TRIOBA 12-Hour Adventure Race, Snoqalmie Pass, Washington

Photo by Mike Bitton
Members of team Double Trouble/Peak Physique descend from Checkpoint 9 during the TRIOBA 12-Hour adventure race at Snoqualmie Pass, Wash, on Saturday, July 15, 2005.

I spent Saturday, July 15, covering the TRIOBA 12-Hour adventure race at Snoqualmie Pass, Wash. It was very comforting to be in the forests of the Pacific Northwest, after having spent a couple of uncomfortable weeks in Moab, Utah, for the Primal Quest expedition adventure race. The high temperature during this TRIOBA 12 hour never even cracked 70 degrees! Home, sweet home!

Some real news came out of this 12-hour race when team Mergeo.com defeated regional powerhouse team DART/nuun. It's a rare day DART finishes anywhere other than first place in the four-person, co-ed division. Here, they got second by 17 minutes.

In DART's defense, all four of the athletes that raced here -- Matt Hart, Aaron Rinn, Ryan Flemming and Jennifer VanGorder -- toed the starting line at Primal Quest in Utah back on June 23. Hart was with DART; Rinn was with SOLE Custom Footbeds; and Flemming and VanGorder were with Gerber Gear.

Mergeo's talent pool included orienteering guru Eric Bone, comic relief Aaron Vanderwall, triathlon diva Julie Heidt Schnepf, and Scottish workhorse Ruaraidh Stenson.