Expedition Canada

Team FLUMMOXED

Ken Batten, Jon Game, Kim Owens & John Price

Jon, Kim and Ken have raced many races together and on other teams.

This is John's first Expedition Length Race. He Inherited a love for precooked bacon during races from Ken Batten and is usually the only guy on the team that wishes the paddle leg was longer

John can't sing to save his life, but it doesn't stop him from trying

Kim is a rock star, Jon likes to knit, and Ken makes hot air balloons in his basement.

"We're going to bring all our extensive skills together to aim for a strong second last.

Three cheers for Adventure Racing." 

Team UNDERTRAINED & OVERCONFIDENT

Brady Vincent, Iris Lenauer, Ilana Kingsley & Matt Graham

"We considered ourselves to be a middle of the pack competitive team with the goal of crossing the finish line and, preferably, not being the Lantern Rouge. This race will mark the first expedition length race for all team members with the longest race being the 30hr Wilderness Traverse in Ontario. Brady, the team captain and lead navigator, has a background in mountain biking which includes racing solo for 24hr and completing several 70.3 races. Ilana is an avid dogsledder having raced in Alaska and currently runs a dog shelter for unwanted sled dogs in Ontario.  She has been adventure racing since 2017. Matt is also an avid mountain biker and can be seen cycling to work on the coldest days of the year. Iris is the newest member of our team and is an enthusiastic and all things outdoors who recently got hooked on adventure racing, and is always looking for new challenges.

We plan to live up to the name (Undertrained and Overconfident). We’re all competitive by nature but are not the elite athletes that are at the front of the race. We’re looking for fun, laughs and memories."

Team KINETIC

Francis Lambert, Pascal Laroche, Simon Gignac & Jonathan Dionne

Team Kinetic has been present on the adventure racing scene since 2007 with different combinaison of teammates.  The team has participated in multiple expedition races around the world with fair results.  For the inaugural 2020 Expedition Canada BC Wild race, 3 of the team members, Pascal, Jonathan and Francis, are experienced racer "kinda" making comeback after several years off the AR circuit.  Simon is the rookie on the team as this will be his first expedition race.  His competitive endurance background includes ultra trail running and long distance open water swimming... let's just say he is the only one looking forward to the announced 1km swim!

All team members are fathers and have full time day jobs. They've all agreed  that the main and only real objective for this race is to have FUN!  Some obvious type 2 fun, which can be miserable *while* it's happening, but fun in retrospect. And yes, they are looking forward to giving everything they can to perform, but always with a lighthearted spirit and not taking themselves seriously.

The team is looking forward to this race!

Team TIGER ADVENTURE

Todd Briggs, David Davis, Sarah Davis, David Rogers

This team has raced as competitors for a few years in some regional events and have teamed up for several events in the last 12 months.  All members of the team reside in Tulsa, OK.  David & Sarah Davis are married and have been racing together since 2008.  Todd & David have been racing together since 2015.  All have raced all over the US, David & Sarah have raced the National Championships several times over the years and David & Todd have raced in several multi day expedition races.  Team Tiger Adventure is extremely excited to be racing in the Okanagan Valley. 

Jordy, the oldest member of the team grew up in the Okanagan Valley and is the only member of the team that has previously participated in adventure races and in a few 50K running ultras. 

Colin grew up in Brandon Manitoba and found himself moving to Penticton 3 years ago. He enjoys to rock climb, MTB, Race Ultras, hang with friends and go skiing at Apex.

Colin likes to adventure and rarely says no to any adventure that sounds a bit too extreme.

Alexis moved to Penticton 2 and a half years ago from Quebec. He is a registered nurse He loves to MTB, surf, run, rock climb, road bike, cross country ski, alpine ski and backcountry ski. He is notorious for planning crazy adventures that always seem to turn out a bit harder than he expects.

Amy, is a registered nurse. She grew up in the Okanagan. She has competed in a few 50km ultra running races as well as a local 100km race. Besides running, She like to MTB and road bike, alpine and cross country ski as well as to backcountry ski and often get convinced to join in on Alexis's crazy adventures.

As a team, we hope to have fun and complete the race in a timely fashion. We all hope that being Penticton locals will give us some private intel and help us navigate throughout the race.
 

Team EPIC ENDURANCE

Kelly Boyd, Bruce Hawryluk, Anna Jones & Gerry Marcotte

Kelly, Gerry, Anna and Bruce want to set a pace they will be comfortable to finish with.

Their goal is to cross the line under the time.

Anna and Kelly have both raced multiday events. This will be Gerry's first event over 30 hours. Bruce has not done an AR over 12 hours but has completed the 350 miles Fat Bike race on Iditarod Trail.

They are excited to come race in the Okanagan

Team MERCATORS

Scott Cocks, Nicki Driscoll, Kit Vreeland & ??

