Team Essay

Here is our Team Essay

TeamSouthDakota
c/o Paulette Kirby
22755 Silver City Rd.
Rapid City, SD 57702


November 20, 2008


Rick Emerson, Matt Reed, and Don Mann
Primal Quest Badlands Selection Committee
4012 Maple Ave.
Rapid City, SD 57701


Dear Rick, Matt, and Don:

The purpose of this letter is to inform you that TeamSouthDakota wishes to apply for the South Dakota Primal Quest’s Home State Participant’s Fee Exemption.

Our team’s diverse backgrounds, similar values, and deep local knowledge provide us with the blend of talent and temperament to succeed where other state-sponsored Primal Quest teams have failed. What makes us unique when compared to other state-sponsored teams is our bond as a true team.

Our Goal
TeamSouthDakota’s goal is to be the first “Home Team” in Primal Quest history to finish the full course in the time allotted. TeamSouthDakota is made up of athletes with diverse backgrounds, but similar values; we all love and respect nature, possess a strong work ethic, and have competitive (but compatible) personalities. We have a proven record of excelling as individuals and as a team.

Our Team
We are a great story for South Dakota. Our team consists of two females and two males ranging in age from 41 to 59 from across the state. We are all professionals by trade. Some of us have children, while others do not. Dan is a 59-year old amputee who completed a 135-mile running race in Death Valley, and a triple Ironman. Gary has volunteered hundreds of hours toward building trails with the local mountain bike organization, as well as competing in dozens of long distance running events annually. Lisa introduced mountain biking to 40+ women aged 16 to 60 in 2008, and competed in long distance running events. Paulette is working to develop South Dakota’s first white water kayaking park in Rapid City, and competes in endurance and adventure races.

Intelligence, maturity, and experience are the foundation of our team. Our vocations lean toward the health care field; they include a nurse practitioner, a nurse anesthetist, an occupational therapist, and a health science instructor. Together we know the limits of the human body, and understand the value of training and competing in a manner, which allows us to finish while preventing injuries during training and competition. As you review our accompanying individual biographies, please notice that we possess a wealth of experience with endurance mountain biking and running, adventure and multi-sport racing, hiking and orienteering, and kayaking and climbing.

Our Training
Each of us is experienced in the core disciplines of adventure racing, which comprise Primal Quest. Fitness and training are our individual lifestyles, but we are a team…and we train often as a team. Our baseline fitness is at a level where we could run a marathon or ride a century bike ride, on any given day prior to training for Primal Quest. Trail running, paddling, bicycling, rock climbing, swimming, skiing, snowshoeing, and orienteering are activities we participate in throughout the year depending upon season. Annual competitive events include long distance mountain bike events, marathons, ultra marathons, ironmans, triathlons, orienteering, and multi day adventure races.

Our team will post its weekly training events at the TeamSouthDakota Web site: www.sdprimalquestteam.wikispaces.com.

Our training includes maintaining our endurance base. Specific training sessions will focus on learning new skills. Beginning early spring 2009, every 2 weeks, all 4 team competitors will participate in a 24–48 hour training and team building session. TeamSouthDakota will participate as a team in several events prior to Primal Quest. Tentative events include: the Black Hills Adventure Race in April with a 24-hour pre-race training; the Leadville, CO 50 mile Silver King (mountain bike 50 Saturday, run 50 Sunday); the Bighorns Mountain Scenic Trail Run; and a self-supported weekend paddling trip.

Our team members have experience with sleep deprivation in their professional and athletic careers. Since Primal Quest is our ultimate sleep deprivation challenge, our training will include sleep deprivation and night training.

Our Pitch
Team South Dakota will be the first local team to finish Primal Quest. While there may be local individuals with better fitness, no other team is more physically fit or mentally tough. Our team is passionate about this endeavor, and wants nothing more than to succeed. More than any other team, we have given more back to our local communities and state, whether this be inspiring a juvenile amputee to run, teaching a young girl to ride a bike, creating a white water park in Rapid City, or building a trail for locals to ride and run, we care about our physical well being and those of our local communities and state. Please look over our individual biographies. We look forward to scheduling a personal interview.

Sincerely,
TeamSouthDakota