Recently I had the pleasure of working with Peter Sawtell of
Seven Rivers Paddling to manage risk and safety on the paddling sections of
Untamed New England, an iconic adventure race that took place on the New Hampshire Seacoast this year.
Untamed New England describes themselves as a non-stop race across 250+ miles of New England's wilderness and I can assure you, it's just that. Teams have no idea where they're racing until they show up. Teams have 4 days to complete the rugged courses, which changes each year. Historically, only about 20% of teams actually complete the full course.
This year, teams did some canoeing in the upper stretches of the race. Then, by the time they reached the Seacoast, they had two more major paddling sections, in kayaks on tidal waters. Our team used vehicles, kayaks, paddleboards and power boats to keep track of paddlers on the water 24/7 as well as give assistance in particularly 'tricky' areas due to currents. As hard as the course was, mother nature increased the difficulty level with thunder storms all weekend. Each night as we camped on islands in Great Bay, we could track teams at all hours of the evening while being barraged with rain and winds ourselves.
For those of you that know me, I work on events like this all the time and absolutely love it! Long hours, tricky logistics and good people keep it fun and rewarding. Check out the pics for some highlights!
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| we provided all the equipment for racers.. |
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| tracking teams on Great Bay |
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| tracking teams online |
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| moving up river |
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| waiting for teams to cross Great Bay. This skiff was our home for three days. |