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Team WE CAME WE SAW WE SLEPT

Ronald Gusek, Bruce Jones, Tyler Starn, & Howard Melcher

Our Team is a combination of 2 teams that have raced against each other for 4-5 years now.  We have come to know each other well as we seem to race at a similar pace and would often find our teams together for stretches of the race.  We all live in the Denver area, close to a wonderful outdoor playground and a great series of adventure races ranging from 3-48 hours.  Ron is the old guy in the group and has been racing for almost 20 years, originally in Alberta but more recently in Colorado.  Bruce is also a veteran of the sport, often seen racing with his dad, also a long-time adventure racer.  We’re excited to have his solid navigation skills along for this one.  Howard and Tyler are newer to the sport, having been coerced by Ron to come out and give it a try.  Both jumped in feet first, tackling a 48 hour race as their introduction to the sport.  Howard now has 4 big races under his belt.  Tyler completed his first race in 2019 and enjoyed it enough to agree to be a part of this crazy undertaking.  We are coming with the goal of finishing the race.  We won’t be the fastest, but we’re steady and determined.  This will be the biggest race any of us has undertaken, but we are excited by the challenge and the opportunity to race through some great country in the Okanagan.

Checkpoint Zero, in various forms, has been racing actively in the US and around the world since 2005. Chris, Phil and Peter are all veterans of many international expedition races and have spent countless hours on race courses both day and night. Chris and Peter have raced together for a number of years, and have competed against Phil home and abroad. For this race we've teamed up with Phil and hope to learn all his secrets at what makes him so fast. Teresa has competed in many triathlons, ultra marathons, 24 hour adventure races and orienteering events. This will be her first multi day expedition race and is excited to push her limits. Our goals are to have a lot of fun and to move fast on what we expect to be a beautiful race course. All of the members of this squad are great navigators, our biggest issue will be deciding who gets to play with the maps the most! The team is currently spread out across the US, coming from the states of Virginia, Minnesota and Washington.

Team FIRST THEY WERE TWO

Pavla Lounova, Courtney Mueller, ?? & ??

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.What do a Pharmacist, Teacher, Firefighter, and Stay at Home Dad have in common? They are the competitive new adventure racing team ready to tackle the challenge of Expedition Canada.

We are a group of athletes and friends that have always been just crazy enough to find joy in hard work and pushing our limits.

We look forward to participating in our first adventure race; with a goal of putting forth our very best effort and enjoying together a bit of suffering to reach the finish line.

We look forward to seeing what the future of adventure racing holds for this tribe of 40 somethings... No Ragrets!

Team SKUNKED

Jarod Hart, Eric Hart, Dustin Smith & Paulette Kirby

Team Skunked, for this race, are father/ son(Eric and Jarod), Dustin and Paulette. This will be a first time to race with this configuration, and frankly with Paulette having such a vast track record of previous long events the rest of us hope to learn a thing or two. The three guys are from central Iowa, and race together often along with any other adventure we can talk each other into. The teams goals for the event are to explore new territory while enjoying an adventure and pushing ourselves to an extent yet to be determined. With an underlying goal to "beat all nonfinishers".

Team Adventurists has been racing since 2010 and is finally expanding beyond Ontario races. As the 2017 and 2019 All Male AR champs in Ontario, Canada, we decided to branch out and make 1 big move: first multi day adventure races together. We're excited and hungry (for pretzels)!
Andrei, 32, uses AR as a way to fulfill his addiction for organizing and planning logistics. 
Rob, 41, lives in Switzerland, plays in the Alps, and hides his addiction for buying new gear under the disguise of multi-sport AR.

Luc, 51, is the elder statesman on the team. He is married and the father of two grown kids. Luc grew up as a competitive hockey player, but is now an avid outdoor sports enthusiast.

Jeremy, 33, Father of 3 soon to be 4. He was unknowingly groomed for Adventure Racing his whole life. He was raised on a farm where he got to enjoy long days in the sun bailing hay; He also worked as a prospector in mineral exploration navigating the boreal forests of the north whilst carrying pack sacks full of dirt. After getting a more civilized job working in an underground nickel mine, I desperately searched for a way back into the wilderness, tormented by the call of the wild; Adventure Racing has answered that call. 

Team FAMOUS

LAST WORDS

Luiza Salazar, Harper Eskuri, Camila Lacovone & Ryan Brandow

As everyone on the team's first expedition length race, our goal is to finish with all our limbs attached and morale mostly intact. We are a group of professional artists who are very passionate about the outdoors with a lot of experience in sailing, diving, long distance hiking and climbing. Combining multiple disciplines on a multiday race is a challenge we are excited about and we are more at competition with nature and ourselves than with the other teams! We aim to push our limits, do the best time we can while having a good time. And hopefully "what's the worst that could happen", the words that got us into this mess, won't be our famous last words!

