Thornton Academy Postscripts Alumni Magazine Spring 2020 | Page 5

water raft. Each race can last from two hours to two weeks,
with any competition under 24 hours considered a sprint.
With the quickly growing popularity of the sport, events
are held all over the world. In preparation for his first race,
a 12-hour “sprint”, Moreshead bought a new bike, learned
the basics of mountain biking, and increased his running
regimen. He remembers the day of the race being really
difficult—hot and very uncomfortable—but his team
ended up winning, and “nothing gets you hooked like
winning your first race.”
In this sport, individual preparation is key, but choosing
your teammates is also important. “When you race you
move together at all times. You have to be able to trust
your team.” Luckily, Evan is part of Team Strong Machine,
an adventure racing team located in Portland, Maine and
Rockford, Illinois that includes some of his closest friends.
As a whole, the nine-person team competes in multiple
races each year, across the U.S. and internationally (as well
as hosts the Maine Summer Adventure Race). However,
individual races are primarily completed by co-ed teams
of four. After his first race, Moreshead competed in a few
additional short races. His fourth took him to Adventure
Racing Nationals for a 30-hour race. After that, he was
tapped to be part of the team who would complete
Untamed New England, a three-day race stretching from
Sunday River to Kittery! But as daunting as all that sounds,
Moreshead describes the next phase of his Adventure
Racing journey as “really taking it up a notch.”
Last July, Moreshead and three of his teammates took on
the Nordic Islands Adventure Race; part of the Adventure
Racing World Series. The seven-day journey stretched
across 700 kilometers; from Are, Sweden to Aleslund,
Norway. Moreshead and his team were one of nine groups
who crossed the finish line, racing roughly 163 hours
straight. While their trip started off a bit rocky (their
airline didn’t send their bike boxes, including most of their
race supplies) they got their belongings back just in time
and were able to compete.
Along the way they encountered enough “adventure” to
last most people a lifetime—seven days of hard racing in
difficult weather on challenging terrain. They had a brush
with hypothermia; spent a night sleeping next to a furnace
in a stranger’s barn; and another in a tiny, off-grid hut; all
the while, they were surrounded by awe-inspiring natural
scenes that most will never behold. Together they tackled
approximately 16,000 meters of elevation gain—that’s twice
the height of Mount Everest. “It was fun, but also brutal...
at about day five we started to think ‘seven days is just too
much for a race,’ but we kept going.” Their last stretch saw
Over mountains, through valleys, down rivers, and across
fjords—Team Strong Machine works together to reach the
finish line!
them paddling through a fjord, surrounded by picturesque
Nordic mountains. They reached the shore, napped for a
short time, and biked to the finish, having slept only eight
hours during their time together.
“It feels really good to know I couldn’t have done more if I
tried—that I left everything out there on the course,” said
Moreshead, “and that I worked really hard for my team.”
The same effort and commitment that serves him on the
race course shows up in his professional life as well. “It’s
all about building trust. When I’m out there I have to be
able to trust that my teammates are prepared, and that
they will communicate with me if something changes. And
I need to be able to do the same...to help and be there for
teammates to make sure we always get it done together.
In racing, the person that is struggling at one point is often
the one towing you later.”
Without a commitment to his training and his teammates
he never would have seen and experienced all that
Adventure Racing has brought him. “I would never have
gotten here if I didn’t say ‘yes’ to something new. That’s one
of my life mottos, actually. Push your limits. Try something
new. Say yes. And then work hard to be a good teammate.
You never know where it’ll take you.”
For more information about Adventure Racing and
Team Strong Machine, visit: strongmachinear.com.
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