Expedition Canada

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!

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 WE CAME, WE SAW, WE SLEPT
Ronald Gusek, Howard Melcher, Tyler Starn & Bruce Jones

Team We Came, We Saw, We Slept is a combination of two teams that have raced against each other for 4 or 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.

We host epic Pacific Northwest adventure races and send our world-class professional team (formerly Yogaslackers) to the toughest races in the world. Known for making bold choices, having fun in the harshest conditions, and inspiring new racers, Team Bend Racing is a premier endurance race team, ranking in the top 15 worldwide.

With 3 Canadians on the teams for Expedition Canada our motivation is super high for this race and we can't wait to hit the BC spectacular mountains!

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. 

Kenn, 31, father of three hoping for a relaxing vacation in the outdoors .

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 WILDERNESS TRAVERSE
Harper Forbes, Chad Spence, Julie Parent & Chris Laughren,

Our team is actually a mix of two different teams that have joined forces for this race.  We have never raced together as a foursome, but we're all experienced expedition-length adventure racers and have a long history of racing against each other.

We’re Team Dream Adventure! A group of first time adventure racers ready to challenge themselves and inspire others in the journey towards mental wellness. In 2020, we all made the decision to take the risk of participating in Expedition Canada with the hope that it would give us something to look forward to. Something that is challenging, and inspires us to keep doing the outdoor activities that we love to encourage our own mental wellness during a time in our lives that health and happiness has been particularly hard. But this race isn’t just for us. From the beginning, our idea of success was not winning the race, it was to inspire change. From our own personal experiences, we know the importance of spending time outside and its direct correlation to mental wellness. If we can inspire just one person to join us on our many outdoor adventures leading up to the race, we have already won.  

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Jayson - Likes biking & biking some more

Ashlie - The little engine that could

Rick - Navigating through life & the bush 

John - Carrier and eater of snacks

Team Swamp Donkey AR came together after Eco Challenge's Team True North TAC Jayson wanted to form his own expedition team following The World's Toughest Race in Fiji. Looking for a female teammate he reached out to Swamp Donkey Adventure Racing's John & Rick who suggested Ashlie to round out the foursome. Team Swamp Donkey AR Team submitted an application for Patagonia and naturally needed to get some racing in and Expedition Canada was the perfect fit. 

Team YOLO

Johan Van Heerden, Brett Giolma, Cornel Barnard &

Henk Van Aarde

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We are team Yolo and stand for the name - we want to make sure we try and succeed and everything we do and at the end of the race finish it with a smile and laughter ! 

We are 4 active guys , 2 great mountain biker , one amazing kayaker and 1 good runner ! We do share a love for complaining but will always finish what we start 

Johan - navigator on land 

Brett - moral support and overal machine

Henk - Fittest dude around and engineer on staff 

Cole - Joker and keeping us grounded and smiling , long haul camper so be will be keeping us warm and fed 

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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 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.  Riley is a vagabond adventurer with no known fixed address who sometimes can be found hiking and padding on Vancouver island. He fuels his adventures with nothing but large blocks of cheese. 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

Collectively we’ve been racing for many years. Our goal is always to finish still friends and enjoy the wilderness but the competitiveness will occasionally distract us and we end up falling asleep in a canoe after a hard push through the Parry Sound bogs.
We’ve been testing our limits annually in Wilderness Traverse and other races in Ontario and Michigan and Untamed New England in 2018.
Mike will be joining us this year and brings a wealth of experience from many different races and teams. Just hoping he’s got a good tow system for us!

We are excited for our first expedition-length race. Team Captain Meggan enjoys adventuring, setting goals, napping and snacking. Navigator Jason loves playing outside and human-powered endurance activities. Kristal is a registered nurse who says yes to any chance for a fun time. Laurel is a horse trainer who has been practicing her rappelling skills on a grain bin in the prairies. Every member of our team is a parent of two adventurous daughters. We hope that our steady pace brings us safely to the finish line, full of stories and laughter-filled memories.

Ignorance is Bliss
Meggan Oliver, Jason Oliver, Kristal Bartsch, Laurel Vaadeland