From the inspiring to the tragic, this is GearJunkie’s wrap on exploration and adventure news of the week. Here’s what you missed and a few things to look forward to.
Two of the U.S. Adventure Racing Association (USARA) Regional Championship events took place over the weekend in Georgia and Indiana.
The Blue Ridge AR, hosted by AR Georgia, started at 6 p.m. on Friday night and featured 10-hour and 24-hour versions. Soon after the start, racers were already facing the added challenge of darkness as they navigated the rhododendron-thick hillsides of Northern Georgia, and then bombed down the singletrack of Bull Mountain to a paddle the Toccoa River, and toward the finish in downtown Blue Ridge.
And at the Mission AR in Indiana, GearJunkie’s own Team Toyota Tundra reigned supreme. Team member and GearJunkie founder Stephen Regenold reported:
“The bluff-riddled landscape of southern Indiana served as the venue for a USARA Regional Championship race this past weekend. Teams set off on the Mission AR event to find 30+ checkpoints hidden across a course with trekking, mountain biking, and paddling legs.
“Navigation with compasses (no GPS allowed) on USGS maps proved tough for teams bushwhacking trail-less stretches through the unrelenting topography of the region. Racers faced an 18-hour time limit to find checkpoints and get to the finish line.”
Team Toyota Tundra, including Andrea Larson, Brian Mayer, and Stephen Regenold, managed to take first place overall, clearing the course in 13 hours, 55 minutes on the clock.
![team-toyota-mission-ar Team Toyota Tundra clinched 1st at the Mission AR Regional Championships in Indiana this weekend; (photo/Stephen Regenold)](https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.gearjunkie.com/uploads/2022/05/team-toyota-mission-ar.jpg)
![Mountain Trip OVF Announcement The Ouray Via Ferrata is now open for the season; (photos/Mountain Trip)](https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.gearjunkie.com/uploads/2022/05/Mountain-Trip-OVF-Announcement.jpg)