Photos by Shan Weatherbee, Support Crew LeadCongratulations on a 19th place finish!
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Congratulations Team Shasta/Core Concepts!
Photo compliments of the PQ website:(photographer unspecified)
Woohoo! They have crossed the finish line - great job, team! It should be a Top 20 finish, which is just amazing. Congratulations and we're very proud of you: Chad, Mark, Scott and Tracey!
Thank you again to the dedicated support crew for their undying efforts. Great job!
Team Shasta/Core Concepts #16 (http://team16.ecoprimalquest.com/):
Chad Markle - Salt Lake City, UT
Mark Henderson - Reno, NV
Tracey Robertson - Carmel, NY (native of Scotland)
Scott Wazny - Portland, OR
Support Crew:
Shan Weatherbee - Portland, OR
Jim Wazny - Selmer, TN
Andy Garza- Bozeman, MT
Bring 'em home!
Well, the race to the finish is ON! They are cruising on this final bike leg and have even passed a team who had a headstart on them by skipping the ropes section, and now they're closing the gap on another team in that situation. You can tell they are motivated to cross that finish line.
Thanks for all your support of the team. I know it means a lot to them, and they'll be reading the blog and all your comments once they are back home and well-rested.
We are all proud of them for finishing such a grueling race course together - what an accomplishment! It will be interesting to hear all the war stories when they get home.
Compliments of the PQ website - here's Team Shasta trekking along with the Dirty Avocados II
(photos by Mike Hedge)
Thanks for all your support of the team. I know it means a lot to them, and they'll be reading the blog and all your comments once they are back home and well-rested.
We are all proud of them for finishing such a grueling race course together - what an accomplishment! It will be interesting to hear all the war stories when they get home.
Compliments of the PQ website - here's Team Shasta trekking along with the Dirty Avocados II
(photos by Mike Hedge)
On the Road Again
Team Shasta/Core Concepts left the final Transition Area at Ennis Lake at ~7am MT, so they are now biking their way to the finish line on the final 27-mile leg of the race.Almost there now - can you feel it?!
Check out this picture of Tracey in the Gallatin River from the PQ website - she's buoyant as always! You'll have to ask her later why she's sporting another team's # on her PFD. I'm sure there's a good story behind it.
(photo by Wouter Kingma)
Have a Coke and a smile!
Looks like Mark found some refreshment!
(photo by Wouter Kingma - PQ website:)
Update on Team #16: no official word yet but it looks like they are at Lake Ennis getting ready to mount their bikes and ride 'em on home.
The PQ Leaderboard is still incorrect - they should be in 20th place just behind Dancing Pandas (#78).
Inching toward Ennis
No word yet whether the team has reached the final TA at Ennis Lake, but I will definitely post an update as soon as I receive one. Shan is on high alert, and I just sent him a text message to check in, but the support crew must be resting up for their big arrival.
Reportedly it's actually a tight squeeze for support crews to beat their teams back to the finish line since it's an 80-mile drive from the last TA back to Big Sky Resort, while the racers take a more direct route and bike ~23 miles to the same destination.
In the meantime, you've probably already perused the thousands of photos on the PQ website - there are actually quite a few of Team Shasta, so I pasted a link in this post to Mike Bitton's blog and photo of our team trekking to the ropes course. Mike is a local Portlander, outdoor enthusiast, photojournalist extraordinaire, and blogger to the stars.
Hope you're all getting some good sleep in honor of the team - it won't be long now...
http://www.checkpointzero.com/primalquest/2008/07/shasta-treks-to-ropes.cfm
Reportedly it's actually a tight squeeze for support crews to beat their teams back to the finish line since it's an 80-mile drive from the last TA back to Big Sky Resort, while the racers take a more direct route and bike ~23 miles to the same destination.
In the meantime, you've probably already perused the thousands of photos on the PQ website - there are actually quite a few of Team Shasta, so I pasted a link in this post to Mike Bitton's blog and photo of our team trekking to the ropes course. Mike is a local Portlander, outdoor enthusiast, photojournalist extraordinaire, and blogger to the stars.
Hope you're all getting some good sleep in honor of the team - it won't be long now...
http://www.checkpointzero.com/primalquest/2008/07/shasta-treks-to-ropes.cfm
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
What's that smell?
It's not just the rank stench of sweat, dirt and blood....sniff again! It's the finish line.
