The State Bar Association of North Dakota Fall 2013 Gavel Magazine | Page 6

EXTREME
SPORTS

Extreme sport competitions have grown
in popularity across the country. In North
Dakota, Grand Forks lawyer Scott Jensen
is among those who have embraced the
challenge that they bring.
Jensen’s day job is managing partner at
the Camrud, Maddock, Olson & Larson
law firm, where he practices litigation,
divorce and health care law. Outside of
the office, he is an endurance athlete who
regularly trains for upcoming competitions.
He swam competitively while in high
school in Bismarck in the 1970s. Following a 25-year break, at the age of 42
Jensen says he started swimming again to
lose weight and improve his strength and
stamina. In the 10 years since, he has been
competing in events like sprint duathlons,
that typically feature six miles of running and 15 miles of biking, and sprint
triathlons, generally a third of a mile of
swimming, 12 miles of biking and 3 miles
of running.
His longest triathlon was Ironman
Canada that involved 2.4 miles of swimming, 112 miles of biking and 26.2 miles
of running. Last January he competed in
the Arrowhead 135 in International Falls,
Minnesota, biking across the snow for 135
miles.
For the past two years, Jensen has com-

4

ENDURANCE COMPETITIONS KEEP
SCOTT JENSEN FIT AND FOCUSED
peted in the Extreme North Dakota Adventure Race swim in Grand Forks, which
is one of the longest marathon swims in
the world.
Jensen says many people are surprised
to hear that he swims the Red River,
which is not known as a popular destination for swimmers. “They think it’s dirty
and dangerous, but I have no problem
with it,” he says. In preparation for the
race the past two years, he trained by
swimming in the river for a month, pulling a swimming buoy with him. “Before
each training swim, I had to notify the
area sheriff, police and fire departments,
in case they might get a 911 call about
someone in the Red River.”
This year’s race on July 13 started at Cabela’s in East Grand Forks, where he and
the other competitors swam to the dam
near the North Dakota Mill and Elevator.
There, competitors ran around the dam
and re-entered the water with a kayaker
following alongside providing food and
water. They then swam north to Oslo,
Minnesota.
In 2012, Jensen competed with 12 swimmers, and this year that number doubled
to 25. “They come from all over the world
and are very experienced. Some have even
swum the English Channel,” he says. This
year only Jensen and another swimmer
were from Grand Forks. The top three

finishers were women, two of them from
the Minneapolis area.
In his first year competing Jensen finished fourth, with a time of 9 hours and
40 minutes. This year he finished fifth, but
had a better time of 7:23. “I was pleased
with my results both times,” he says.
Following the August competition,
Jensen began training for a 12-hour bike
race scheduled for the end of October.
Other upcoming competitions for Jensen
include another attempt at the Arrowhead, where he will try to improve on last
year’s time of 52 hours, 18 minutes.
“I feel good about what I do,” says
Jensen of his athletic pursuits. “Everybody
needs a focus, and this does it for me. It
clears my head, I feel fit and I have a feeling of satisfaction when I’m done.

The Gavel Fall 2013