Team Mighty Dog Leads Pack
at AWAC 2004
(1st Place Co-ed Division)

Team Mighty Dog leaves it’s scent in the South! What a race! Swamps, swamps and more swamps. The terrain in Hazelhurst was a new venue for Team Mighty Dog. “No hills, no freezing temps, what gives?”, barked David to his teammates as they trotted along another flat, straight sandy road. Instead of creek-side rhododendron webs, the team encountered black water swamps, some they had to swim through.

Hats off to Charlie Ford, the event coordinator for putting on the race. He combined a sprint adventure race with Rogaine style navigation that added suspense and anxiety until the last minute of the race. Even if you finished by the 5:00 PM cut off, no one knew the results until scores were tallied and penalties assigned.  You could feel the tension in the humid South Georgia air while everyone caught their breaths and re-fueled with something other than liquid love found in energy gels. Colleen and David were seen having a monkey-like grooming session checking their respective doos for ticks. Ardie was spotted finally taking a drink of water. Needless to say, we were all nervous about the outcome.  We knew we had a strong race, but were unsure until the end. Hearing the results made all of the black water swimming, running and riding, well worth it.

Again, hats off to Charlie Ford and all his pals for putting on a superb race. The course was excellent, the terrain was beautiful and the people were friendly. South Georgia is definitely overlooked as an adventure race venue. Team Mighty Dog would highly recommend racing below the I-20 border. It opened my eyes to a new arena.

left to right: Artie, David, Colleen

Team Mighty Dog (David J. Cook, Colleen X. Pitts and Ardie Olson) lead the pack placing lst in the Co-Ed Division and lst Overall at the Altamaha Wilderness Adventure Challenge on March 6th in Hazelhurst, GA.

AWAC 2004

(8 hours-6 miles paddling, 6 miles trekking and 25 miles mountain biking/hike-a-bike) in Bullard Creek Wildlife Management Area., Hazelhurst, Georgia.

Shown on above: Colleen and David starting the trekking / bushwhacking section of the race.

In January of this year, Team Mighty Dog placed 2nd in the North Georgia Adventure Race (30 Hours-100 Miles).

Team Mighty Dog’s Next Race: Florida Coast to Coast May 28-31, 2004 (72 hours- 250-300 miles)