Source: XTERRA // filed: May 19 2005
THIS WEEK: The inaugural Nevada Passage, an XTERRA-type adventure competition, will take 10 two-person teams 1,000 miles across the Silver State to compete in events ranging from snowshoeing to sandboarding. The six-day event starts Thursday and ends next Tuesday.
A special series of reports documenting each stage in the Nevada Passage will be emailed to you. To unsubscribe from this service please reply to this with “NO NP” in the subject line.
OVERVIEW: The Nevada Passage is a made-for-TV event designed to showcase the unyielding beauty and rural adventure activities available in Nevada. All of the action from the events, as well as the fun stuff away from the event, will be captured on film and edited into a one-hour show for national syndication starting in August.
It’s a one-of-a-kind event, and could be described as a cross between a reality TV show and an adventure race. It’s a six-stage competition, with each stage featuring a different location in the state, starting with rock climbing at Red Rock Canyon just outside of Las Vegas. The next stage involves Jet Skiing on the magnificent Lake Mead. Day three is a four-wheel drive treasure hunt in the high desert near Ely. The fourth stage combines mountain biking and snowshoeing in cowboy country near Elko. On day five competitors are sandboarding at Sand Mountain near Fallon, and the final stage has them kayaking on the Truckee River into downtown Reno.
After each day of competition, the teams travel by bus to the site of the next day’s event. Each stage will award points and the team with the most cumulative points at the end wins.
THE STAGES:
May 19 – Stage 1:
Adventure – Paul Mitchell Rock Climb
Location - Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area
Description – Teams must climb a vertical face of stone together, demonstrating total teamwork to keep from falling. The winning team will produce the fastest combined time.
May 20 – Stage 2:
Adventure – Kawasaki Jet Ski Trial
Location – Lake Mead Marina to Echo Bay Marina
Description – Team members will ride together on a jet ski. It’s not a race for time, but a random chance event. Riders are required to navigate Lake Mead (which is twice the size of Rhode Island) to four checkpoints where they’ll pick up a card. At the final stop in Echo Bay all 10 teams will go to a card table and play a hand of poker casino style.
May 21 – Stage 3:
Adventure – Nissan Xterra Four-wheel Drive Rally and Treasure Hunt
Location – Historic areas near Ely
Description – Instructions will require teams to travel off-road through historic areas to complete tasks and pick-up clues.
May 22 – Stage 4:
Adventure – K2 Bike and Snowshoe
Location – Lamoille Canyon near Elko
Description – Cyclists will start en masse for the trip up Lamoille Canyon Road. Athletes will change gear for a snowshoe/hike. Snow and rugged conditions are expected. The winning team must have the fastest combined cycle and snowshoe.
May 23 – Stage 5:
Adventure – Zorrel Sandboarding Time Trials
Location – Sand Mountain near Fallon
Description – Athletes will compete one at time on a challenging giant slalom freestyle course with gates, jumps, and other obstacles. Teammates’ times will be added together to determine the team’s official time.
May 24 - Stage 6:
Adventure – Stearns Whitewater Kayaking
Location – Verdi to downtown Reno’s Truckee River Whitewater Park and Kayak Course
Description – Two-person kayaks will be put in the Truckee River at Verdi where several difficult level three rapids await athletes. The finish will be at the new Truckee River Whitewater Park at Wingfield in downtown Reno at approximately 1:00 p.m.
THE TEAMS: The athletes are 25 to 57-years-old from various professions. Almost all of the 20 athletes selected are regulars on the Nissan Xterra USA Championship series tour.
Perhaps most notably among them are Tom Lyons and Kent Robison. Both are three-time Nissan Xterra USA and World Champions in their age groups, 40-44 and 55-59 respectively. They both also just wont their divisions at the XTERRA West Championship in Temecula on Sunday. Lyons is racing on the Entrepreneurs team, and Robison is on the Lawyers squad.
Last year’s Nissan Xterra USA Amateur Champion Lara Usinowicz is on the Bartenders team, along with 2004 XTERRA Spirit Award winner Anthony Snoble from New York.
Long-time ago XTERRA pro (now weekend warrior) turned writer/photographer Scott Schumaker from Boulder, CO is on the journalists’ squad.
Other XTERRA athletes include Arizona’s Sage Grossi and Colorado’s Andy Feeney on the teachers team, Ashley Burt on the financiers team, Susan Hughes and Todd Borke on the pilots team, Kathleen Coutinho and Audie Smith on the doctors team, Megan Melgaard with Lyons on the entrepreneurs team, Brian Rothell is the male firefighter, and Kylie Kavanagh is the ladies veterinarian.
Team Name – Male (Hometown), Female (Hometown)
Financiers - Ashley Burt (Gunnison, CO), Randi Grush (Los Angeles, CA)
Lawyers - Kent Robison (Reno, NV), Ashley Brooks (Richmond, VA)
Pilots - Todd Borke (Anchorage, AK), Sue Hughes (Incline Village, NV)
Teachers - Andy Feeney (Boulder, CO), Sage Grossi (Tempe, AZ)
Bartenders - Anthony Snoble (Islip, NY), Lara Usinowicz (Evergreen, CO)
Doctors - Audie Smith (Knoxville, TN), Kathy Coutinho (Springfield, VA)
Entrepreneurs - Tom Lyons (Reno, NV), Megan Melgaard (Atlanta, GA)
Firefighters - Brian Rothell (Richmond, VA), Erin Johnson (Greensboro, NC)
Veterinarians - Rory Carolan (Bethesda, MD), Kylie Kavanagh (Winstom-Salem, NC)
Journalists - Scott Schumaker (Boulder, CO), Melanie Kim (Rocklin, CA)