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Travis Macy |
Race Updates:
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January 23, 2010 - After a good morning of rando ski training at Loveland Basin, where we found the staff to be very accepting of uphill skiing, James Kovacs and I headed to the Frisco Nordic Center for the focus event of the day: the Rocky Mountain Orienteering Club's Ski-O Race. Orienteering is an excellent, of-the-beaten-path sport that involves using a small-scale topo map and a compass to find controls located out in the woods. As it turns out, this can also be done in the winter time on skis or snowshoes. For more information on accessing this fun sport in Colorado, visit www.rmoc.org. I am planning on competing in a winter triathlon next weekend that includes skate skiing, so I figured some time on the trails would be helpful. Plus, navigation practice anytime is a good thing. Race organizers scattered 20 checkpoints across the trails at the Frisco Nordic Center. Grabbing any eight qualifies one for the short course, any 12 is good for the medium course, and 16 gets you the long course distinction. Those who hit all 20 checkpoints, in any order, are placed in the "Extra Credit" category. I'm a high school teacher, so you can guess which category I set my sights on! Because checkpoints could be accessed in any order, strategy and navigation were paramount. Racers had to constantly monitor their progress on nameless tracks while deciding whether or not to leave the trail and bushwhack through shortcuts every so often. There was not much snow in the woods, and I quickly discovered that taking off my skis and running through the woods After 69 minutes of hammering broken up by quick pauses to punch the checkpoint and look at the map, I found myself back at the Nordic Center. My first experience with ski orienteering was excellent! I had a |
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Race Results:
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 Recently dubbed an "adventure racing prodigy" by Adventure Sports Magazine, Travis has rushed from a successful history of running, triathlon, and snowshoe racing (he ran varsity cross country and track for the national champion CU Buffaloes, placed in the top ten at the USATF Collegiate National Championship Triathlon, and won the Colorado Snowshoeing State Championship) into a full-time career as a professional adventure racer. Son of Eco-Challenge legend Mark Macy, Travis has taken the adventure racing world by storm with top finishes at Mexico's Nuevo Leon Outdoor Challenge, the Teva Mountain Games, the Nike-Beaver Creek 6-hr Adventure Race (all with teammates Danelle Ballengee and Dave Mackey), the Explore Sweden expedition adventure race, and a win at the Adventure Xstream Expedition Race. The charismatic and dynamic youth recently graduated from the University of Colorado with a 3.9 GPA, and has already drawn attention from The New York Times and Adventure Sports Magazine (cover, June 2005). Travis leads America's next generation of adventure racers with a unique combination of the experience required for success on top professional team coupled with the hot, young image that is so attractive to media and consumers. Travis is a professional freelance writer, and his articles can be found at Sleepmonsters.com and in various adventure publications. |
