Welcome to the Dog Pound, Home of the Mighty Dogs
presented by Brown Industries/Sherry D. Olson, P.C.

Team Mighty Dog took 2nd place just seconds behind Team Enduraventure Saturday, May 14th at the Greenway Challenge Adventure Race in Chattanooga, Tennessee. In addition to biking, running and paddling, this short AR is loaded with special tasks, such as carrying a ball with rope, maneuvering blindfolded and tied at the ankle through a maze and bike tube, tubing across a waterway, to name a few. The last special task only feet from the finish line was a slippery wall. Team Mighty Dog approached the wall first with Enduraventure only seconds behind. Congratulations to Enduraventure for great wall climbing ability. They took the lead and won the race with Team Mighty Dog on their heels. All proceeds go the North Chickamauga Creek Conservancy. This short, sprint race was just what the dogs needed after returning from their 3 day race in Missouri last weekend, the Mighty Mo.

Racing for Team Mighty Dog was Ardie Olson, Patricia Williams-Smith and Chip Whitworth.

As Randy Jackson from American Idols Dog Pound would say ' We got a Hot one here tonight! '. Well, maybe not exactly hot but for a bunch of old country Dawgs, I guess we will pass. The Dog Pound will be the home of all things Dawg as the Team prepares for our first attempt at the epic suffer-fest known as EcoPrimalQuest. We look forward to challenging ourselves in the race and making a lot of new friends along the way. Check back to this blog in the future for updates on Team Mighty Dogs training and racing as we get ready for 'the Big Dance'. If you want to see what we have been up to until this point check our Primal Quest page.

A big THANK YOU to Yak and CheckPointZERO for giving us a chance to have our very own Blog Spot. CheckPoint ZERO Rocks!

By: Chip Whitworth/Team Member

Team Mighty Dog has been busy preparing for its trip to Primal Quest. In January, the core team of Ardie Olson, Chip Whitworth, Patricia Williams and Rob Howell (we'll call them the "Core 4") made a commitment to racing together as a team for 3 expedition races to help them prepare to work effectively as a team for PQ. In addition, Team Members Ardie Olson, Chip Whitworth and Patricia Williams would set their schedule to do many more races together for the 2006 race year.

The Core 4's first race was Swamp Stomp in Florida, where the Dogs came home with the lst place price. See http://www.checkpointzero.com/index.cfm?method=home.showArticle&articleID=803

Next, the Team tackled the Endorphin Fix in rural West Virginia for another lst place finish. http://www.checkpointzero.com/index.cfm?method=home.showArticle&articleID=871

Then the final pre-PQ race for the Core 4 was in Missouri when the Mighty Dogs took on the Mighty Mo. The Dogs took 3rd behind the experienced teams of Nike and Silly Rabbits. (Race report to follow).

During Mo, a bike section was dropped leaving the support crew, Micheala Mendez and myself, to drive the team to the next leg. I asked them along the drive how was the race going and what was the best part. Without hesitation, Ardie said "We are working great as a team. We keep getting stronger and stronger working together".

Check out our PQ Team Page.

Upcoming Race Schedule:

May 13 Greenway Challenge TN
May 26-29 Florida Coast to Coast FL
June 9-11 The Raid-Idaho (Ardie/Patricia with Team Speleo Salomon) Idaho
June 25-July 4 Primal Quest Utah Area
July 28-29th Ocmulgee Adventure Race GA
August 18-20 Midnight Rush GA
September 9-16 The Raid World Championships (Ardie/Patricia with Team Speleo Salomon)
Sept. 22-24 Overmountain Extreme AR NC
October Suwannee River Challenge 50 mile paddle race FL
Nov 3-4 USARA National Championships CA

By: Sherry Olson, Team Support/Sponsor