The Dirt - Adventure Racing according to Robyn Benincasa
presented by Merrell - Wigwam

I took a few minutes out from my busy schedule at the GoLite USARA Nationals to chat with Mike Bitton, Checkpoint Zero's reporter at the race about shooting some AR video.

CPZ: Have you done this kind of thing before?

RB: Nope. Never shot a race before, but it was fun! That is, until we realized about halfway through the day that nobody could figure out how to make the cameras stay "on". They all shut off after a few seconds automatically. So I thought I was shooting some great Steven Spielberg stuff that never actually got recorded. That's why nothing showed up on the website. I guess Troy had ordered them with plenty of time before the race, and they only arrived the day before. Not enough time to play with them. That's why they say to never try new equip in a race! At least it didn't have any real impact on the teams. I did go out and run around the course with a few different teams for fun. It's soooo nice to just be out there for the luuuuuv with a team and not necessarily the win (although having fun is a good indicator that you're kicking butt). What a great experience to be with friends making good decisions, taking care of one another, and makin' it happen. Loved it. And our sponsor at Zanfel even did the Orienteering course all by himself the morning of the finish. Fun to bring new people into our world.

CPZ: Were you impressed by the decisions you saw athletes or teams make out there?

RB: I was pretty impressed with the attitudes of the teams out there. There were a few major challenges, like a misplaced checkpoint, difficulty finding water to drink, lots of bike whacking, and serious elevation gains, and the people that I encountered had nothing but smiles and encouragement to offer one another. It's very evident that this sport just attracts/breeds good people who enjoy life's "challenges" and refuse to see "roadblocks." Yes, there was some frustration about the course and how difficult it was, but people were able to separate that out from the team dynamics and generally roll with the punches. I saw some great teamwork, empathy, "we" thinking, positive juju, and egos left at the start line out there. The hallmarks of good racers. Guess that's why they're at the National Champs!

CPZ: Why did you want to shoot video for the USARA national championship race?

RB: Why not?! It's awesome being out there with my Tribe, and a couple of my team's sponsors, Merrell (try the Overdrive AR shoe!) and Zanfel (poison oak/ivy wash, which we all needed!), are also USARA sponsors. It's always great when I can represent them in a broader sense than just as a human billboard in a race. Plus I needed a bit of fun between Ironman and Ecomotion/Pro Brazil (I'm writing this on the plane to Rio right now!). Who knows, maybe I'll have a career as an AR camera girl when I'm too slow to get out there with the big dogs anymore :-)

XOX, Robyn