And the Winner is.........NIKE!!

The Primal Quest adventure race has been going on all week (see my June 25 post). The teams left from the base area here at Big Sky last Monday morning, climbed up and down Lone Peak, riverboarded the Gallatin, then headed for Paradise Valley, the Crazy Mountains, the Bridger Mountains, Castle Rock, Spanish Peaks, Ennis Lake, and back to Big Sky. Two teams, Nike and Merrell broke away from the pack in Paradise Valley and really never relinquished the top two spots for the rest of the 548-mile race.

Nike crossed the finish line last night at 9:30 pm, 5 days, 11 1/2 hours after they started, and we were there cheering like crazy people!! It really was very exciting to watch them ride in on their mountain bikes, right up to the mall, headlamps blazing and TV cameras rolling. They were even smiling!!

This little girl ran straight for her Dad and screamed, "Did you win, Daddy?!" All of them immediately popped a cold one, and this same child looked at one of the team members and said, "How do you like that beer?" She was clearly enjoying the whole spectacle!

Earlier in the day, on our way back from Bozeman, we stopped at the Storm Castle checkpoint to talk with the Primal Quest staff and volunteers. We caught Team MOAT (currently in 5th place) getting ready to head up the mountain for the orienteering section of the race followed by rapelling down the Storm Castle headwall. If you look closely at the picture to the left, you may be able to see the Primal Quest banner hanging on the cliff face. Now, that means, first of all someone had to go down that wall to hang the flag; secondly, all the teams must pass that flag on their way down. Exciting, huh??

We headed down to the Caribiner for dinner at about 7:00 and had some wine on the terrace. We were pleasantly surprised to find an excellent singer/songwriter, Greg Aulden, from New York City. He has a regular gig at The Back Fence, a corner bar in Greenwich Village. His set list included lots of covers from some of my favorite singer/songwriters such as Jim Croce, Dan Fogelberg, James Taylor, etc. So, he was a big hit with me and with the audience in general. I'm sure we will check out The Back Fence when we next head up to NYC.

After we finished dinner, and just as the sun was setting, we headed over to the mall to watch the winning Nike team ride in. Once again, I am so in awe of these amazing athletes. I hope you will enjoy exploring their website and keeping up with the rest of the race. The race ends on Thursday and I'm sure we will be watching many other teams come in. It makes a marathon seem like a piece of cake - good inspiration for me!!