Yes, folks, they're darn close to it - my sources estimate that Team Shasta/Core Concepts will cross the line around 4-5am MT tomorrow morning. They are more than halfway finished with the FINAL and somewhat brutal 38-mile trek. (Do I hear the sound of cheering?) The support crew is already at the last TA /CP30-Ennis Lake waiting for the team, where they will get some quick refreshment, load up on some sandwiches and take off on the bikes for the home stretch of the race, a fairly easy 27-mile bike ride to the finish line at Big Sky ski resort. Woohoo!
If you are wondering why it looks like they are bringing up the rear on the leaderboard, it is because some teams behind them were "short-coursed," meaning that they were in danger of missing the time cutoffs and finishing the course before the deadline on Weds., so race officials sent them directly to the finish line. Other teams opted to skip the "O" course (orienteering - plotting & finding checkpoints for "extra credit") and the ropes course. It's hard for me to imagine any team voluntarily skipping the ropes course since that is usually the racers' favorite part!
It may take some time for the leaderboard to display correctly, but Team Shasta has not been short-coursed and the reason that some of the teams behind them have already crossed the finish line or are ahead of them is that they skipped the whole Storm Castle loop (including the O course and ropes).
Team Shasta/Core Concepts experienced some drama on the ropes section last night. It rained a little yesterday and just after they ascended to the top of the buttress and were ready to rappel down, it started to lightning. So they enjoyed a couple hours' rest after the arduous ascent and waited out the weather until they could rap down!
They hiked back to Storm Castle last night around 10pm and napped for a couple hours before hitting the trail. You'll notice that they are still fairly close to Xtreme Couture (#44) and Dancing Pandas (#78). It has taken most teams 20-24 hrs to reach the finish line from Storm Castle.
Health update: Scott's feet feel better; Chad has a pretty bad blister; both Tracey & Mark have swollen legs, undoubtedly from all the time they have spent on their feet. With that said, they are all in good spirits and are determined (read: stubborn) to complete the entire course.
Go team go! Oh, one more note - check out the PQ site for some good pics of Team Shasta "on the ropes": (Thanks, Robin!) http://www.ecoprimalquest.com/coppermine/thumbnails.php?album=lastup&cat=0
Yes, folks, they're darn close to it - my sources estimate that Team Shasta/Core Concepts will cross the line around 4-5am MT tomorrow morning. They are more than halfway finished with the FINAL and somewhat brutal 38-mile trek. (Do I hear the sound of cheering?) The support crew is already at the last TA /CP30-Ennis Lake waiting for the team, where they will get some quick refreshment, load up on some sandwiches and take off on the bikes for the home stretch of the race, a fairly easy 27-mile bike ride to the finish line at Big Sky ski resort. Woohoo!
If you are wondering why it looks like they are bringing up the rear on the leaderboard, it is because some teams behind them were "short-coursed," meaning that they were in danger of missing the time cutoffs and finishing the course before the deadline on Weds., so race officials sent them directly to the finish line. Other teams opted to skip the "O" course (orienteering - plotting & finding checkpoints for "extra credit") and the ropes course. It's hard for me to imagine any team voluntarily skipping the ropes course since that is usually the racers' favorite part!
It may take some time for the leaderboard to display correctly, but Team Shasta has not been short-coursed and the reason that some of the teams behind them have already crossed the finish line or are ahead of them is that they skipped the whole Storm Castle loop (including the O course and ropes).
Team Shasta/Core Concepts experienced some drama on the ropes section last night. It rained a little yesterday and just after they ascended to the top of the buttress and were ready to rappel down, it started to lightning. So they enjoyed a couple hours' rest after the arduous ascent and waited out the weather until they could rap down!
They hiked back to Storm Castle last night around 10pm and napped for a couple hours before hitting the trail. You'll notice that they are still fairly close to Xtreme Couture (#44) and Dancing Pandas (#78). It has taken most teams 20-24 hrs to reach the finish line from Storm Castle.
Health update: Scott's feet feel better; Chad has a pretty bad blister; both Tracey & Mark have swollen legs, undoubtedly from all the time they have spent on their feet. With that said, they are all in good spirits and are determined (read: stubborn) to complete the entire course.
Go team go! Oh, one more note - check out the PQ site for some good pics of Team Shasta "on the ropes": (Thanks, Robin!) http://www.ecoprimalquest.com/coppermine/thumbnails.php?album=lastup&cat=0
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