Team Eastern Mountain Sports
presented by Eastern Mountain Sports

What has 8 legs, 58cans, 6 bottles, 4 bags, 2 burners and climbs trees?

Answer: Team Eastern Mountain Sports, of course!

Team Eastern Mountain Sports just enjoyed one of their most rewarding race experiences...and they didn't even race.

After months of looking forward to the Untamed New England Adventure Race, a 60-hour race set in the rugged White Mountains, the team found themselves forced to make the tough decision to not race due to other commitments. However, it was just impossible to let the longest race in New England pass without participating in some way. After discussing what to do, Dave Lamb came up with an idea. Why not man the most remote checkpoint to surprise teams, plus haul in enough gear, food and drinks to make it an oasis in the forest? Knowing how much it has meant to us when we get to those extra special checkpoints in a long race, we all agreed that it was a terrific idea and "Operation CheckPoint" was born.

Dave Lamb, Jen Shultis and Dave Romilly were all able to get the day off from work to make this happen. At the last moment, Jen called up Sam Brown, friend of the Team and husband of Littleton Bike racer, Jenny Johnson, and asked if he could keep a secret and join us. Despite being in the middle of a complete apartment re-painting project, Sam jumped at the chance to surprise his wife during the race and became our special guest mule.

Untamed New England race director, Grant Killian, loved the idea and found the perfect checkpoint on a minor summit of Black Crescent Mountain. In the middle of the third orienteering section, Grant figured teams would have been moving for about 30 hours when they arrived here and he believed that this section would be the crux of the race. Grant knows his stuff.

We arrived at the checkpoint at 1pm on Friday afternoon, set up shop and the first teams arrived just after 4pm. By this time, base camp was set for action. Baked beans were cooking on the stove, beer, cokes and Starbucks Frapucinnos were on ice, the tent and banners were up, and the black flies had arrived! Our position was ideal as due to the steep ascent to the checkpoint, we could hear teams approach well in advance as they crashed through the thick White Mountain timber, yet they could not see or hear us until they literally arrived at the orienteering bag. First to arrive was Team Summit Achievement who informed us that their lead was slim with Team Running Free of Canada less than 10 minutes behind. TSA is made up of our friends, so we felt guilty when Jeff, Chris and Sara stopped to as long as they did to enjoy beans and cokes, but after spending 7 minutes with us, they were on their way without Running Free making an appearance.

Less than 5 minutes later, the Canadians arrived and they stayed equally as long before moving along. Both teams looked great and were laughing. Sam's wife, Jenny Johnson, along with Littleton Bikes, showed up next about an hour or so later. Jenny was knocked over to see Sam, who had brewed a latte for her back at home and had brought it to the checkpoint in a thermal carafe. After her shock passed, Jenny asked, "Why aren't you home painting?" She was kidding (mostly) of course, and after the team stopped to enjoy some rest and refueling, disappeared back into the woods. These local favorites were working hard to make up for an early course mistake.

Teams would continue to roll in through the rest of the day and into the evening. Two patterns were clear, the later they arrived, the longer they stayed. That and everyone left with smiles. Most couldn't believe that there were really had ice cold cokes up there, but did you really think we would bring up cokes and no ice? Many loved the baked beans; cooked food being a welcome break from the bars and gels that make up the majority of the unsupported racer's diet. It wasn't a shot in the dark; at the MIX in Michigan last year, some nice checkpoint volunteer had done the same and Mmmmmm... they were incredible! Amy of Team Hype was especially happy about the beans and even confessed to eating baked bean sandwiches at home.

It was simply a great experience for us. We knew so many of the teams and loved to see their surprise when they arrived to find us waiting there. You guys are the reason we love to race so much and it was great to be there with you and "off the clock." Those of you we did not know before that day, you're friends now. We thank the racers for stopping and sharing their experiences of the course so far with us. Every team was having their own challenges and it we loved hearing about them while you filled your tummies. We were amazed to see despite the fatigue everyone was experiencing, you were always smiling, joking and supporting each other. Thank you for sharing your races with us.

In between, we had a great team bonding experience, talking, enjoying a few beers and yes, even climbing trees (Romilly wanted to try out a new technique he had learned watching Man VS Wild).


Romilly makes like "Bear" in the woods. Lambo and Sam share their tree climbing insights with Dave "Zoolander" Romilly.