The status of several teams was updated last night, with Teams Dirty Avocados II and MAAR both moving to “Unranked” after losing teammates due to minor injuries. The remaining racers for both teams remain on the course, moving well, and in good spirits.

Also, Team Low Country AR has elected to withdraw from the race altogether for unspecified reasons.

Checkout this update from the Werewolves team blog yesterday. It seems the team demonstrated the true spirt of adventure racing by lending aid to Team Too Much Fun Club who had run out of food on the course. 

Here’s a quote from the post:

“One story heard in TA6 this morning was from team #34, Too Much Fun Club from UK. Apparently they ran out of food on the previous trek, which took around 24 hours. The Werewolves came along and gave them some of the little food they had left, basically rescuing them. Too Much Fun Club team members were so moved by their sportsmanship that they were becoming emotional while telling the story. However, the Werewolves also ran out of food just before the bike drop but thankfully had enough food there to get them back on track and to TA6! Too Much Fun Club continued to show their gratefulness by asking to ride out with the Werewolves from TA6, but weren’t quite ready to leave when the Werewolves were but I’m sure they will meet up again on the course.”

Great story, and impressive sportsmanship. The Werewolves are total class act.

Thanks for the story Brian!

Intrepid girl reporter Francis Fisher caught up with Team TravelCountry.com yesterday and filed this report:

“Met up with   team Travel country.com while hiking in the crazies (stalking racers of course). They said they smoked the trek and it was absolutely amazing. They felt their experience with road biking helped them with yesterday’s “Death march” as they called it, and they recovered quickly for the hike.  Patricia wants her family to know that They’re coming back to Montana for vacation since It’s so beautiful. Don wants his daughter Mackenzie to know he loves her. They will arrive at CP9 shortly and in good spirits.”

Wondering what Nike and Merrell are facing right now, as the battle for first and second place in the Bridger Mountains? Then check out this photo sent from Will Ramos from the field. 

Earlier this evening the Primal Quest Search and Rescue Team received a 911 emergency signal from the SPOT Satellite Messenger being carried by TeamPeakAdventure.com who was out of Checkpoint 19, on their mountain bikes and speeding along in third place. 

Upon receiving the alert, the very professional SAR team quickly, and efficiently, went to work, communicating with the SPOT headquarters in Houston and the PQ medical team. Within minutes, personnel were rushing to the scene, with the exact GPS coordinates provided by SPOT. TeamPeakAdventure was soon joined out on the course by a number of emergency volunteers, ready to render aid as needed.

As it turns out, the SPOT device was inadvertently triggered after one of the team members wiped out on his mountain bike, and landed on top of the little orange gadget. When PQ personnel examined the SPOT, they found it caked in dirt and gravel, with the emergency button pressed. 

With the cause of the alert identified, and the team not only healthy and in good spirits, the very professional PQ SAR and Medical Teams stood down, relieved that the team was fine and continuing to race well. Most of the SAR and Medical Teams consists of volunteers who come to Primal Quest because they love the sport of adventure racing, and watching them in action, working in concert with one another was an amazing thing to behold. Well done team!

Photo by Jason Perriera