Untamed Adventure Adrenaline Alert
Welcome to the Fall 2010 Adrenaline Alert!

Grant from Untamed Adventure I stink at writing newsletters. Seriously, is there anybody out there who wants to take on this responsibility so I can run around more in the mountains or spend more time with our soon-to-be-born baby daughter? Untamed Adventure is active via Facebook, Twitter, our blog, and taking the time to craft these "quarterly" newsletters never seems to fit in. So cut me some slack as I file this, our first "quarterly" newsletter of 2010 . . . with just a couple months to go in the year. To make this worth the wait, I have a review of our successful two events thus far and then turn attention to the future -- we've had many questions about our 2011 plan. I must also share the compelling year our sponsored Untamed New England racing team has had around the world!

If you're near Switzerland mark Saturday 27 November on your calendar as we're showcasing the Züri Oberland in our one-day "enduro orienteering" event named the Zürcher Berserker; I'm expecting some snowy and icy conditions up high, which will make the strategy and route selection even more challenging. If you're far from Switzerland, enjoy the rest of the year and make sure you have an updated passport for 2011 as there is something big in the works in Switzerland for next year! Untamed Switzerland Alpine Stage Race 2010
Untamed Switzerland 2010 It was a spectacular 3-days of sunshine, snowy mountains, and breathtaking views as our 3rd edition of the Untamed Switzerland stage race explored the Swiss/Italian border region of the Engadine valley this April. Previous participants have called our Untamed Switzerland stage race "the most fulfilling race experience ever" and, while we don't pretend to deliver that every time to every racer, we take pride in knowing that this 2010 race was an unforgetable combination of scenic beauty, cultural history, and staggering mountain ascents.

For some racers, the highlight this year was sliding down the historic Bernina Pass using their map-case as a snow sled; for others, the castle at Scuol and the sunshine on the Swiss Dolomites was the best memory. Regardless, Sweden's Staffan Källbäck literally ran away to a solo victory over the 3-stages and proved the fastest navigator/runner/snow traverser. 2nd place went to USA's Team IRule (Mark Lattanzi and Sara Dallman) and 3rd place to the Pilatus Aircraft team (Patrick Willcock and Daniel Geiser) of Switzerland. Thanks to Marmot, Teko Socks, Aarn packs, and all our other sponsors for making this event such a success! View photos from this race at our Flickr site (Day 1, Day 2, and Day 3).

Untamed New England The 2010 Untamed New England
It was the strongest field ever for Untamed New England this August. For 3 days of non-stop racing, teams from the USA, Canada, Ecuador, and Denmark battled for the podium by mountain biking, paddling (and portaging!), trekking, and -- most importantly -- navigating to the Untamed New England checkpoints. This was a wild and rugged course, but don't just take my word for it. The Danish team remarked,

"We didn't believe your pre-race hype about how challenging the course would be -- we figured it was just like any other race. Boy, were we wrong. You promised remote and rough, and you DELIVERED. There aren't many races like this in the world!"
That Danish team raced to 2nd place and a free trip to the AR World Championships, but first place went to the Canadians of GUATS Adventure (and they also earned a free trip to the AR World Championships with their victory). Third place went to the Americans of Team Granite. This event also added miles of new trail and bog-bridging that racers cleared during their race conservation projects, and contributed 150 cans of food to a barren food pantry in Northern New Hampshire. The Untamed New England race, in it's 3rd edition this year, just keeps getting better! View full results and photos from this race at our race website www.UntamedNE.com.

Untamed Switzerland: Zürcher Berserker Our November 2010 Event in Switzerland
We've named this fun event the Zürcher Berserker because we've set a wild 50km course through the Züri Oberland on the fringes of the Swiss Alps. There's 50 checkpoints and we're setting a rogaine course, so earn points by visiting as many checkpoints as you can in 5 hours. I think around 3,000m of vertical for those pursuing all the points out there!

We're allowing mountain bikes (but you might regret bringing one to these steep slopes!), as well as solo competitors or teams -- even a category for those with a baby stroller so don't think this is only for an elite racer. Full details, including information on how Presenting Sponsor Stamford Consultants is helping to make this event a really fun day, can be found on our website and we hope you decide to join us!

Untamed New England Race Team Untamed New England Race Team
We proudly sponsor a team that has raced in places as exotic as Patagonia and Spain in 2010, holding their own against the best competition in the world and spreading the word about our rugged New England race. The team is mostly based from Ontario, Canada and -- for reference -- the racers are drawn from the 4th, 7th, and 9th place finishing teams at our Untamed New England 2010 race this past August.

Pete Cameron, racer on Team Untamed New England, shared this from their race at the World Championships in Spain last week:

"It was a humbling and exciting time racing against the fastest teams in the world -- man those Euro teams are fast! It was a gorgeous tour of Spain and a great life experience."
Look for more from Team Untamed New England in 2011 and keep an eye out for an "Untamed Adventure" team racing (with me, Grant trench foot Killian, on it!) at the AR World Series race in Ecuador early next year.

Read more about Untamed New England's race in Spain on Pete's Attackpoint race report.

Untamed Switzerland Future Plans
We've gotten many inquries about our 2011 event plans, so let me share with you where things stand. Jill and I are just days away from welcoming a new baby girl into the family, and it sounds like we may have another international move in our future for next year, so we've elected to skip 2011 for our Untamed New England race. The race is not gone for good, however, and in the meantime we're looking at adding another day to the race and making the 2012 edition the best ever.

In Switzerland, for the last 3 years we've hosted a 3-day alpine stage race in some of the most beautiful parts of the Swiss Alps; we've kept this race small-scale as we build familiarity with operating in Switzerland. The time has come for the next evolution of this event and, for 2011, we're finalizing plans for an event with a more classic adventure race format (imagine mountain biking in the Alps, paddling the glacier-fed lakes & rivers, as well as some of the best trekking in the world!). I can't divulge specifics at this point, but we're hoping to have a big announcement on this subject soon . . . so get your passport in order for 2011!

Thanks to all the racers for making our events so much fun this year! I hope everyone has a great rest of 2010 and, if things go as planned, we'll be in touch before too long with the details of our 2011 plans in Switzerland. Our "Zürcher Berserker" event in November is going to be a lot of fun, so don't miss it if you're in the neighborhood; hope to catch up with some of you there.

May your maps always be dry!

Grant and the Untamed Adventure Crew
www.UntamedAdventure.com