DART-nuun News
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DART-nuun takes 2nd at this fast pace race

Team DART-nuun comprised of Ryan VanGorder, Aaron Rinn, and Matt Hart competed in the final Trioba of 2007 and the NW Adventures produced series. Just short of 30 teams toed the line for the final Trioba and competed in a six to twelve hour race that would be hard fought. Justin and Joel Yeager brought racers back to the pass that has hosted many of their races and amazed everyone with their ability to produce another stellar race. The race consisted of 24 miles of mountain biking and over 11 miles of trekking in rugged on and off trail travel. Don't be fooled by the mileage as there were two hike a bike sections used to connect trails and roads and the bush whacking in the trek proved to be gratuitous.


Starting on the bikes the teams were required to immediately climb 2,000 feet in route to checkpoint one. "The big climb spread the field out and we knew we had to build a cushion with such a short race," explained Matt Hart when asked about the team's strategy on the biking section.


Rinn commented on carrying his bike, "The bike whack started off easy but as we approached the ridge the saplings and trees got tight and made for some creative travel." The first hike a bike had teams climbing nearly 500 feet and over half a kilometer through thick brush. DART-nuun was able to put a lead of 15 minutes on its nearest competitor, Mergeo.com, in the first 10 checkpoints of biking and they headed on to the trekking where navigation would play a key role in the race.


"Checkpoints 11 through 14 went smooth, after that we added a little unnecessary bushwhacking and got into a tailspin at checkpoint 16 where we lost nearly 40 minutes looking for the check point," explained VanGorder, "After finding CP [Checkpoint] 16 we were able make up some of the time we lost to Mergeo, but in the end it wasn't enough"


After racing for 6:42:12 DART-nuun crossed the finish line in second place with many lessons learned and another great race. Look for DART-nuun to compete next weekend at the Big Blue 24 hour race in Oakridge, Oregon, and in Australia for the 2007 XPD expedition race in August.

The team's successes would not be possible without the generous support of their sponsors that they hand picked because they work in the world's most demanding conditions.

Labels: Press Release, Race Results