Mergeo Defeats DART at TRIOBA 24-Hour Adventure Race

Photo by Mike Bitton
Members of Team Mergeo.com approach Transition Area 3 during the TRIOBA 24-Hour adventure race near Ellensburg, Wash.

I spent the weekend in and around Ellensburg, Wash. (North of Yakima) photographing the third and final race of the 2005 TRIOBA adventure racing season. Seeing my friends on various teams has become just as much fun as taking pictures, as we spend hours before and after the race finding out what everyone has been up to.

This final race was billed as a 24-hour event, but the fastest teams surprised everyone and finished in just over 10 hours. Team Mergeo.com came in first, with Team DART just two minutes behind. DART had won the first two races in the 2005 TRIOBA series, and were the series chapmions in 2004. But a subtle error in navigation during the trekking section of the course cost DART nearly an hour, which allowed Mergeo.com to take the lead late in the race. DART left the final transition area about 15 minutes behind Mergeo.com. DART nearly caught up in the end, but could not beat Mergeo.com.