’t lack for confidence. Greg is quoted in the article as saying: ““We are going there to win the race. Without a doubt that is what we have been working towards for the last three years.”  The gauntlet has been thrown down it seems.

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Fred Abaroa, host of the GoFar Podcast, interviews Team Tecnu Extreme/Esprit de Corp co-captains “Earring” Doug Judson and Charlie “Sherpa” Kharsa as the team prepares for Primal Quest in just a few weeks.

Both men talk about how they got started in the sport, the races they’ve competed in, and the team’s background in other sports. They talk about the team they’ve assembled that has vast amounts of experience, but have been racing together for less than a year. 

At the time of the taping of the podcast, there was just three weeks to go until PQ. The team is training well, and is focused on Montana, where they hope to make their mark and serve notice to the adventure racing community that they are team to watch.

To listen to the entire podcast click here or subscribe directly in iTunes. 

The Calgary Herald wrote a very nice profile of Dr. Tim Watson and his wife Doone who make up half of Team Brain Attack. The couple has been dreaming of competing in Primal Quest for the past five years, and in just a few weeks, they’ll see their dream realized.

From the article:

There is little Dr. Tim Watson won’t do to let people know about one of North America’s biggest killers.

On Wednesday, Tim, a stroke neurologist from Calgary, and his wife Doone Watson rappelled down the four-storey building of the Heart and Stroke Foundation in Kensington to raise awareness of stroke.

The couple made it safely to the sidewalk, but the stunt is just a taste of the 50-something couple’s adventures to come later this month.

 

Today we turn the spotlight onto the Dirty Avocados, who will be racing in Montana in just a few short weeks. This very entertaining interview was conducted by Gordon Wright.

Team Dirty Avocados is a Northern California adventure racing phenomenon, part semi-elite racing squad and part slapstick revue. In a world where too many adventure racers take themselves – and the sport – too seriously, the Dirty As keep it real. They are a team in a very real sense – comprising of a revolving cast of at least 11 members who train hard and race harder. With such a large squad, there is a bit of good-natured competition among the members, but over the past three years, they have notched impressive podium finishes in races ranging from Raid the North Extreme and Baja Travesia to the Tahoe Big Blue and the Gold Rush 24 Hour Adventure Race.

The Dirty Avocados have, for the first time, two teams entered in this summer’s Primal Quest, and I was able to catch up with three key team members at a pub recently. Unfortunately, what started out as an interview turned into something out of a Hunter S. Thompson manuscript, replete with large quantities of beer, displays of manly love, and complaints about Primal Quest’s onerous certification program.

The team was founded, with fairly disastrous results, in 2005, in my driveway. But that’s for later on in the story. First, meet some Dirty Avocados:

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