Explore Compete LIVE has just released their Power Rankings of the top American Adventure Racing teams. We (DART-nuun) are currently ranked #2, behind our friends Tecnu Extreme/StaphAseptic.
Tecnu just came back from the Adventure Racing World Championships in Tasmania, where DART-nuun racer Ryan VanGorder joined their squad in an impressive 12th place finish.
http://www.explorecompetelive.com/2011/11/09/ar-power-rankings-no-boundaries-ranks-the-best-teams-in-america/
From the ExlporeCompeteLIVE website:
We have been juggling the idea of a team ranking for a few years and have finally decided to pull the trigger. Our panel has based our inaugural rankings based on an informed opinion of team’s performances at key races in the US (and a few international ones where relevant). This will be a monthly addition to the site so race hard and perhaps you will see your team’s name on the list (if not already) moving forward.
AR Power Rankings:
1. Tecnu Extreme/Staphaseptic—Strong showing at both CPT and USARA Championships (2nd at both), winners at Gold Rush, 12th at the AR World Championships in Tasmania (top North American team there), strong showing at APEX Switzerland race, 6th at RTNX — Kyle Peter is poised to be the first big AR star of a new generation of athletes, in our humble opinion.
2. Dart-Nuun-SportMulti—1st American team at APEX in the Swiss Alps, 3rd overall at Gold Rush and 3d overall at RTNX — Tecnu beat them head-to-head at Gold Rush in Sept and that’s good enough for us to place them under Tecnu.
3. WEDALI—Won the CPT Nationals race, 3rd at USARA Nats (behind hybrid of Tecnu/SOG teams); 9th at RTNX; overall body of work for 2011 too impressive to bump them out of our top 3.
4. Team Bones—3rd at Expedition Idaho (1st American team), 16th at the AR World Championships (2nd American team) has them in our 4th spot. They rarely race the shorter events, but for the big epic races you can count on Team Bones powering through the course.
5. GearJunkie/YogaSlackers—Despite a 6th place finish at CPT, they took 2nd at Gold Rush, 4th at Exped Idaho (2nd American team), and 5th at RTNX (2nd American team). Perhaps the best performance by this team was their 2nd place finish this year at what may be the hardest race on the planet, the Wenger Patagonian Expedition Race. The longer and tougher the race, the more money I’d put on these guys. I have no problem slotting them in at #5.
6. Team SOG—They won USARA Nationals and took 2nd (on a hybrid team) at CPT Nationals — so maybe they should be ranked higher, but their inconsistency in race personnel made us uncomfortable placing them above this 5th spot. Their 6th place finishing Expedition Idaho team, for example, was vastly different than their USARA Nationals team. Still, 6th place on this list is pretty darn good!
7. Odyssey Adventure Racing/ ImONPoint.org—They won the USARA Nationals Masters division (finished 4th overall) and took 3rd at CPT Nationals. No expedition race results of note for this bunch in 2011 (although Mark Lattanzi has had a great race at the World Championships in Tasmania on the “Dancing Pandas” team).
8. CheckpointZero/Tech4o—5th overall at USARA Nationals, and 9th at CPT Nationals . . . Their 10th place finish at RTNX (5th American team) is just enough for us to place them above the Alpine Shop team.
9. Alpine Shop—USARA Masters 3rd Place (6th overall) and 4th at CPT Nationals. Not far behind Wedali at the 36-hour Berryman in September. No true expedition race results that we could uncover, though.
10. Bushwhacker A strong team from the midwest, 5th at CPT Nationals wrapped up a great season for them.
Honorable Mention:
• Team Granite (aka Team Light & Motion, Team Untamed New England)—A lighter schedule in 2011 than usual for this bunch, but impressive results when they did race.
• NYARA—Some different personnel racing under the NYARA name, but strong teams every time and top finishes to their credit.
• GOALS ARA—A disappointing expedition race in Costa Rica earlier in the year, but some redemption later in the season.
• Dirty Avocados—A strong team on the West Coast, consistent results in Big Blue series and others in their region
1 comment:
Awesome, thanks for sharing ! It was really a great adventure racing team. Congratulations to them for a great job well done in every event.
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