First, we saw the Eco Challenge on TV, then we registered for this Race, and only after that did we research what Adventure Racing is all about.

We’re Dimitry, Jake, Julie, and Julian and we are Team Dream!

Dimitry can bake 30 minute brownies in 20 minutes.

Julie writes and curates award winning Operas. Jake once used a rake and a large glass of water to single-handedly defend a small village in the Amazon Basin from a horde of ferocious army ants.

Julian knows the exact location of every food item in the supermarket and on Sundays practices full contact origami.

While we don’t know what we’ve signed up for, we're excited to keep the dream alive!

Team ARGEORGIA

Hunter Leininger, ??, ?? & ??

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Team YOLO

Johan Van Heerden, Brett Giolma, Cornel Barnard & Carel Grundlingh

Our team consists of 4 guys ready for some adventure. We have all completed multiple marathons, MTB races, IronMan and much much more. We have never done anything to the magnitude of Expedition Canada and are hoping to compete it to the best of our abilities. Our aim for this is to finish every stage with a smile. We are sure there will be numerous ups and downs but in the end we will keep each other afloat and moving forward - towards the finish line ( depending on Navigation skills ) 

Team 

Johan ( Navigation) , Cornel ( Morale officer ), Carel ( Pack horse 1 ) and Brett ( Pack horse 2) 

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Team AWESOME

Chris Ford, Patricia Patton, Tammy Howe & Kevin Matrosovs

We really think everything is AWESOME (ok that’s most days )and its cool being part of our team and living out the dream of completing an expedition length adventure race!!

Chris (aka Emmet) our Team Captain works on always being positive and the greater the challenge the greater the interest! Avid mountain biker, ultra runner and always out for a challenge. Kevin (Alias Batman but really just a Benny at heart) has been tasked with utilizing his BATcompass and vast knowledge of navigation / orienteering to get the team from point A to B…then hopefully C and finally Zed (Yes we hope this is the finish line and yes we are Canadian) …it’s Zed.  The most experienced on the team, his international adventuring racing and orienteering portfolio brings a steady wealth of knowledge and strengths for the team to draw upon. Tammy (aka UniKitty) is tasked with ensuring the team dynamic is on track, organization of training and keeping us on task.  A seasoned ultra runner, just don't give her any gluten and she will stealth her way to the finish line! Patricia (aka Wyldstyle) is our nurse, packhorse, and overall team mediator.  She is the heart and soul of the team, Patricia brings many ultra running races and warm hugs to the teams repertoire keeping us united, calm, healthy and strong.

Team Eco AR is made up of a core trio from the race management of Eco-Challenge, World's Toughest Race. Race Coordinator Brian Finestone, Race Technical Manager Phil Gautier and Race Director Kevin Hodder decided to try the pointy end of the compass as professional development during down time from designing the race course for Eco-Challenge Patagonia. After success in their initial one-day racing effort, the team has decided to undertake Expedition Canada as the next test of their skills and team work. The fourth member of Team Eco AR is to be determined after a rigorous screening process to decide if they can put up with the bad humour, relentless pace and frequent snack breaks of the lads.

Team BAD CHOICES

Anthony Hlynka, Nick Evans, Jean Francois Berard & Curtis Johnson

Team Bad Choices is a group of like-minded adventurers who think it’s kinda fun to do the impossible.  Anthony is an ultrarunner who moved to BC to pursue dreams of big mountain ultras, specializing in suffering and professional yo-yo tricks.  Jean-Francois is a legendary physiotherapist and official Voyageur with the French Red River Brigade from Winnipeg, who loves throwing himself down the steep slopes of BC to make up for his flat homeland, and joined the team to do something that would finally make his newborn daughter proud of him. Curtis finds adventure anywhere he can in the great outdoors, and has a background in obstacle course racing and air guitar.  Nick is an ex-military Welsh secret agent who has found his way to the west coast by hitchhiking, train hopping and living in the shadows. Known for his instructional videos on survival skills, he loves fastpacking in the mountains and has been steadily upping his game in the ultrarunning world.  It’s not who we are underneath, but what we do that defines us.  When team Bad Choices comes together, they are equally likely to smash the race or die out there!

Team Peak Pursuit is composed of a group of current and former BC Wildland Firefighters who are accustomed to spending many long days in challenging environments. Working, living, and recreating together at the same base as well as relying on each other in life threatening situations has created a very tight bond. The team's first ever expedition style race was the Eco-Challenge Fiji race, which they successfully completed even while getting ravaged by sickness. With healthy bodies and a more intimate knowledge of Adventure Racing, the team is excited to again test their limits in familiar terrain and vie for a spot on the podium

Team KINETIC KONNECTION

Andre Gervais, Robert Pula, Andrew Pula & Mike Simpson

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