Tag Archive for 'team DART-nuun'

Team nuun-FeedTheMachine ramps up for a new season with Gregory on their backs

It’s been off-season in adventure racing, but it’s time to ramp things back up. What used to be Team DART-nuun last year now has a new sponsor and is called Team nuun-FeedTheMachine (perhaps aptly, because these folks, I’d bet, can probably eat), and they’re gearing up for the 2009 season.

Again this year, Gregory will sponsor the team in the pack arena, along with a host of other top-tier gear makers (a lot of gear is a pre-requisite for this kind of racing).

Here’s the team’s schedule for the coming season:

- Michigan Expedition race in May, a 3-5 day expedition race and one of the most recognized in the US.

- North America’s World Championship qualifier in July called Untamed New England, a 3-5 day expedition race.

- The mighty Primal Quest  in August in South Dakota, arguably the world’s toughest endurance race lasting 6-10 days.

- 24 hour Nationals in October in Texas (www.usara.com.

- World Championships in Portugal in November.

- A slew of other 24 hour races.

In addition, the team has a relatively web site as of January where you follow what they’re up to. Check it out here.

And they’re also doing clinics, as they’ve done in the past. If you’re in Seattle (their hometown) or Los Angeles, the team has been hosting weekly mountain bike clinics on night riding in those areas. Anyone interested should contact cyril (dot) jayrayon (at) gmail (dot) com for L.A. night rides, and Ryan VanGorder at r (underscore) vangorder (at) hotmail (dot) com for Seattle rides.

Team DART-nuun takes sixth at worlds, wins at U.S. nationals

Just got this update from Cyril Jay-Rayon, the captain of Team DART-nuun, the adventure racing team that Gregory co-sponsors. They just got back from the world championships in Brazil and also recently competed in the U.S. National Championships as well.

November has been the best month in the team’s 7 year history. First off, the team took 6th at the World Championships in the 120F temperatures of Northeastern Brazil and a week later won the US National Championships in significantly colder Georgia.

Both races had beautiful and extremely tough courses (as most championships do) against the best in the world and the nation. We’re extremely proud of our accomplishments but know we couldn’t have achieved such amazing results without the continued support over the years of our amazing sponsors. Thank you!

You can read all about our race experience and see photos the following links:

World Championships

National Championships

DART-nuun wins adventure racing series, heads off to world and national events

Congrats to Team DART-nuun, which recently won the Checkpoint Tracker national 24-hour adventure racing series after five consecutive victories in series events. Racers from the Gregory-sponsored team (among many other great sponsors) competed in events in Arizona, Oregon, Nevada, Utah, and South Carolina.

But there’s no time to celebrate.

Team racers - who break into different teams to be able to compete at different events of different lengths - is already participating in the World Championships as I type (taking place in Brazil), and another division of the team will be off to the USARA National Championships on Nov 8 and 9.

You can follow the team’s progress at the Worlds here; they’re currently in 13th place out of 58 teams.

Update from the world of adventure racing

Got an update from Cyril Jay-Rayon, founder and captain of Team DART-nuun, the adventure racing team that, among lots of other great gear, uses Gregory packs. (And, by the way, provides us some invaluable feedback. Cyril’s been part of a focus group that helped provide feedback on the new Active Trail series and its Bio-Sync Suspension, which will be out around the first of the year.) 

Anyway, these guys continue to kill it on the adventure racing scene, both in the 24-hour-style races and lengthier multi-day ones.

Here’s what Cyril had to say:

The team is on a roll and this past weekend was no exception. We won our third National Series 24 hour race in as many tries. With this win, we are in a good position for top honors that will be decided at the end of the month in Moab (a three-day expedition race ) against the other top contenders.

Team DART-nuun overview 2008: 

o Won the North American World Championship qualifier in March – 5 day expedition race in Baja (Baja Travesia)
o Won Arizona’s premier 24 hour race (Desert Winds) in April– part of the National 24 hour Series
o Finished 4th at Primal Quest in June-July – the biggest and toughest expedition race in America, if not the world
o Won the Gorge Games 24 adventure race in July – part of the National 24 hour Series
o Won the Kit Carson ( part of the Big Blue Adventures series) 24 hour race in CA/NV – part of the National 24 hour Series

What’s on the menu for the rest of the year: 

o Team will compete in 2 more National Series race in an effort to win the series
o Team will compete in the National 24hour Championships in November in Georgia
o Team will compete at the World Championships (this is an expedition race 5-10 days long) at the end of October in Brazil

DART-nuun looks back on Primal Quest … and ahead to the world championships

It’s been a month since Team DART-nuun finished Primal Quest, North America’s toughest adventure race, in fourth place. So team members are probably just about recovered now …

Which makes it a good time to get a little perspective on the race. As they say, time is the greatest healer.

For a little perspective on who these folks are, DART-nuun, which is sponsored in the backpack arena by Gregory, has 10 team members and is heading into their sixth years as a team. They actually break the group into two different teams, one that focuses on big, long adventure races (like Primal Quest), and another that focuses more on 24-hour-style races and North America more specifically, though there are people who cross over and compete on both teams. Continue reading >>

Pack testing the endurance way

When it comes to gear testing, it’s good to get a variety of perspectives - from recreational users to folks who put stuff through the wringer in instense situations. Right now, Gregory’s packs are undergoing an extended test up at Primal Quest in and around Big Sky, Mont.

For the last seven years, Primal Quest has been one of the bigger events in adventure racing, and the biggest such endurance race in North America. Gregory has been the pack sponsor for Team DART-nuun for a number of years, thanks to Gregory northwest sales rep Dave Egan and his team, who recognized a talented team of racers a few years back and worked to get Gregory packs on the teams’ backs.

Continue reading >>