IMPOSSIBLE PANTHER Race Report
May 24, 2008

Team NORTHERN LITES

May 17th had most of team Northern Lites racing, just not together as a team. Individual goals were challenged this past weekend with no less than three fifth place finishes in three separate events.  Even when Northern Lites don’t race together we finish together. 

Charlie Martz tried his hand at solo adventure racing in the second event of the North Carolina Adventure Racing Series (NCARS) at the US White Water Park in Charlotte; a very small, poorly mapped venue that presents its own set of challenges in a time management exercise.  Scheduled time slots for paddles and climbs prevent the racers from running their own race to maximize individual strengths and kept Charlie to a 5th place effort.

Brent Eischen took a first time adventure racer David Shipe, to a first time adventure race.  The inaugural 12 hr IsoSeries Yuki Joy Adventure Race at Pilot Mountain turned out to be a 15 hr race crammed into 12 hrs with no teams finishing by the cut off time.  Brent did well to navigate the duo to a 5th place finish in some challenging terrain with unmapped trails.

Ian Prince rounded out the weekends activities with a 5th place finish in his age group at the 3rd Annual Ramble Trail Half Marathon in the Uwharrie Mountains.  Utilizing the Woods Run trails at the south end of the Uwharrie National forest, Tim Long has put together a great trail race that was part of the National Trail Runner Trophy Series for 2008.  Over 350 runners showed up to experience a beautiful morning in the woods. 

It is off to the Highlands of North Carolina in a couple of weeks for Alex and Ian as they tackle the Special Operations Adventure Race, (SOAR) to benefit the children of Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps Special Operations personnel who were killed in the line of duty.  Then the team will take the Summer off to train for a very active fall schedule which starts the first week of September with Dale and Brent entering the 911 Adventure Race in Raleigh and Alex, Charlie and Ian entering the Tsali Challenge Triathlon in Bryson City, NC.  Visit our website for a full fall schedule. 

Click Here for their Previous Report from May 3, 2008!