Things are shaping up nicely for Expedition Idaho 2011!

Happy February, everyone! 
 
First of all, we would like to anounce that as a show of respect and cooperation with RTNX, any team who competes in RTNX 2011 will receive a $400 discount off ExpId 2011!
 
Next, as many of you are aware, Gramicci has signed on as a major sponsor, and you will ALL get a complete cool outfit of the new Gramicci lifestyle-performance wear, along with more of the best swag ever from a BUNCH of top companies… we will have a list of more sponsors soon!
 
We are thrilled to announce that Black Diamond Equipment is on board as a sponsor as well as technical experts for our ropes elements! Thanks to Eddie Whittemore!
 
Our online signup and store is almost ready! Beginning of March is the goal!
 
Just to let you know, our finish is going to be the coolest finish in the history of adventure racing… just sayin,’ but it is! We’re going to have the finish smack dab at primetim, right in the middle of Silver Mountain’s “Brewsfest” music and brew festival! Talk about excitement!

I would LOVE to talk to any of you about the race, the concept, the finish, the prize money… whatever I can without giving the course away, but we are really excited, and hope we can pass on some of the things we hope to do, so we can get on your calendar!
 
We are also, we hope, all appendages crossed, only days away from a HUGE announcement – the Holy Grail of Adventure Racing announcements -  so stay tuned, and send happy thoughts our way!
 
We have now been dragged into the 20th century, and are on Facebook! PLEASE help us spread the word by passing on our link to your people, and “like” us! Next up: Twitter… our facebook link is at http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=165511510166585
 
More teams every week! Some of the new additions include the Terra Trekkers (all female!), Florida Xtreme, Granite AR, an allstar Team “Who Plotted,” Team I-Plod New Zealand, Massey’s Professional Outfitters, and Team Spanos. Welcome all!
 
Check out the website, and stay tuned for more!
 
Call me to find out more, and see you in August!
 
Dave Adlard
208-664-0135

Silver Mountain Resort to host Expedition Idaho 2011!

We’re sitting in the midst of a huge blizzard that has dumped almost 18″ of snow on northern Idaho in the past 30 hours, but it hasn’t dampened our excitement!

We are very happy and proud to announce that Silver Mountain Resort will be the host – and the start/finish – of Expedition Idaho 2011!

Silver is a world class ski and summer resort located in Kellogg Idaho, about 30 minutes east of Coeur d’ Alene, and will provide the athletes competing in the Expedition Idaho Adventure Race an unparalleled “luxury racing experience,” if there can be such a thing! Silver has so many amenities for the racers and their families, including the world’s longest gondola, great golf, a spa, a fantastic water park, multiple restaurants, and so much more. Check out their website at www.silvermt.com to see some of the great facilities thay have to offer.

As part of their entry to ExpId, each team will receive two LUXURY, condo-style room nights per team, and we are providing great rates for upgrades to multi-bedroom suites, and additional nights.

The pre and post race banquets and party will also be at Silver. Speaking of parties, Silver has agreed to coordinate their annual beer-and-music festival – “Brewsfest” – with the finish of Expedition Idaho! We plan on having a big screen in the middle of the festival to track the racer’s progress on their final push to the finish, which will be right in the midst of the revelry, live bands and all!

Silver Mountain and Expedition Idaho is a great pairing, and has provided us with some new and exciting options for the race!

Welcome to the Expedition Idaho Adventure Race Blog!

What a couple of weeks since we decided to announce the Expedition Idaho Adventure Race, August 14 – 20, 2011, in beautiful North Idaho!

We had originally chosen slightly different dates, but, in order to lessen potential conflicts with other Adventure races, we adjusted slightly, and put the pedal to the metal, so to speak!

A little bit about our race… we have been working on this course now for over 3-1/2 years, with the original intent of hosting Primal Quest. The original course was over 720k, and our final version, with all the nooks and crannies, will be about 600 or so, though as we run it full out in the spring, we may adjust so as to give all the teams a fair challenge…

One of the other key things we did was to enlist the expertise of the legendary Mike Kloser as part of our organizational team. Mike is, without a doubt, one of the top adventure racers in history, and is a fountain of knowledge and expertise on format, rules, etc, and also will be able to give us a true reading on the course as he runs it in the spring.

One of the key things Mike has promoted is to provide a straight forward, fair course for the racers, and that is our goal… our course is amazingly scenic, completely unique, amazingly challenging, and yet, isn’t overly complicated… navigationally challenging? You bet. Tricky? No.

We will have very few rules, and a pretty simple format that will allow the top teams to solve problems, make choices about their routes and race it out, basically point-to-point, while allowing less experienced teams to enjoy an amazing, positive racing experience. Adding to this will be an original, spectator friendly start/finish, which will really highlight our racer’s talents.

One thing we’ve learned from hosting our other adventure racing events is to not make things too complicated, or to bite off more than we can chew in the details, and this has been our guiding mantra in the design of this year’s event… we want every racer to know that if they do us the honor of coming for the Expedition Idaho Adventure Race, we will do everything possible to make this a special event they will remember for a very long time.

Some of the other milestones we have met include getting all of our permits in place, and to already have many of our race details hashed out… we hope to provide the lucky racers with one of the top racing experiences of their lives… As Mike said, “if teams come and race (and we hope they do!), they won’t be dissappointed!”

One other important event was a VERY exciting meeting on Tuesday that has the potential to change the face of Expedition Idaho in an extremely positive way… (stay tuned for an important announcement within the next couple of days!)

We are in the process of adding new information and cool stuff to the website, and will have some substantial upgrades in the next couple of weeks… stay tuned!

Thanks again for looking at the Expedition Idaho Adventure Race, and we’ll have more for you soon!

Namaste,

DA