Contact:  Kenny Lutz

 Race Director

                 561.914.0373

             adventurerace@earthlink.net

Lake Okeechobee Survivor Series Race Tests Participants Mettle

Palm Beach County, FL - January 29, 2008 - Forty-four hardy participants showed up for the first of four Lake Okeechobee Survivor Series Races which began at the Pahokee Marina on Sunday January 20.

At the 8:00 a.m. race time the temperature gauge read 55 degrees with the wind chill at 35 mph. This combination was “brutal” according to race coordinator, Kenny Lutz. The elements were so severe two of the single participants and two of the teams did not finish the effort. The fastest racer took three hours and four minutes to finish. The conditions and challenges the racers faced ended up with the last team finishing in seven hours fifty-one minutes.

The event racers started out with a five mile run from the Pahokee Marina along the rim of the lake at the main entrance to the Everglades Adventures RV and Sailing campground.

Racers began with a staggered start where each team and individual racers received a map of the course and some last minute instructions needed to find twelve checkpoints. Along the twenty-eight miles of mountain biking, the participants found themselves peddling through both Kreamer and Torry islands, the Belle Glade Marina and onto their final challenge at the Belle Glade Golf Course before heading back to the Pahokee Marina finish line.

Along with the physical challenges of a five mile run and twenty-eight mile mountain biking, the course included mental challenges where participants used their orienteering skills to find the twelve hidden checkpoints on the map. Mother Nature enhanced the physical challenges by raining the few days before the race, providing an extra physical challenge as racers had to negotiate both muddy conditions as well as carry their mountain bikes across chest deep water to find all of the checkpoints.

Special challenges included a bucket run where participants filled the bucket with water and ran uphill to pour it into another larger bucket. The “special” part of this challenge was the bucket used to haul the water had drainage holes in it. The process had to be repeated until the larger bucket was full.

The second of such “special” challenges took place at the Belle Glade Golf course where a special hole was created just for this event. Each team was tested on their teamwork abilities as participants had to verbally assist a blindfolded team member roll a golf ball into the hole.

As with these types of events, success is measured not so much by the speed of the racers, but by the challenges and return of participants to future events. The first place solo racer, Ken Kanderfer, had this to say about the race: “This first race was a real challenge. I’ll definitely be at the next one because they tell me each race in the series gets more challenging as they go along. I’m going to try to win all four.” Ken Kandefer (Club Scrub) - 1st Place Male Solo Elite

Three more Lake Okeechobee Survivor races are scheduled on April 12, July 19 and October 12. These “Extreme Sports at the Lake” events will likely attract many more participants as experiences of the first racers spreads throughout the racing community.

For more details, pictures of the event, and to sign up for upcoming races go to lakeOsurvivorseries.com.