Extreeeeeeme Sports

Photo: left – Paul Romero, Karen Lundgren and Ted Devito. photo by Sandy Steers

Photo: center - Lundgren presses on.
Courtesy of SOLE Custom Footbeds, www.yoursole.com .


By Sandy Steers

Ready. Set. Go. And go. And go. And go. And go. For 24, 36, or 48 hours, five, eight or 11 days, it’s non-stop; it’s an adventure race! And one of the top five adventure racing teams in the world is headquartered right here in Big Bear.
Karen Lundgren, Paul Romero and Ted Devito, all of Big Bear, along with Darren Clarke, of Australia, form Team Epinephrine, or “Team Epi,” for short. “Adventure racing is a team, multi-sport, ultra-distance, non-stop expedition competition,” says Paul Romeo, who has been racing the longest of the team members. Lundgren has been racing with him for seven years. Devito and Clarke are newer members, all four together now for about a year.
A “sprint” length race, in adventure racing terms, runs from two to four hours. Medium length races run 12 to 36 hours; and expedition races, the daddy of them all, run from four to 11 days. “In those long races, it’s a balance of getting enough sleep, but not taking so much that you fall too far behind the other teams,” explains Lundgren. “In one race that lasted five days,” says Romero, “we slept five minutes a day, so a total of 25 minutes of sleep over the entire 120 hour race.” Devito explained that Lundgren and Romero have honed the “two-minute nap” and he says, “they aren’t kidding. They set a timer and it really works. Some of the best sleep I’ve ever had.”
The sport of adventure racing started with the Eco-Challenge that was on the Discovery Channel for many years. It was originally put together by Mark Burnett, later the developer of the TV shows Survivor and The Apprentice.

This is a team sport, with four-member coed teams, meaning there must be at least one member of the opposite sex on the team. Most teams are three men and one woman, like Team Epi, but some are two and two and a few even have three women and one man. Putting together the perfect team is a delicate operation. “It’s hard to find people you can stand to be around for that long,” explains Lundgren. The team members are all together for the entire race. “During the race,” says Devito, “when you get angry at a teammate, you have to deal with it right then. You can’t go off into another room while you cool down. So, you have some pretty good communications.” Lundgren continues, “You’re too tired to mince words. And you are with these people 24 hours a day for days. You share food, share water, share warmth—you huddle together in the middle of the trail and sleep until you start shivering.” “To find four people who get along at that deep level is difficult,” Romero says. “When you find them, you don’t want to let that go.”
Adventure racers go through a course using maps and a compass. The “course” is defined only by starting and ending points and about 30 checkpoints in between them. “You can get between checkpoints any way you want,” says Lundgren. All non-motorized modes of transportation are acceptable and some of the modes Team Epi has used include: hiking, bikes, kayaks, river rafts, roller blades, repelling, horses or even camels, and the list goes on as far as the imagination of the team members want to take it.
During races, teams have to carry everything they need—food, water, clothes, gear, plus a mandatory kit that is required, but varies a bit from race to race. The mandatory kit usually includes things like a first aid kit, radio and other safety-oriented gear. “We’re known for going minimal,” says Devito. “So, we often run out of food or water and have to drink the yucky water along the way,” adds Lundgren. Some gear, such as kayaks or bikes, is only used for some legs of the race, and is picked up from crewmembers at transition points where the race changes disciplines.
Eating is a bigger challenge than it would seem. “You have to eat continuously, especially on the longer adventures,” explains Lundgren, “because you are continuously on the move and burning more calories than you can make up for.” Devito adds, “Plus from eating continuously your mouth gets sore because it’s used to having rest time. Sometimes you just don’t feel liking eating.” And nutrition is important—eating the right thing. Team Epi members take supplements to keep going and they pack a variety of tastes—salty, sweet, bland, etc.—to keep the eating as interesting and nutritious as possible. Each of the four pack different kinds of food, so they can trade and share for added variety.
Adventure races are set in a multitude of locations around the world, usually in exotic places with rugged terrain and temperature extremes. There are many races, one nearly every weekend during the summer, set in the United States, especially in Southern California. Just a few of the exciting locations the team has traveled for races include Southeast Asia, Malaysia, Borneo, the Philippine Islands, Morocco, Sweden, Argentina, Switzerland, Chile, Brazil, Canada, Mexico and China. “We use the races as vacations to get to travel the world,” says Lundgren.
As anyone would expect, much of the time between races is spent training for races. “Big Bear is the perfect training ground,” says Romero, with steep hills, great mountain biking, lake activities, trails and snowshoeing—everything but a river. We think this Valley has the potential for being a multi-sport adventure get-away.”
When not racing or training, the members of Team Epi run Adventure Racing Training Camps, which are basically 36-hour long, on-the-course training sessions with a coach. The training teaches participants how to expedition race—what to bring, nutrition, how to keep moving, and the higher end technical aspects, such as repelling. They have run classes here in Big Bear, as well as in Arizona, Orange County, Brazil and Costa Rica and are rapidly expanding the training camps based on increased demand from athletes around the world. “They taught me everything I know,” says former student, Bernice Pierson, now racing for three years on another team. “They literally showed me every little piece of gear and led me toward the starting line of my first race.”
The team members say some of the best parts of racing are the interesting people from all walks of life involved in the sport, the travel to and experiences in some of the most remote places in the world, and the camaraderie—the common bond with friends they’ve made around the world. And the worst parts? “Poison oak,” Devito and Lundgren both say, remembering recent experiences.
So, why do they run these races? “There’s a special mindset to get into when you’re trying to beat somebody,” says Devito. “During races, there are times it’s so hard, it feels horrible and we wonder why are we doing this,” Lundgren says, “like when you are cold and sleepy and carrying your bike through the bush up a hill.” Devito continues, “Somehow, though, you’re hating it and smiling as you’re going.”
“I like pushing my mind and body to new limits each time … pushing my physical and mental capacity. It becomes addictive to expand yourself,” says Romero.
“And after a race in that time of complete exhaustion, you have that feeling of ‘having done it’—and that feeling is addictive. In the midst of the exhaustion, I’m already thinking, I can’t wait until the next race,” says Devito.
Team Epi participates in 10 to 15 races a year. The majority of those are medium length, 24 to 48 hours, which they use primarily as training exercises for the longer races. They participate in three or four expedition length races a year.
Sponsors, usually product manufacturers, fund some of the team’s equipment and travel expenses, but as the team continues to place well, they receive invitations from some race organizers who pay entry fees and some expenses just to have Team Epi there. Coming up this year, they plan to participate in the “Trio Adventure” in Nicaragua in April and in “Explore Sweden” in June. Visit their website to keep apprised of their race progress at www.teamepinephrine.com.

© 2005 Big Bear Magazine, All Rights Reserved.