DART-nuun was the third team to cross the finish line tonight after more than six and a half days of racing.They were followed closely by Team Bones, who they had been traveling with for much of the day. Due to time adjustments for credits earned or penalties incurred, the exact ranking of the two teams has yet to be determined. 

Photo by Aaron Swisher

Written by Frances Fisher and Kraig Becker

Team TravelCountry.com is made up of four very experienced adventure racers in Ulf Petri, Don Nettlow, Patricia Williams Smith, and Blain Reeves. Together they have more than 26 years of experience in the sport, and this is their first Primal Quest. 

Yesterday was a rough day for the team however, with amazing highs, and crushing lows. When we last saw them on the course, they were just coming off the Crazy Mountains and in high spirits.  “We smoked that section!” they said.  Blaine Reeves was elated, citing the views from the Crazies as the most beautiful he’s ever seen - and he’s been racing since 1995. 

With this momentum, they headed into the Sportraxx by Simpson MTB section, traveling to the Bridger Mountains for the TATE Trekking section.  At the TA before the Bridgers, they encountered their first signs of trouble when Ulf experienced respiratory issues that really impacted his ability to race.  They stayed in the TA for 12 hours where he was treated by Dr. Bill Webster.  After being given a respiratory nebulizer, which had little effect, and eventually a steroid, he was soon on the mend. 12 hours later, they were back on the trail, setting out just before dawn, hoping to time their hike so they would reach the first peak as the sun was coming up.  This would allow them to see their footing during the most treacherous section, and also avoid walking on the ice across the ridge until the sun had softened it up a bit.  Unfortunately, the plan did not work out.

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On the ropes course (Photo by Wouter Kingma)

Adventure Racing is TOUGH! (Photo by Jason Perreira)

Yet more time on the bike! (Photo by Andres Vargas)

Just a quick note on the SPOT Leaderboard for those following the race at home. The leaderboard does not take into account time credits, adjustments, or penalties at this time, but will be updated in a timely fashion to more accurately reflect the true position of a team.

This does not effect Nike and Merrell, the two teams who have already claimed first and second place in the race. Those two teams have secured their positions and teams that follow them across the finish line will be adjusted to their proper ranking after assessing the penalties or awarding credits. 

Team Pura Vida continues racing in Primal Quest Montana as an “Unranked” team following the withdrawal of one of it’s members following an injury on a bike leg. Apparently the team was moving at 48+ MPH down a hill, when the race in question lost control and crashed his bike. He suffered an injured shoulder, possibly dislocated, and was not allowed to continue. 

More stories on Primal Quest 2008…

Primal Quest: 10 days? Try six (Bozeman Chronicle)

Mission within a mission for PQ’s Enduring Freedom (Bozeman Chronicle)

Team Nike wins Primal Quest (Bozeman Chronicle)

More notes from the course today.

- Now that Nike and Merrell are home, and enjoying the spa treatment over at Moonlight Basin all eyes now turn to Bones and Dart-nuun, who are currently neck and neck and powering towards the finish line. Both teams are expected to reach the end tonight, with the fastest team claiming the last podium position. 

-  Team Nike ACG (pictured) reached the climb site today at about 1:50 PM local time and proceeded to tackle the ropes section. In an interesting move however, they elected to not find any of the orienteering points on the optional O-course, which means they are passing up a lot of time credits to get a jump on the competition and stay on the course.

- The bulk of the teams are still moving through the Bridger mountains and by all accounts, most of the athletes are in good spirits feeling fine and enjoying the views. With a lot of course still ahead of them however, some of the trailing teams may risk getting “short coursed” in order to finish before the cut-off time.

- Over heard on the the course:  ”I have been racing since Eco Challenge 96.  Primal Quest – Montana is without doubt the greatest AR I have ever competed in. In every aspect, Primal Quest – Montana out-did any other AR!” The person responsible for this quote? None other than Blain Reeves, who has been racing since before the first Eco-Challenge. 

- Kudos to Jay Smith and the entire climb team. The teams seem to be enjoying the incredible ropes course he has put together, with Nike commenting that it was the most intense ropes course that they had ever done.  

- I’ve mentioned a few times before that the Werewolves are blogging from the race, and doing an admirable job I’d say. But a few other teams are also doing great blogs, such as this one from the Dirty Avocados, or this one from Racing With Giants. Team Shasta/Core Concepts is also blogging their PQ experience and Dart-nuun is making regular updates to their site as well. 

This is a video of Team Merrell as they approach the finish line. The first clip is of the team riding out of Moonlight Basin and heading towards home. The next clip shows the team riding past Lone Peak as they near Big Sky Resort, finally rolling into the finish with the crowd cheering. Finally, we get some thoughts on the race from John Jacoby and team captain Robyn Benincasa. 

Video by Corey Rosen and Frances Fisher