Meet the RD: REV3 Adventure

The second NAARS Prestige race of the season is a little over three weeks away! The REV3 

Shenandoah Epic is set for Saturday April, 20^th and will surely been a fun weekend for all in attendance. 

The great thing about REV3’s race is that it is truly suited for all levels of racers – beginners and advanced.  Set in the beautiful forest of Shenandoah State Park, the race will provide wonderful scenery as teams run around collecting as many points as possible and completing team challenges.  Registration is open until April 15^th, so there is still time to get signed up and have the time of your life doing something good for your body and mind!

Mark Harris, the race director, loves sharing his passion of Adventure Racing and introducing people to the sport.  Mark recently took some time and answered a few questions about his role in AR- here is his story.

How did you get into adventure race production?

Both Mike Spiller and myself started putting on local adventure races with a focus on families and getting kids outdoors about six years ago.  We both love the outdoors and have a passion for adventure racing and being able to put on fun events that mix biking, trail running, and navigation for youngsters was something that we enjoy doing. With a partnership with REV3 in the past 2 years, we have been able to reach a larger athletic audience.  In the next 18-24 months we have plans on expanding into trail running and mountain bike events.  This year we have established a new trail series and will be hosting 5k Glow Runs at numerous cities this summer. Our dedication to quality and ensuring that we put on fun and exciting event are our primary goals.

What are the biggest challenges you face as an RD in your area?

Safety and permitting. The safety of our competitors is our biggest challenge and concern.  By its very nature adventure racing, mountain biking and adventure sports have inherent risks.  Ensuring that we can provide the safest environment without being overbearing is very hard.  It leads to many sleepless nights.

Being able to balance a quality course and getting the permission from land owners, state authorities and federal authorities is challenging. This summer we are hosting a 3.5 day race in Wyoming and permitting for the course is a monumental tasks.  We are working with over 10 agencies and about 8-10 private land owners.  Getting everything to sync up is time consuming and mostly out of our control.  Contingency plans for route access are a necessity in the event a permit or access is revoked at the last minute.

What can participants expect...that you're willing to share?

For any of our races, competitors can expect a fun and challenging race that is geared toward beginner and expert racers.  We have taken part in many races that are either too hard and demoralizing or cater only toward elite racers.  We make sure that our courses can be completed by beginners and newcomers and still provide a challenge for the top teams in the country. 

What is the biggest change from last year's race?

We have invested heavily in an ePunch system.  We think this will prove a better experience for spectators and athletes by proving quick and accurate race updates and final results.  Having the digital systems also allows us to focus on other elements of the race rather than tabulating and calculating scores from traditional pin punch

passports which are very time-consuming.  Our epic weekend will see 180 teams racing so having a quick and accurate way to tabulate results is almost a necessity.  The ePunch system will help us grow our events without timing and scoring becoming a bottle neck.

What advice do you have for training or just from general experience in the AR world?

For shorter races general physical fitness is a must.  Get out on a bike and lay down some miles.  Practice your mountain biking skills and improve your technical skills through practice. 

Get the right gear. It makes all the difference especially in longer races. 29" wheels and a hard tail bike will really help biking efficiency. For longer races (12 hours plus) the number one thing is nutrition.  I have seen so many teams have to bail because they have not been eating and drinking throughout the race.  At 2 AM it is the hardest thing to keep eating and drinking when your belly just feels rank. Second to that is team chemistry.  There is no point in doing this stuff if you are not having fun.