MOAT has been racing this summer, starting off with the National Championship Sprint Race.  Leslie and Nathan took on the Co-Ed division, and were challenged by team Technu, but ended up winning(faster than the all male teams).  Great teamwork, and experience pulled them through the race.

The next sprint race was taken on by Leslie and Nathan again, and after winning that race, the next day both competed in the National Mountain Bike race.  Leslie showed why she is so good at multiple day races, and smoked the mountain bike race. 

The last race was in Huntsville, training ground of Nathan and Shaun.  Shaun promoted the race by creating the funnest obstacles.  Nathan raced with Kristi Darby, and proved to have skills to race at the front of the race.  Kristi killed the run, making all the guys suffer.  A wrong turn on the paddle set them back a few minutes, but stayed strong and hit the bike in good position.  Nathan flatted, and again, were chasing to gain ground that was lost.  A solid bike led them back into first place, where they ended up winning.

MOAT got together after the race for some training.  We hit a few hours of paddling and team bonding. Then a ride around the park.  A few members stayed at the Winkelmanns, and hit a 2 hour trek followed by some more paddling and then a short 3 mile run.  This was the best time by many of the member, as it reminded them of the times with Dave, and his training weekends. 

One more race to go in the series for MOAT, as we hope to see the return of Jason(broken scapula) and Shaun(new baby).  Talks of longer races have grown, and preperation for 24 hr  Nationals is under way.

Been a bit since making back to the site…We have since competed at the USARA National Championships.  We had a pretty good race but the bad nav bug was still biting (sorry Leslie, Kyle and Keith…we were fast…that’s another storyPQ).  Anyways, I took us out of first place by sniffing the point and turning away to only come back later to get the point and now we needed to tryand make up for lost time.  In a race with such talented competition, that is not a move that is easy to overcome. 

Team iMOAT had 2 teams and great crew.  Jason Winkelmann (our new main navigator), Kristi Darby, and the veteran Carlos Ibarra filled the first team with Leslie, Nathan, and I running the other team.

The weather did not cooperate like most of the Texas teams had hoped…with rain and cold temperatures the conditions wreaked havoc on the course and caused a lot od stress for the race directors.  I am impressed the course turned out as well as it did considering the amount of rewrites…I had little hope with the conditions yet the Parks Service, Terra Firma Promotions, and USARA managed to put together a tough race (with some help from Mother Nature)…I heard that if they had kept the last few points in the race the water had risen enough to put most of them in the water…that would have been fun trying to figure that out!!